The Chessboard Undead Prince

Chapter the Fifth

As the first light of dawn painted whimsy and wonder intertwined like ivy on diamond-stained windows, Ellius Rose awoke in crinkled sheets. At first, she feared that the night's events were but a dream woven by the threads of her imagination. Yet, as she reached out to touch her lips, still tingling from the memory of their kiss, she knew that it was real— It was their secret. Their deadly, scalding, poisonous secret. Her fingers closed over a cold lock of winter-white hair. All that was left from their passion.

With a smile gracing her lips, Ellius rose from her bed, ready to embark on a new day filled with endless possibilities. For in the Castle of Estela, where dreams take flight and love knows no bounds, anything is possible—even the most unlikely of love stories.

Her feet landed in the pools of what was her gown. Sigh. Yasmine is going to kill me. Getting out of that infernal device had been too great for even a monster to bear. She'd used Adonis' knives to wildly hack apart the strays and corset, allowing her to breathe deep instead of suffocating in her sleep.

She gathered up the heap and straying strands of corset ties, slipped the breakfast hot muffins into her chemise pocket, unlocked her door with her toes, and tiptoed down the halls. She entered the servants' quarters and down eight flights of glass staircases, each step a descent into a world obscured by the glittering façade of royalty. As she descended, the air thickened, suffused with the stifling embrace of relentless heat, a testament to the ceaseless labour transpiring far beneath the gilded halls.

In the bowels of the palace, where the flames danced with an insatiable hunger and the stench, Ellius found herself amidst the throng of slaves, their weary forms bent to the task of kindling the inferno that sustained their oppressors above. The stink down there was super-concentrated from the mass of bodies working day and night. Their bloodshot eyes watched as Ellius deposited her offerings into the hungry maw of the fire pits, their gnarled fingers gripping the fire irons to keep the flames brewing. A small boy struggled down the rows of furnaces with buckets of coal.

The people of Estela were forbidden to sell themselves as slaves, but slaves were sold to them from the Eastern kingdoms. They were chained, abused, and if not bought— sent to their deaths for the harvesting of their glass souls. Yet amidst the despair, there lingered a glimmer of hope, a whispered promise of liberation that danced upon the lips of the oppressed. Queen Melia, in her rare display of compassion, had offered sanctuary to those condemned to servitude, a refuge from the clutches of bondage where they could toil with dignity. Her mother had promised that they would be buried in peace.

The exhausted boy hefted his bucket and threw his load into the sparkling flames.

Ellius offered the muffins to him. "Have you eaten, Mickey? Eat it quickly." She knew that the food her father had prepared was burned and often insufficient. The men would steal the children's portions leaving them to starve. The less the runts we 'ave 'ere, the quicker that bute can harvest them souls. In translation: More food for them

Mickey obeyed and stuffed two muffins into his mouth, melted butter oozing down his cheeks. Mickey was the youngest at eight years old. But he was her mother's slave, not her father's. His slaves were harvested. Melia's were secreted away in the night and buried quietly.

"Buy your slaves with your gold. I'm sure the merchants will enjoy that and your body." Father's voice dripping with contempt set Ellius' bones shaking to throttle his neck.

He with his ladies and his riches, never gave a moment to her and spent his drunken fury on her terrified mother.

Mother. How wretched last night was for her.

"I'll check on you and the little ones tonight, Mickey. Go on now."

Mickey bobbed and ran off with his bucket. Ellius wrapped her arms around her shivering shoulders as she ascended the steps. The boiling heat in the furnaces had kept her deliciously warm, but their warmth melted off her as she walked down the long corridors in the cold sea breeze.