Goyre resisted the urge to sigh. It was never her intention to come here in the first place but Oya had convinced her to elect herself at the council of gods to serve as a representative for the gods at the festival of Fists. The higher gods would not be bothered to attend a small festival such as this, it was only the Feast of gods that demanded the presence of the majority of all the gods. Oya had pointedly reminded her that she could use this opportunity to search for the child of the prophecy but she would rather be in her temple in the pantheon enjoying the services of the Prys. Those servants of the goddess of excess were the best in all of the pantheons in providing pleasure, not even the gods themselves could satisfy her like they do. She stifled another sigh as she looked around the arena. Humans had handsome young men, any one of them would willingly be her sex slave but they could never satisfy her. As the men at the center of the arena battled she resisted the ur

“Select the dirty clothes from the trunk.” Phoenix did as she was ordered. The Festival of Fists was over and the winner of the competition was Odoi, he successfully defeated the other competitors to emerge the winner and the king had given him the honorary title as the captain of the lower army ranks and also pinned the seal of the royal army on the shoulder of his cloth. The members of the royal house and even the servants were still resting as the merriment of previous had sapped all of their energy. The celebration of Odoi’s had extended till very late in the night. But Queen Merea had woken up early, even before the housekeepers and came to wake Phoenix up from her slumber in her room. The trunk was beneath the wide window that showed a view of the king’s road. Most of the streets were empty as the people were still sleeping off the tiredness of the previous day. The only people moving about were the fishermen as they sort to catch the fishes many families would

A cool breeze blew through the windows of the castle making hollow sounds along the walls. The night was not cold, it was just pleasantly cool enough that all the occupants of the palace, except the guards, were fast asleep. The night was dark and there was no moon to cast its light against the stone walls. The only sounds heard were the dogs sniffing out rats in the kitchen and the rustle of dried leaves on the stone floors. Even though the night was peaceful sleep of Barigo was anything but peaceful. In his bed, he tossed and turned beneath the large embroidered fur covers as his dreams haunted him. It was a dream he had many nights and those dreams were the reason he had ordered that Merea sleeps in the room down the halls away from him to prevent her from hearing the sounds of his groans and scream. He clutched the sheets of his bed as though he was drowning but in truth, that action was a reenactment of how his brother has died at his hands. He could see himself holding

The sun was high in the sky but the wind that blew was cool and it successfully reduced the intensity of the sun on her skin. Phoenix was aware that from where Basten sat, watching her hang the queen’s clothes to dry he was seething at her refusal of his help. He could not understand why she refused to let him do any of her house chores for her. He was always careful not to allow any of the other servants to see him but Phoenix was still worried that one day one of the servants would see them talking and separate them and may even forbid them from seeing each other again. Phoenix did not want that to happen, he was her only friend, after all, the only one she could trust. He had come in that morning with the promise of teaching her how to handle a sword and dagger around anyone who wants to assault her. The previous day he had taught her how to balance the sword and what stance would make it easier for her to handle the weight of it. She was a fast learner and was already looking fo

Phoenix was amazed at how easy it was for Basten to talk with the brothers. Both Teo and Dan had been on guard when she and Basten first appeared at the stream but now they were on their backs exchanging tales of their mischiefs as boys. Teo’s shoulders were relaxed now as his suspicion of her and Basten reduced, he even regarded her with more respect. Dan was more trusting of the two, after all, he had not shown any aggression when Teo had touched her at the King’s Seat. He was even more reserved than his brother. Once they were done sharing the fishes Dan scattered the fire pit and arranged the tools they had been using to fish. “What do you intend to do with the rest of the fish?” “We hope to sell them in the market this evening. Hopefully, it would fetch us some money for the rest of the week.” Basten stood up and dusted himself free of leaves and sand. The sun was already setting behind the clouds. Somehow they had lost track of time in between bites of