The king squeezed his garment, his brows knitted in thought. “The last time I saw little Remeta, she had cut herself open with broken glass from the cup her mother used to bring water for her. She would have killed herself that day if I hadn’t had the two maids I went with and her mother to restrain her.”
Danika gasped in horror. She hadn’t known it was that bad for Remeta.
“They were able to get her to sleep even as she kept mumbling, ‘no life, no bed, no life, no bed.’ She added, ‘Mama, please just let me die.’”
“Oh, heavens.” Danika covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes tearing up immediately.
“I never visited again. It broke me to see that child that way. Baski was our nanny, Melia, and me. She practically raised us, you know.”
“I didn’t know,” she whispered, her eyes watering.
“She did. She gave birth to Remeta two months before they took us into captivity. It was hard for her—for all of us. She helped me survive during those few months. I don’t think King Cone wanted me to survive; he fed me once every five days.”
Danika gasped in horror. She couldn’t imagine that. How was he able to survive those times?
He must have seen the unasked question in her head and answered, “Baski would request milk to feed her newborn baby, and the guards would provide it for her. They’d keep guard while she fed little Remeta. Afterward, she’d request to see me in the isolated cold cage King Cone locked me in.” His eyes were far away. “The guards checked the few visitors that entered to make sure they weren’t carrying anything like food or weapons for escape.” His lips curved to the side. “But then, they keep forgetting that Baski was a breastfeeding mother.”
Her eyes widened. “She…”
He nodded. “She breastfed me for a good three months.”
“Oh, Creator.” Tenderness filled Danika’s heart. She had always wondered w deeply Baski loved the king so wholeheartedly. She was a nanny to him and princess Melia so many years ago. And now this.
Empty blue eyes searched her face. “I can’t trade that woman and her child for anything. When Cone saw I didn’t die, he started a hell fire for me. Ten years later, the hell fire hadn’t burned completely, so he took Remeta from her mother—from me—and damaged that little girl badly.”
Tears streamed down Danika’s eyes, and she didn’t try to hide them.
Scrutinizing eyes still held hers. “And today, I stared at that girl and saw traces of a girl she would have been if disaster didn’t befall us all upon her birth. Bright, beautiful, and so smart. It made me wonder how Danika, the only daughter of King Cone, could reach into that girl’s tormented heart and soothe it.” Then he added, “Is it possible that a devil can father an angel? Or did he father a devil who’s pretending to be an angel?”
CHAPTER 45
WHO IS THIS WOMAN?Vetta was having a beautiful day. Her visit to the fertility healer was tiring, but it was also successful. The healer had given her a pill to swallow whenever she wanted to have sexual pleasures with the king. She was so happy, but also impatient.
When she came back from her journey, Vetta called the maids, and they bathed and changed her clothes for her. She had the pill in her corset; she couldn’t wait to meet with the king! Vetta would seduce him in every way possible tonight, and she would pleasure him so greatly that he would forget about his wretched slave, Danika.
With that sweet thought in mind, Vetta walked out of her bedroom, which was in the Courtesan quarters. She was the only person living in that part of the palace because she was the king’s only mistress, unlike other kings who had over thirty mistresses. It also made her happy, and it made her feel special.
Vetta walked past the servant’s quarters to see the guards carrying things from Danika’s bedroom. She paused in thought. Did that mean that the king was throwing her out? Was the king sending her back to the cage where she belonged? The cage for filthy slaves? Just the thought left Vetta giddy with excitement. Ahhh, so much to be happy about this noonday.
The happiness quickly faded when she entered the royal chambers to see the guards carrying Danika’s belongings to the sacred bedroom. Vetta always referred to that bedroom as the sacred bedroom because no one was ever allowed in there. No one at all.
She walked closer and called to one of the guards. She needed to know what was happening.
“You! Come here!” Vetta ordered.
The guard ran towards her. “Yes, Mistress?”
“What’s going on here?”
“The king gave orders that the slave princess’s belongings should be moved to this bedroom. She will live in this bedroom from now on.”
Vetta was sure she hadn’t heard this man right. “What did you just say!?” He repeated himself, and a hot lash of anger, pain and jealousy whipped through Vetta it almost drove her to her knees.
No! There is no way this is true!
She sent the guard away and started towards the king’s chambers. There is just no way this is true!!