Never

Chapter 8: Contempt

Rumors spread throughout halls of the White Palace and threatened to spread beyond its impolite walls. It spoke about love triangles, jealousy and a cruel dispute between two brothers fighting for the love of a deadly mantis. Despite the efforts made by Ogrim, there was no way to stop these rumors, and soon this scandal would reach the press.

Fortunately for the old dung beetle, nobody blamed his king for what was happening, the most affected in this situation was Orchid. Big was a beloved and feared monarch, whom everybody knew well, who had had an impeccable behavior and never had a known mate.

Instead, the mantis was a newcomer that nobody knew anything about, who belonged to a race with which the kingdom had been enmity since ancient times and who made no effort to get along with others. It was obvious that the blame would fall on her. As for Hollow, he was only seen as a poor victim of this insect, after all he had been fooled several times before by his tendency to blindly trust others and always think the best of all. It was usual in him to get into some problems.

These gossip were reinforced by the attitudes both took. While Big was prudent and distant with Orchid, Hollow continued to act in a loving and friendly way with her, in fact he was the only one in the whole castle who did not look at her with contempt. Even the other vessels did not want to approach her influenced by the act from the other insects. It was because of this that the mantis felt increasingly depressed and frustrated, perhaps she was not in a dungeon, but she felt as if she were in one.

Now Orchid was in the baths of the castle lamenting her sad existence. She was supposed to be a guest, but she felt like a prisoner, one locked in a gold cage, with her body weakened and considered the worst scum in the kingdom. How much more would she fall? How much more humiliation would she be forced to endure? Was this the punishment she received for having those thoughts forbidden by an insect that was not a mantis?

Worst of all was that her condition would only get worse. She had chosen the worst time of the year to leave the Fungal Wastes, she was about to go into heat. Soon she would expels pheromones constantly and uncontrollably attracting all compatible males from the surroundings. Normally females who did not want to leave offspring were confined together in a place conditioned for that, where they rested away from the presence of males and had their methods to face this cycle in the most favorable way. But now she was alone in an unknown place, What was going she do?

She was very tempted to escape, but she had no way of doing it, she didn't know the palace well and nobody seemed interested in helping her, and after almost being killed by a saw that mysteriously came out of nowhere, she stopped trying to flee.

She sighed and plunged one last time into the warm water pond where she was resting. Never in her life did she dream that she could enjoy such luxuries. These bathrooms were wonderful, everything there was, the food, the beds, the gardens. However, she would gladly change all that in order to return home. She was tired of being undervalued and especially of having no one to talk to.

Hollow was the only one who paid attention to her but it wasn't as if she could communicate freely with him. Besides he had his own knight responsibilities and couldn't be with her all day. In fact he seemed busier than he should. She had the impression that they were giving him more work on purpose to keep him away from her.

Orchid in the midst of her despair and loneliness had begun to speak to the statues of the Lord of the Shades. She was not particularly religious, but if this famous god they praised really existed, at least he would listen to her, and feeling someone did so gave her a minimum of comfort. Of course, she didn't expect her wishes to come true or he help her, she just wanted to let off steam.

She left the water, finishing her bath and walked towards the exit of the showers. Then set her sights on an image of the dark god that was there, one of the many that populated the white castle.