A caged bird
The carriage was ride was silent. I sat curled in the corner, knees to my chest, as the man who bought me sat across from me. His name was Lord Drevon and he smelled of something sharp and bitter - wealth, power, and the scent of someone who had never known hunger. He did not speak to me, nor did he spare me more than a glance. To him, I was just another purchase, another possession.
When we reached the Drevon estate, my breath caught in my throat. The walls were taller than anything I'd ever seen, the gates adorned with golden crests of wolves' heads. Inside chandeliers dripped with crystal, and the floors gleamed like polished ice.
I didn't belong here.
The servants barely looked at me as they led me to a small room. It was larger than my entire shack, yet I felt suffocated. The bed looked soft, the sheets too clean yet I did not trust it.
I sat on the floor instead.
That night, the hunger returned, gnawing at my stomach. But I didn't cry, crying would not change anything. In the morning, I learned my place.
Lady Drevon - Lord Drevon's wife was a tall woman with a face carved from ice she down at me with thinly veiled disgust. "You will speak only when spoken to," she said, her voice smooth but sharp. "You will eat when permitted. You will not question, you will not complain, and you will never forget what you are." She did not need to say it aloud. I already knew.I was not a daughter. Not a servant. Not even a person.
I was a pet.
And pets did not speak.
I learned quickly that the Drevons did not tolerate defiance.The first time I broke a rule, it was something small. I had taken an extra piece of bread from the kitchen when no one was looking. It was a simple thing—one bite of stolen warmth, meant only to quiet the emptiness in my stomach. But I was caught before I could swallow.Lady Drevon stood over me as I knelt on the marble floor. The bread was taken from my hands, thrown to the ground as if my touch had tainted it.
"You are not starving anymore," she said coldly. "You do not need to steal."
I wanted to tell her she was wrong. That the hunger never went away, that it lived inside me like a parasite, clawing at my ribs. But I knew better than to speak.Instead, I lowered my head, waiting for whatever punishment was to come.A sharp slap cracked across my face, and for a moment, my vision blurred.
"That is your first lesson, little stray," Lady Drevon murmured. "Take only what is given."
My cheek burned, but I did not cry. Crying was weakness, and weakness had no place here.
The second time I was punished, it was by Valic.He was the eldest son, barely five years older than me, but he carried himself like a man who had never been told no. His cruelty did not come from rage, but from boredom. I was a new toy, and he wanted to see how much it would take to break me.It started small. A shove when I passed him in the halls. A whisper of insults meant to remind me of my place. But then he grew bolder.
One afternoon, as I was cleaning the parlor, Valic walked in with his friends. He was smiling, that slow, lazy grin that always meant trouble.
"Come here," he said.
I hesitated. Just for a second.Wrong move.Before I could step forward, he grabbed my wrist and yanked me toward him. My heart slammed against my ribs. The boys around him laughed, their laughter sharp as knives.
"Say something," Valic said, his grip tightening.
I clenched my jaw.
He sighed. "Still playing mute? That's boring."
Then, without warning, he pushed me backward. Hard. I stumbled, barely managing to keep my balance. The others laughed louder.
"You should have cried," Valic mused. "Would've made it more fun."
I stood up slowly, my fists clenched at my sides. I wanted to hit him. Wanted to sink my nails into his perfect, sneering face.
But I didn't.
Because I had already learned my first lesson.
Take only what is given.
And in this house, mercy was never given.
Names had power.
That was something I learned in the Drevon household. There were names spoken with respect, names that carried fear, and names that meant nothing at all.Mine belonged to the last category.
Liana.
It meant nothing here. It was a name whispered in the slums, a name my mother had given me before selling me for a single silver coin. It had no weight in this house, no meaning, no protection.
But the Drevon name—that name could command armies, end lives, and shape the fate of cities.It was a lesson burned into me over the years, and one I would never forget.
Two years passed, and I grew into my role. I learned when to disappear, when to listen, and when to be silent. I became a shadow in the Drevon household—seen but never acknowledged.It was safer that way.The servants feared me, though they would never admit it. I was not one of them, yet I was treated no better. Some of them whispered about me, calling me the stray behind my back. But I didn't care. Their cruelty was nothing compared to what I endured from the family.
Especially Valic.
He was fifteen now, tall and broad-shouldered, with the same cold beauty as his mother. The years had done nothing to soften him. If anything, they had sharpened his edges, made him crueler.His torments were no longer childish pranks or idle amusements. They had become something darker.
One evening, as I was carrying a tray of wine to Lord Drevon's study, I felt the unmistakable presence of someone behind me.I knew who it was before I turned around.Valic leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, a lazy smirk on his lips. "You always walk so quietly," he mused. "Like a little rat sneaking through the halls."
I didn't answer.
He stepped closer, and my grip on the tray tightened. "Say something," he murmured, tilting his head. "It's boring when you don't."
Still, I stayed silent.
His smirk faltered. "Fine." Then, faster than I could react, he grabbed the edge of the tray and tipped it forward.Wine spilled across my dress, hot and sticky, staining the fabric a deep red.
I froze.
Valic laughed. "Oops."
I clenched my teeth, my heart pounding. The servants had warned me before—if I stained the carpets, if I wasted food, if I made a mess, I would pay for it.And Valic knew that.
He waited, watching, expecting me to break.
But I didn't.I inhaled slowly, then bent down to pick up the fallen tray. My fingers trembled slightly, but I forced them to be steady.
Valic clicked his tongue. "Still so obedient." He crouched beside me, his voice low. "I wonder if you'd stay this quiet if I cut you open."His words sent a shiver through me.Not because I thought he was bluffing.But because I knew, one day, he wouldn't be.I met his gaze for the first time in years, and something inside me hardened.
I would remember this moment.
I would remember everything.
Because one day, I would not be the one kneeling.One day, Valic Drevon would choke on the name he had mocked.And when that day came, I would make sure he never forgot mine.
That night, as I scrubbed the wine from my dress, I thought about the girl I used to be.
The one who had cried when her mother let go of her hand. The one who had waited, foolishly, for her to come back.
The one who had hoped.
I hated her.
I hated that she had been so weak, so desperate to believe that love could exist in a world like this.I should have fought harder. I should have run. I should have done something.
But I hadn't.
I had let my mother sell me. I had let the Drevons strip me of my name, my dignity, my will.
I had survived, yes.
But at what cost?
I didn't know who I was anymore.Only that I wasn't the girl from the slums.And I wasn't anyone important.
Not yet.