The First Night
Cassandra stared at him blankly, completely taken by surprise by the same question again and their sudden change of position. Having him linger over her was way too intimidating. And why did he always have to be half-naked? She tried to ignore it, to remember his question.
"I'm not trying to run away..."
"Are you not trying to leave right now?"
"I shouldn't be here! This is your bedroom, a slave is not supposed to be here. If someone sees me..."
"Who?"
His cold and imposing voice suddenly scared her, as if she was brutally reminded of who she was arguing with. It was hard to ignore his black eyes on her, but she tried to look away anyway, intimidated.
"I don't know," stuttered Cassandra. "The guards, the Imperial Servants..."
"Do you see anyone but us here right now?"
Strangely, they were indeed all alone. The Imperial Family members usually had a lot of attendants. They had people to take care of their meals, to take care of their clothes, people for everything they would need. Their servants even had higher statuses than common people, and certainly far higher than slaves.
Only Kairen didn't seem to have any attendants. Since she had been around him, Cassandra had seen absolutely no one but the Imperial Palace attendants. Unlike his other siblings, who were never alone, the Third Prince was never followed by anyone but her now...
... They will know," she murmured, afraid.
She was sure, even though there was no one there to witness, people would talk about the shameless slave following her master to his chambers. Too many people had already seen them. Kairen clicked his tongue, annoyed.
"And? So what if they know?"
Cassandra was helpless. Why did she have to explain everything? This man was either way too confident or way too unaware of the world they lived in! Gathering some courage, she answered him truthfully, her emerald eyes still relaying her fear.
"I might get killed, or worse..."
"Worse?" he repeated with a frown.
"Beaten, tortured... Raped..."
Kairen's expression grew darker with each possible outcome she mentioned, so she stopped, biting her lip nervously. Cassandra was still unable to figure out how he thought. He always seemed either indifferent or angry.
And right now, he was pinning her onto the bed, holding her wrists, exposing her and looking at her like no one else ever had, it was too overwhelming. His eyes were sweeping down her body, ignoring the dress, but taking in the numerous scars it left exposed. His expression grew even darker.
"Who did this?"
"My...previous masters..."
Why was he interested in her scars all of a sudden? She had gotten so many over the years; the worst were the freshest ones. Lyria was horrible to people she didn't like and never spared her efforts in punishing her slaves. The dramatic, red lines still ran over Cassandra's limbs, threatening to tear open again at any moment. She could still vividly remember the feeling of the lashes of the whip where it had cut the deepest.
She had experienced way too much pain to not be scared of punishments again. It was much more terrifying than death...
"...What is your name?"
