Red.
I need to get rid of the Red.
The days passed, and I wearily kept my eyes trained upon the inner door.
But it never opened.
Soon my time was up. The process of my monthly bleeding gone now. It was over.
I take the sheets that are stained with the color and burn them in the fireplace that adorns the room.
Food had been slipped to me, once a day. I take the chalice of water that had been given to me and use it to wet another cloth, to clean myself. Once that is done, I burn it also.
Smoke soon fills the room from what I have done, the fire large and popping every second or so.
But my dress.
I don't know what to do about my dress.
It is still stained, and I cannot burn it.
The thought of him entering and seeing me had me shivering. Modesty had been looked down upon at the Temple. Clothes were light and made of sheer material. Because, why hide what the Mother Asundra had blessed you with?
What fools we were.
I know now, that the thinking of the Temple is one full of disillusion and luxury thoughts. It was because of what the Mother Asundra had blessed me with- that I needed to hide.
The door from the outside opens just a crack and a plate is slid in.
"Wait," I call out to whoever is on the other side.
The door stops, still the slightest of hesitation in their movements.
"I need clothes. Please."
The door closes.
I sigh and turn my eyes back to the fire.
However, several seconds later the door reopens, and a dress is thrown in, before it slams shut.
I take the clothing and sigh at the sight. Red.
A red dress.
It was something though.
I quickly replace it with my other one, throwing the stained rag into the fire.
That's how I spend my day.
Coughing from the smoke filled air and watching the fire consume whatever touched it.
It's not until later, when I feel the night hours approaching, that the door to the hall opens.
I look up and meet the blue eyes of Jonaus.
"Arishia...," he stands at the doorway, hesitating.
I continue staring at him. If he was looking for an invitation, he would find none from me. I was not foolish enough to invite anyone in.
Even Jonaus.
He tosses an object to the floor. I eye it before looking back up at him, "What is this?"
His eyes flicker to me, and then down the hallway, before they settle back down upon the fire.
"The Reaping is still happening Arishia."
I stare at Jonaus in confusion, "I know?"
"So...the King has certain events lined up, for the girls to undergo."
I stare at Jonaus blankly, waiting for his words to finally process within my mind, "How...," I can't quite grasp the words, because a horrible feeling is starting to pit itself in my stomach, "how does anyone survive here for five years?"
There was no way.
No way.
We had only been here for a month and already I had been taken, abused, and locked away.
There was no way, me- or any of the girls- could live in this palace of nightmares for five years.
"They don't."
Jonaus's words ring within the room. I swallow, my throat suddenly dry.
"The five years are a .... Formality. Really he could choose anyone at this moment to be his."
Those blue eyes cast a knowing look in my direction.
I know.
I know what he is implying.
"The five years are just a time limit."
"This is the third reaping though," I press. It had already occurred to me that the past two reapings had all ended in failure. None of the girls had survived.
"Well...it is how he chooses his Queen. Whoever is strong enough, and entertains him the best- that's who he chooses."
I shake my head at how evil the system for choosing our Queen is.
My eyes land back to the clothes. "And this?"
"There is an event tonight." I keep my face blank as Jonaus continues, saying, "All the girls will be there. They have been given herbs to mask their scent."
I narrow my eyes at that. I had been given no such herbs.
He reads the accusation in my eyes though, whispering, "He doesn't want you to take it."
Hot, red anger flashes down my body. "Why not?"
Jonaus looks away. I can already guess the answer.
"He...likes your scent."
Already singled out. "Why are the other's scents masked?"
Jonaus sighs and runs a hand through his hair. He is still standing at the doorway, occasionally turning his head to breath in air that is not cloaked in my blood.
"It's a celebration for the beginning of the Reaping. Many officials and high rank titles will be there. He doesn't want them to take what's his."
But he was willing to risk that with me.
He wanted to show me off.
The idea runs through my head.
I slowly stand, knowing now what the clothes Jonaus had thrown on the floor are.
I gently pick up the white top- no more than an undergarment. It is light but the material has repressors upon it- metal that is arranged in a way to attract the eye. I gently feel the beaded steel. It was beautiful. I couldn't deny that.
The steel looped down, each side connecting in the front, to show in the middle a line of diamonds trailing down. Exposing my stomach and resting upon it.
I pick up the other piece, nothing more than an undergarment as well. It was basically two long pieces of white clothing, connected together by steel repressors.
"Why," I whisper the word and look up to Jonaus.
"The others will be wearing something similar," Jonaus's eyes are downcast, a silent sorrow hidden in the folds of his blue.
"But none of them have repressors."
Those blue eyes pierce into me. I could read the truth within them.
"It's later tonight you say?"
Jonaus fidgets then, and suddenly I feel a realization come over me, exactly the same time as he says, "It's now Arishia."