your parents promise that Santa Claus is on his way and then you find out he’s not real. Maybe Aron of the Cleaver is about as real as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and that’s why no one seems to give a crap about this particular holiday except for the food.
“I shall choose the maiden to serve me,” the prelate says, dragging my attention back to the center of the room. “Once I have picked the honored one, we will say the invocation and proceed to the feasting.”
The prelate moves to the end of the row and begins to eyeball the blonde offerings. One by one, he looks them up and down, and I’m acutely aware that most women are half-naked. Everyone wears the same skirt, but I’m the only one with it hiked up to my tits. This is so incredibly creepy, especially when he reaches out to finger one girl’s curly hair and brushes his fingers over the shoulder of the next, as if judging how smooth her skin is.
Ugh.
He continues down the row, and the room is quiet, the only sound the low murmur of the audience, as if they’re making bets on who he’ll pick. I notice that Sinon is staring at me from afar and I resist the urge to shoot him the finger. That won’t do any good.
I mean, it’d feel good, but I’m in enough trouble as it is.
I’m toward the end of the line, so it doesn’t take long for him to get to me. I slide my hands behind my back before he arrives, hiding the chunk of tile I’m holding. When he moves near, I catch a heavy whiff of herbs, as if he’s bathing in this world’s version of deodorant under those robes.
“Why do your ears have holes?”
I blink. That’s a weird question. “My ears?”
He nods. “Your ears have holes. Why?”
Oh. “They’re pierced? You wear jewelry in them.”
The prelate wrinkles his nose. “Barbaric.”
Is it? I didn’t realize the people here didn’t wear ear jewelry. What a strange thing to notice.
He flicks a hand at the front of my skirt-dress. “I should like to see your breasts. Disrobe.”
So much for being chipper and accommodating. I clutch the front of my dress. “No thanks.”
“What?”
“I mean…no?” I try to smile sweetly. “But ‘no’ in the nicest way, of course.”
He recoils, aghast at my response. “You dare?”
“Well, they’re very shy boobs.” I promise. Something tells me I’m not getting picked.
The prelate flicks his gaze over me one more time. “Pleasant appearance…distasteful personality.” And he moves on.
Sounds like my last annual review at work.
Even so, a knot forms in my throat. I don’t want to be his little slave, but I don’t want to die either. This is the medieval equivalent of “Tits or GTFO” isn’t it? My fear gives way to anger.
Fuck this guy.
Fuck all these guys.
I’m going to go out fighting, I tell myself. This isn’t the end. There has to be more to why I’m here than to just die in a pile of anonymous blondes.
I’ve been dragged from Earth, kicking and screaming. I have to be here for a reason. It can’t be just to die because I won’t flash some jerk my boobs.
There has to be a bigger purpose…doesn’t there? My weird aura means something, doesn’t it?
Unless everyone’s just lied to me…which is beginning to look like it might be a thing.
The prelate continues to sweep down the line, talking to some of the girls and taking his sweet time making his decision. I hold my breath as he approaches Avalla, because I want this for her…if she wants it, of course. She looks up at the prelate with shining, hopeful eyes, practically trembling with awe at the sight of him. It’d be cute if circumstances weren’t so dire…and he wasn’t such a dick. I can see her slump with disappointment when he continues down the line.
Then, he finishes talking to the very last girl, the shortest one, and turns. He walks down the lineup of girls once more and pauses in front of Avalla. “Would you like to serve me, my dear?”
She drops to her knees and begins to kiss his hem. “It would be such an honor, prelate!”
“You may rise.”
I do my best not to curl my lip because this is what she wanted, but man, you’d think the prelate was the god being served around here. Prick.
Avalla gets to her feet, and when the prelate indicates she should follow him, she glances over at me with excitement.