Free Steel Maiden by Kim Richardson Page B

one with
the tanned skin. Her coffee-colored eyes sparkled, and a tiny smirk
made its way to her face.
    “Don’t be ridiculous, Triss. She’s not highborn,” said Kayla, before I could reply.
    I was pretty sure she was about my age, but
she looked down at me like she was about to scold a child.
    “The state of your nails and your clothes,
and the way you carry yourself more like a soldier than a lady—you
might look highborn, but you can’t fool me.”
    I hid my anger and smiled. “Never said that
I was.”
    “She’s a witch, didn’t you hear?” Triss’
white teeth glistened as she smiled.
    “Witches can change their appearance. My mom
told me that. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. There’s
no way she could have hidden for so long. She shape-changed into a
cat. Didn’t you?”
    I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a
witch.”
    “What then?” pressed Helen. Her cheeks
reddened, and she put her delicate hands on her hips. “How did you
do it?”
    Although it was Helen who had asked, I could
tell that all the women were dying to hear how I’d escaped the
clutches of the priests for so long. They had stopped moving, and
their eyes fixed on me. While they were obviously intrigued, I
could also see that they were angry with me. It was unfair that I
had escaped for so long while they had been trapped.
    I didn’t want to lie to them, and somewhere
I felt that I owed them the truth. They had been here for years,
probably since they were eleven or twelve years old. My stomach
twisted at the thought of the priests soiling their innocence.
    I tugged on my towel.
    “After my mother died when I was ten,” I
began, not wanting to tell them that she had been murdered by my
father, “I was placed in the care of a barren woman. There was a
trap door under our living area, and I’d hide there when we had
unwelcome company. The priests knew she could never have children,
so they seldom came by. But sometimes they did. They had heard
rumors over the years, and they would come and check periodically,
just to make sure. I was lucky.”
    “Until now,” said Helen.
    It was almost as if she were glad that I had
finally been discovered. It was plain that they all felt that it
hadn’t been fair that I’d escaped the clutches of the priests for
so long. I saw a hint of envy in their faces. And even if I wanted
to hate them for it, I couldn’t. If I’d been one of them, I’d hate
me too.
    “It doesn’t matter anymore,” said Kayla, and
we all looked at her. “They own you now.”
    Even if I knew this, it still stung when she
said it. She shook her head disapprovingly.
    “This is a fool’s race. You’re going to get
yourself killed.”
    “So I’ve been told.”
    She was right. I was a fool participating in
a fool’s race for a group of men I detested. I almost trusted them
enough to explain why I was really entering the race, but I
couldn’t risk Rose’s life by telling them that the high priest was
blackmailing me.
    Although they resented me, I could see that
they were also sympathetic. Maybe because they thought I’d be dead
soon. Maybe they were right. A life as a priest’s concubine was
better than no life. I couldn’t believe I was thinking this, when
just two weeks ago I’d sworn that I’d take my own life rather than
become a concubine.
    They dressed me in silence, and it only made
me feel worse. But I brightened at the sight of my new clothes: a long-sleeved green linen tunic with a leather
bodice, a pair of soft leather leggings, knee high leather
boots, and a black cloak made of the finest wool I’d ever touched.
All my life I’d had hand-me-downs, and most of the time I’d made my
own clothes from rags that even the people of the Pit considered
trash.
    I stood there gaping like a lovesick girl. I
was immediately struck with a profound sense of guilt because, for
a moment, I’d forgotten where the clothes had come from.
    When they were finished dressing me, Triss
stood behind me and