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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Visla
In the middle of the night, I awoke to the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the path. Thinking that something bad was happening in the village, I tugged on my robe and some slippers and went to peer out of the window.
I squinted outside into the night to see people coming toward the row of huts with torches.
“What the hell?”
What was going on? Why the spectacle?
Several men barged inside my hut and I lunged for the machete that Khol left by the door. I was fully prepared to swing when one of them came for me, tugging the weapon from my hand. The half-blood Aurrakian was strong and he overpowered me.
He shoved me to the floor.
“What are you doing?” I shrieked.
“Stand!” he hollered.
I did stand, but this time, I picked up a pottery bowl on the way up and then threw it at him. The pot popped him on the forehead. I took off running but slammed straight into another Aurrakian guard. Frightened, I looked all around me. I was surrounded by them.
“What’s going on? Where’s Khol?” I panted.
“Khol? You call for Khol after what you’ve done?” The voice came from Sanjit who shoved through the guards with a torch in her hand. “You’re a thief!” She pointed.
“What are you doing here? What do you mean?”
Sanjit laughed and rolled her eyes. “You’re kidding me. You came to my castle and stole my bracelet, you little worthless slave. Now, you’re going to pay.”
“What! I never stole a thing.”
“She’s lying. I have evidence,” Sanjit said smugly.
Zorfov stood to the right of her. “Take her,” he commanded the guards.
“No! I didn’t steal anything. You don’t have the authority to do this!”
“Oh yes, he does. Zorfov and Thanu were left in charge,” Sanjit said, folding her arms across her chest.
“Then get me Thanu,” I demanded, as the men produced heavy chains I’d only seen some of the most dangerous criminals wearing.
“Oh, but Thanu is nowhere to be found,” she said. “This human wench is a thief and she’s probably a fraud. Khol and Ghid will hear of it when they return. As Princess Sanjit of the Isle of Contra and future Queen of Dretis, I command you, take her!”
I gasped. “You fucking bitch!” I lashed, trying to lunge at her.
“You will stand trial for what you did. And when the King returns, he’ll see who’ll make the better queen after learning of your thievery.”
“Visla of Dretis, you are hereby placed under arrest per order of Princess Sanjit…” one of the guards stated.
Sanjit tugged on my hair and growled in my ear, “See…when you try to take from a princess, you get what you deserve. I’m taking back what’s mine.”
“What’s yours…?”
Everything the guard said after that was like a bad dream—a nightmare. I couldn’t even walk. One of the guards had to carry me. And Zorfov, with his devious stare, shoved me inside the underground cell and locked me in.
What the hell was going on?
Why was this stupid bitch accusing me of this? To appease the King? To secure her place as Queen of it all? To win the affection of Ghid?
I was no damsel, but something told me that when everything was all said and done that I’d have to dig myself out of this mess. And I would. But I wasn’t going to fight over something that was never mine. I was fighting for my freedom and my life back.
