Free The Enchanted Castle (Shioni of Sheba Book 1) by Marc Secchia Page B

slaves of the King’s household to dress properly for their Prince? What do you think, Captain?”
    “Unaccepta ble, of course. An insult.”
    “Indeed.”
    Shioni fled to her corner. She seated the jebena among the coals and placed a chip of wood in its tall, narrow neck, to help the water to boil quickly. She must serve the Prince without delay. But her hands were shaking. When she poured the beans into a wooden pestle in order to grind them, she spilled several on the floor.
    “ She’s as clumsy as she is ugly,” said Captain Dabir. “Who trained this one?”
    “She belongs to my sister,” said Prince Bekele . “I should speak to her about the girl’s training. It is obviously lacking.”
    Shioni’s ears were burning . She spooned the ground coffee into the long neck of the jebena with great care, hoping the men would return to their conversation.
    “Slave! Come to me,” ordered the Captain. When Shioni was kneeling before him, he said, “You have offended our Prince, slave. What do you have to say for yourself?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Nothing, sir . Have you neither respect nor manners?”
    “Nothing, sir.”
    Her misery was clear; the Prince was chuckling behind her. “You have a fine way with dumb slaves, Captain Dabir!”
    “ And you’re filthy,” the Captain went on. “When last did you bathe, girl? This dry straw on your head is matted with dirt, just look, there’s a twig caught in the knots.”
    “Obviously, my little sister doesn’t know how treat her possessions.”
    “Indeed, Bekele . What a disgrace! Although it leaves a sour taste in my mouth even to talk about washing this ferengi filth. How does your sister tolerate such ugliness, day after day?”
    The Prince affected a lazy drawl. “Oh, out of spite–the better to show off her own beauty, I suppose. I’ll grant Annakiya’s a pretty little thing, but like all girls, she’s a vain and silly creature.”
    Captain Dabir’s answering laugh sound ed much like a hyena’s cackle. “But this one is proud, my Prince. She once dared speak back to me. As if a stupid slave-girl could know anything about honour! I told my men to leave her in the well for a few hours. But the lesson didn’t stick.”
    Shioni bit her lip hard to keep her self-pitying tears from welling up. So he had arranged for her to be trapped in the well! Rotten bully…
    Prince Bekele laugh ed again. He had travelled up from Takazze for the King’s lavish birthday festivities. He had probably been acting for the King while the King was here, overseeing the castle works, she thought. This really was too dreadful. Not just the Captain, but the Prince as well! Did they all hate her? Was it what they thought–every time people saw her in the courtyard, or at work, or training–did they all think she was repulsive?
    Annakiya wouldn’t see her like that–would she? The thought curdled her stomach.
    “Girl!” The Captain’s foot prodded her arm. “Are you deaf as well as an idiot? I said, clean my boots!”
    “At once, sir,” she whispered, making to untie the laces.
    “Stop! I said, use your hair! Are you completely witless?”
    A hideous chill seized Shioni, followed by a rush of heat pounding in her ears. No! He couldn’t mean it… there was mud and dung encrusted on the sides, so much of it… he was repeating the command, louder this time. She couldn’t bring herself to move. His shoes stank! Her whole body shuddered like a wind-swept leaf.
    A boot scraped along her spine . “There, ferengi, I’ve started for you.”
    It seemed that another person drew her long hair over her shoulder, that it was another who began to wipe the Captain’s boots ; but she knew it was her own hot tears splashing down, and her stomach clenching at the stench of fresh manure so close to her bowed head.
    But Captain Dabir was not finished yet.
    Winking in the lantern light, a slim, cool dagger blade toyed with her cheek. “How sweet of you to use your tears to clean my