Night came with a draft of wind that chilled one to the bones.
Huddled in a corner of the stone structure, Xuma stared at the twin moons in the sky with wonder and awe.
She had never noticed it before. The destruction of her homeland, and her love for the silver moon and numerous stars that cloaked Blossom Valley, had prejudiced her against this empire. She never took the time to appreciate its beauty.
And the beauty she saw, she always compared it to her homeland's.
As such, this was the first time she had actually admired the blue and crimson moons. The first time she noticed the ethereal radiance the blue and crimson orbs showered on the empire.
Though cold, it was a sight worth seeing.
"You! Move over! I want to sleep by the window!" Naila's haughty voice snapped her back to her senses.
Xuma turned and scanned the girl from head to toe. 'As expected', she thought, 'the mental fortitude of a future concubine couldn't compare with the ordinary girls'. In a foreign land, under the roof of a ruined building, the girl was neither scared nor worried for her future.
She carried an air of confidence about her that even the past Xuma could not match.
"Didn't you hear me?"
"I heard."
"Then why aren't you moving? I said I want to sleep by the window!" Naila shouted and pointed her finger to a dark corner with impatience. "Get over there!"
"Why should I? Am I obliged to listen to you?"
"You…"
"I don't know which nation you're from, or what your former status was. However, don't forget. In this empire, we're both slaves. You're in no position to tell me what to do." She sneered and turned her back on the fuming girl.
Though she knew her from a past life, Naila hadn't been easy to get along with. She framed others, created drama to draw the attention of the higher ups, and when she finally won the affection of Prince Rimon, she made the lives of the slaves hell.
Xuma never liked her.
And after what she experienced in her past life, the last thing she wanted was to get pulled into Palace politics. A slight snort sounded from the side. After shouting in a gibberish language Xuma couldn't understand, the girl turned and stalked away to the corner.
Without a doubt, she must've either cursed her or vowed to teach her a lesson one day.
Exhaling a long sigh, Xuma clutched the ends of the thin fabric meant to be their blanket in her hands, and rested her chin on her knees.
It was a cold, lonely, and long night.
But for Xuma, morning arrived too quickly.
"Alright, slaves! Thank your stars. After spending only a day in the servants quarters, you get the chance to attend the banquet of Prince Rimon. Watch your conduct and don't forget your status. The rest…hehe…good luck!"
The words of the middle-aged woman made the slave girls nervous. They exchanged uncertain glances and bit their lips, completely missing the weird smile on the woman's face.
Xuma's heart clenched. She remembered this banquet. It was held by Prince Rimon, Emperor Ghazeyh's older bastard brother, to garner the support of the young nobles of the empire.
Though a concubine born, he believed he had the right to the Stone Throne. However, Ghazeyh Asael wasn't an easy opponent. Raised on the battlefield, the cold-blooded man had the support of the Stone Empire's fiercest warriors. This left the resentful prince turning to the nobles for support.
Xuma sneaked a peek at Naila. Unlike the other girls, she was calm and composed, with a trace of anticipation flickering in her eyes.
Though she didn't know what this banquet entailed, the girl had still managed to escape unscathed in their previous life.
'Should I stick to her side?' Xuma contemplated.
She spent over ten years in the inner palace, rising from a lowly dancer, to become the only concubine of the empire's ruler. But up to this day, she didn't know how to navigate through the intrigue of the palace.
Emperor Ghazeyh's harem had been clean. Too clean for the Emperor of the Stone Empire, who was allowed to have 4 legal wives and over a thousand concubines. With an Empress and two legal wives by his side, Xuma had been his only concubine.
Due to this reason, and his ruthless character, no man or woman had dared to plot or scheme under his nose.
Of course, that excluded her.
Lost in thought, she missed the presence of the shadow standing over her, until the burning sting of a whip landed on her back.
"Ahh!"
"Slave, get moving!" The chief servant snarled, lashing her with two more whips.
Xuma stifled a cry of pain and stumbled out of the Servants Quarters. This chief servant-Viya was her name-was one of the mean and lazy ones in the outer courtyard. She didn't do much, but expected to get all the good things.
And when she didn't, she vented her anger on the slave girls.
Xuma cursed the woman under her breath, and fell in line with the others. They didn't glance back or look at their surroundings. Under Viya's disgusted glare, they behaved like timid mice before a cat.
'This banquet…how do I escape it, without garnering attention?'
Because in her past life, that was exactly what she had done, and it was the least she needed right now.