Paper Cranes

Rain

Her POV:

"Our lord wishes to see you," Lillica says, hanging on the doorway of the wives' quarters. I look up, pausing my work on the tapestry our lord wanted.

"Do you know what he wants?" I question, having a bad feeling about this.

Rarely does our lord ever summon me and Lillica has thrown no insults at me today and if anything, looks fearful for me.

"No... you best go quick, not make our lord wait," she says softly, clearly shaken up.

I nod, handing her the tapestry. As she brushes past me, I become aware of the red and purple mark next to her eye.

It appears our lord is in a foul mood today.

I scurry up the stairs to the main floor, rushing to our lord's bedroom.

Movement in the entry catches my eyes and I immediately drop down to my knees, the large form familiar to me.

My knees smack against the clay floor of the house and I bite my tongue to stop myself from crying out. I had not seen our lord any sooner or else I wouldn't have just walked in like I did.

Whack!

My head snaps to the side and my head spins as he hits me over the head with his staff.

"I have an important meeting. I am taking Kiepan and Mikaio with me. Lillica is busy with other tasks. Dinner is to be made when I return," my lord says, giving me no estimation of when he will be back.

Stars still fill my vision and a small trickle of blood drips down my forehead.

"Y-yes, my lord," I whimper out, not daring to cry in front of him. A rough hand grabs hold of my hair, yanking me up so I am almost face to face with him. I squeeze my eyes shut tightly, not daring to look him in the eye. "I'm sorry! Yes, my lord! Yes, as you wish!"

He huffs and jerks me into the wall with a movement of his wrist. My shoulder bounces against the concrete and I feel my brain knocking against the sides of my skull.

Lillica was right to fear our lord's intentions for calling upon me, he was indeed in a foul mood.

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Lillica never had anything against me really, she knew from the beginning that even if she was older, I would never be as pretty as her, so when she saw the gash on my forehead when I returned to the wives' quarters, she was quick to bandage it up.

I never thought much of our lord's foul mood, his temper rather poor these last couple of months.

It was not until he came back from his meeting and the others did not return that I had the feeling things were much more amiss than either me or Lillica had anticipated.

Our lord ate dinner in silence, not even sparing us a piece as he ate. After dinner, Lillica chatted with me in high spirits despite our lord's foul mood. She thought that our lord had gotten rid of the others, as she had never seen him not return with them.

She was not concerned about anything and thought his mood was due to whatever poor behavior they had which made him get rid of them.

She talked of him probably investing in other wives, but having at least this night to gain his affection. She spoke with me in great excitement about the possibility of having all our lord's attention tonight instead of having to share with Mikaio like usual.