Unleashed

Chapter Five: Dinner Party

Mila

"Niece of mine, it's the first year that you're staying here in the house of Xavius being of adult age, and now I can finally show you why Darius Xavius's dinner parties are known all over the land!" Darius announced at breakfast. "I've already announced one for tonight!"

My last stay in Liandro was just before my eighteenth birthday, last year. I had to go back early because my mother wanted me to celebrate it at home. She suddenly has a thing for birthdays after one of her former boyfriends had died at a young age, so now we must celebrate everything in life. Therefore, this year, I decided to leave after my birthday so that I could stay till the end of summer. I turned nineteen three weeks ago.

I knew this dinner party was going to come sooner or later, but I didn't know what to think about my uncle's parties. They were known to be quite notorious. They were even called vulgar.

"Uncle, that's-"

"Hush." He stuffed a piece of fig into my mouth, making me hold my tongue. "I know what you want to say, and I will not hear any of it."

"A dinner party!" Lir, who sat beside me, clapped his hands. "And because I turned eighteen a few months back, I can finally join too!" he enthusiastically cried out.

Lir was always more the partying type out of the two of us.

"That's right, my boy. You and Mila will love it."

"Darius, I think they will be shocked, to be honest. They're still so pure and innocent," Rebecca said as she walked into the room. She ran her hand through my hair and patted my head. "Good morning, everybody." She took her place at the table.

"Ah, see who is also up," Darius replied. "And nonsense, they're adults now." He finished his glass of water and stood up. "I'm sorry, dear sister-in-law, but I'm afraid we can't eat together, for I have to leave."

"Don't you want to sit with me?" she asked.

"You know I do, but I've got work to do. I need to get the fighters prepared for tonight. Mila," he said, turning to me. "You'll be pleased to know that the Lycans shall fight tonight. No dinner party is complete without a good fight!"

I nodded at him, feeling shamefully excited yet also afraid that I might be disappointed in my uncle again.

***

"Have you heard anything about our adventure?" Lir asked as we were out for a walk. "Darius didn't seem to be angry."

"No, I didn't hear anything. I think the guard kept his mouth shut and will keep doing so. He won't find out."

"Why did you do it, though?" Lir asked as he stopped me and pulled me down with him until we both lay on our backs in the tall yellow grass. "Why would you care about that Lycan so much? I mean...I know you've always pitied them and all that, but what you did was really dangerous. Don't you think you went a little far this time?"

"You know why I did it, Lir," I answered.

I had told him about my past a few years back and we often spoke about it-about the Lycan that had saved me all those years ago.

"You sticking up for them is one thing, but going on some secret and very dangerous visit to the forbidden ludus to give one of those beasts a present is another. You know it's not only the humans that loathe the Lycans: it's the other way around too. They hate our guts."

"Well, that's not very surprising, is it?" I asked. "Come to think of it, our ancestors murdered entire Lycan families and took over everything, while we all used to live in peace. And then they kept them as pets to do with them as they pleased. We still do." I held my hands in front of my eyes when the sun appeared from behind a cloud and sighed with annoyance. I wasn't the only human who found it ridiculous but there weren't many thinking as I did.

Lir stayed silent for a while before he turned to his side. I felt him looking at me. "But that's just the way it is, I guess..." He sighed. "We can't undo what our ancestors did and if we let them free now, they'll take over everything and will keep us as their slaves."

"How do you know that so sure?" I asked. "Everybody is always pretending that Lycans have no feelings, but the one that saved me could have easily let me die, yet he didn't. Maybe humans and Lycans could come to an arrangement? You don't know that. Nobody knows anything. It just isn't right. Especially not when you think about the fact that they were always the stronger ones. They could have made us their slaves before we outnumbered them and took it all. They didn't. Why? If they're so horrible?"

"I don't know... But that was one Lycan who was good, most aren't. At least not anymore. They're violent creatures."

"Cause we made them that way." I sighed, done with the same discussion. "By the way, do you know anything about those vials they use on them?"

"Vials?" Lir asked.

"Yeah, my uncle has these little bottles," I explained. "I think he controls the Lycans with the content that's inside those bottles. I've also heard that almost all Lycan babies that are born are male these days," I answered. "Maybe that has something to do with it."

Usually, human masters had the advantage of controlling the Lycan slaves with their need of producing offspring. Masters would grant them "a treat" to control them. For example, if a Lycan had behaved well, the master would grant him a night to lay with a female Lycan instead of giving him a human slave or, worse, beating him with a whip. However, rumors were spread that female Lycans were harder to find these days, so they were only used for breeding, which was important because humans were always in need of more slaves. Yet, this didn't work in favor of controlling the slave men.

Lycan women, on the other hand, were not so different from humans. They had no extra strength like the men did, so most of them were only kept as breeders, used to bear new Lycans, new slaves, until they were too old for that. Then they served the same way human slaves did. I often wondered if that was really what happened to them. The thought is horrible, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were killed when there was no use for them anymore...

"Hmm...actually, now you're talking about it, yeah, I've heard something about that," Lir replied.

"You have?" I sat up and looked at him. "What did you hear?"

"I've heard one of my cousins speak about it, I think. Flora." I knew Flora to be the wife of another Lanista. I've met her and her husband once and they were truly horrible people. "I think it's some sort of drink that makes the beasts more loyal or whatever. Apparently, it's the new thing," he added.

I couldn't say I was surprised as I already thought it was used in that way.

We lay like this for a while, both quiet. I closed my eyes, feeling the sun on my cheeks.

***

In the evening, it was time for the infamous dinner party.

There were so many people visiting the villa. Some of them I've met on other occasions, like Felix and Vincent, another Lanista, but most of them I'd never seen before.

Everybody was clothed in their finest clothing, just like Lir and I were. Darius had given me a new dress for tonight. It was made of light-yellow linen with embroidered green leaves on the sleeves and a big sage-green band that was wrapped around my waist. When he gave it to me, he was a little disappointed that I didn't respond more enthusiastically, but the truth was that I just didn't care about it.

We just had dinner and the strangest things were served. I ate turtle soup, oysters, and goose! Darius really spent money on this dinner party like he was buying water. And another thing that was spilling like water was the wine. Some people were already drunk and it was still early.

"And now it's time for some entertainment, people!" Darius shouted.

Not long after his announcement, I found myself sitting in the stands of the arena, waiting for Caspian and his fighters to step on the sand of the stage. My heart started beating faster and faster with each second that passed.