All I Need ✔️

Chapter 22

Safania's POV

Feeling everyone staring at me, I felt panic once again rise up in my chest. Emalina had not prepared me for an interrogation. Though I should have figured out that would happen myself.

"I'm originally from Eir," I said hesitantly.

"Eir!" the King exclaimed. "What a strange little island. Very musical though. Do you play any instruments?"

I shook my head.

"Do you dance?" he asked.

"I know some dances, but I left when I was very young..." I trailed off.

"You must dance for us then!" he commanded.

I looked to Cassius, terrified and helpless.

"Father, her leg is broken," Cassius said simply.

"Ah right. That is an inconvenience. Well, that's fine, as soon as it heals we'll have a performance!"

He looked at me expectantly. "Yes, your majesty," I responded, relieved, and with my suspicion that Cassius spoke Anguinese confirmed.

"So Eir. I assume you were there during the war?"

"Yes, your majesty," I said with my head bowed, trying to not reveal any emotion.

"Where did you go? After the war."

I looked to Cassius, who nodded. "I was sold into slavery," I replied.

"What did you do?" he asked in between bites of his meat. The rest of the family had started eating as well, but I had completely lost my appetite.

"I was a domestic slave. Cooking, cleaning. My specialty was baking."

"Fascinating," the King responded. "You don't usually see women who look like you as that kind of slave. It would make way more economic sense to sell you to a brothel."

"Father," Cassius interjected, but I put my hand on his leg to calm him down.

"I suppose my master never really had a chance. I left before I officially came of age."

"Left to go where?" the King asked, now completely focused on me. I took a breath to calm my nerves. He was all laughter and jolliness, but I now saw the icier side of him as he fixated on me with the Perian royal family's signature blue eyes.

"To be free," I replied quietly, but without breaking eye contact.

"And how did that work out for you?" the King asked, amused.

"It worked for five years. Until I was brought here after nearly freezing to death by a river. Which reminds me that I want to thank you for your hospitality your majesty, and your highness," I said, turning to Prince Cassius, trying my hardest to be a gracious guest.

The King whistled. "Five years is a long time for a man to survive all on his own. For a young lady? It's just unheard of."

"There's no way," Prince Alterius interjected in Ledish. "She's a liar."

"I wasn't completely on my own," I replied, pretending to not understand Alterius. "I met a lot of people who were kind enough to help me."

"As long as you helped them, right?" Prince Orphasius said, winking at me.

"Orphasius," Cassius said as a warning, his voice low.

"I'm just glad I finally solved the mystery," Orphasius said smugly. "I wondered how one whore could have you so firmly wrapped around her finger. Well when you bang every man from here to the Eyanin Strait, you probably learn a few tricks. Let me have a crack at her once you're done. The women here are so boring."

Prince Cassius stood up, angrily. Meanwhile, the two women with Orphasius looked annoyed they weren't receiving his attention. Or possibly irritated that he said they were boring. Either way they weren't happy. Prince Alterius and Princess Celine were whispering to each other, smirking. I now realized very clearly why Prince Cassius had tried to put this off as long as possible.

"Cassius, sit down," the King commanded. "Well, is it true?" he asked me.

"What?" I said, caught off guard.

"Father, you can't actually..." Cassius began, but was cut off.

"If this woman is a common whore, Cassius, she is hardly a suitable companion and certainly doesn't belong at our dinner table. We should find her a place more fitting for someone of her status, and if you are so taken with her you can continue to visit her in the brothels."

I fought the anger growing inside me. Calm down, I warned myself. You can't afford to lose control here.

"I'm not a whore," I finally said, calmly. "I have never exchanged sexual favors for help. I helped cook and clean at different places, and in exchange they would usually give me a place to sleep and a small meal. The locals would teach me how to identify edible plants. That's what I mean by people helped me."

"You mean to tell you that someone looking like you was walking around the streets, unprotected, and the common folk just went out of their way to take care of you like benevolent mothers and fathers? What a load of bull," Alterius said.

"How much time have you spent with the common folk, your highness?" I asked pointedly. "They're not all rapists, murderers, and thieves. That's a small minority of them. Most are kind and generous."

"But they still exist," Princess Celine jumped in, defending her husband. "And you mean to tell us that a completely unprotected,"

"Attractive," Alterius interjected, but shut his mouth after a deadly look from Celine.

"Attractive," Celine added, rolling her eyes a bit, "woman like yourself just managed to avoid every evil out there?"

"Of course not," I responded.

"She's playing you brother," Orphasius said to Cassius in Ledish, then switched back to Anguinese. "You may have fooled our brother with this sweet, innocent act, but you will not fool us. You are some girl from a nearby kingdom's brothel who is trying to make-up some elaborate back story to worm your way into the palace. You weren't actually on the run for five years."

"I was," I said firmly.

"Then who protected you? When someone tried to hurt you, who held them off?"

"I did," I replied, raising my head to stare into his eyes.

I saw a flicker of hesitation pass before Orphasius's eyes. At that point Alterius stepped in. "You mean to tell us that a scrawny little thing like you managed to take out fully-grown men? The more you speak the more ridiculous your lies become."

Without hesitation, I grabbed the knife that was used to cut the roast and threw it toward the back of the room, at a small portrait. The knife struck the portrait perfectly in the heart. "Do you believe me now?" I asked, turning back to the shocked table.

Short chapter, so I'm doing a double update!