Crimson Lace

Chapter 10

ELLE
CHAPTER TEN

The orange morning sunlight dancing off the rooftops in the distance creates an array of luminous colors that shine through my windows. A halo over Rivara Kingdom. The once darkly bruised sky is slowly brightening with the rising sun, and the warmth of a summer morning makes its way through my open balcony doors. The sun floods my closed eyes forcing me to squint them open. From afar I can still make out the sound of the hustle and bustle of morning pedestrians and vehicles in the nearby towns. Even though the palace is isolated by lush forests you can still view the tall modern buildings in the distance.

Other Serfs would have woken up hours ago and headed to the factories, mines, farms, or the marketplace. Those are only the working Serfs. The serving Serfs are at their master's house forced into servitude which is little more than slavery. They are beaten and scared into performing chores and dumb miscellaneous jobs, and yet they are considered lucky, because almost half of the Serf population don't even have jobs. They are starving, homeless, and dying.

The Nobles are probably still sleeping. In a few hours, they will wake and will drive their fancy cars to their blissfully easy jobs in their enormous shiny buildings. Right in the glistening city that is Tropis, the capital of Rivara. Some of them don't work. Some spend the day drinking at the bars, enjoying coffee shops and stores in the marketplace, or pestering and torturing the Serfs. While others simply stay home all day. As for me, I lie in bed sprawled out across my cream-colored silk sheets, in my elegantly decorated room, within the king's enormous luxurious palace. Not that I deserve any of these things.

I roll onto my back and run my hand through my knotted up hair. It tugs and pulls as my fingertips pass through. It's back to being straight as an arrow, having lost all of its curls from a night of tossing and turning.

I scoff at the rose gold chandelier on my ceiling. By chance I will probably be successful in life, but not because of hard work. It is because of luck that I get to lie here and simply could just do nothing. I have no purpose, no places to be, no commitments, no life. I am alone. In search of a purpose. In search of the life that I am supposed to live.

I have time to fill, energy to burn, a prince to forget, and a life to find, so I throw my hair into a high ponytail. My closet contains only two training suits. Both of which are worn and torn from past rage workouts. I glare at my training uniforms with utter animosity. Keaton pays for my fancy dresses and accessories, yet I have had the same two training suits for years. I won't complain. I am grateful for his generosity, although I don't spend my entire life wearing ball gowns and sparkly high heels that cost thousands of pieces. No matter how much he despises it I still have to stay fit. I let out an exaggerated groan as I reach for my black training suit. It has a small tear on the hip, and despite the number of times it has been washed, it still has some stains.

While buckling up my black combat boots I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Despite my rugged appearance I still look pleasing. I find that using my appearance to my advantage is a very dependable method when around dominant and aggressive men like the ones in the training center. Let's just say they can get easily distracted. I stand up, straightening my ponytail in the mirror. The suit's tight leathery spandex material hugs my figure perfectly. I am not the most curvaceous girl, but a tight training suit still does the trick. I smirk to myself.

Something red catches my eye. It appears that someone has replaced the beautiful floral arrangement of pink dahlias in the center of my room with infuriating, Blood Roses. I don't even bother to rip these ones apart. Instead I simply kick the vase off the table. It comes crashing to the ground. Glass shatters all over the floor with a satisfying clatter. I hate to create more of a mess for the servants, but I also hate to have that vile symbol anywhere near my bedroom.