Free Honour by Viola Grace Page B

her through another enormous gate. If the gate indicated the size of the guy she had just been tested for, she was in a lot of trouble.

Chapter Two
     
     
    The exterior guards wore scarlet and gold; the interior guards wore blue and black. The guards inside took possession of her, and they walked her into the harem.
    Honour’s mind translated it as harem, but haram back on earth meant forbidden or prohibited, and whatever word they were using in Nyal common was being translated for her into harem. She was being put in a prohibited zone full of females.
    The guards weren’t chatty. She tried to get an idea of the species she was dealing with, but the guards were concealed except for their eyes. They had eyebrows, dark eyes and thick lashes. Aside from that, she had no clue what she was surrounded by.
    The scent of flowers reached her before they entered the gardens. The guards gripped her arms and kept her moving forward when the two hundred pairs of eyes turned to stare at her. The other females looked frightened, hostile, curious and calculating all at the same time. Honour suddenly felt a lot less confident about her ability to survive until she was sent back to the base.
    “You will be bathed and groomed.” One of the guards spoke with a feminine tone. His body was not feminine so Honour was guessing armed eunuch.
    “I was just scrubbed in medical.”
    “You need to relax and eat. Bathing will allow you to do both. Would you prefer the public chambers or the private?”
    Relieved to be given the option, she said, “Private.”
    The guards nodded and slightly changed their path.
    The groomers were two silent women who went after all hair below Honour’s chin as if there was some kind of prize for the most removed. After she was plucked bald, they bullied her into a hot, scented bath that did actually relax her. Small sandwiches and fruit were provided with chilled fruit juices, Honour felt pampered and mellow by the time she was pulled from the water and tucked into a longer robe with a wide cincher that pulled her waist in ridiculously tight.
    The groomers sat her down and wrangled her dark hair until it was twisted up and curls were shooting out in smooth cascades.
    The guards were waiting for her outside the bathing chamber, and they showed her the cubicle that she was going to call her own for the duration of her stay. It was sparse but enormous at twenty by twenty. Honour had never before had a room that was big enough to skip rope in.
    “Morning bells will be your call to meal time. Follow the others into the gardens, your meal will be waiting. If you need help, call for one of the guards. We honour your sacrifice.” The guard pressed his hand to his chest, and he bowed low.
    Honour blinked and backed into her cubicle. If they thought she was engaging in some kind of sacrifice, what the hell was she supposed to be seducing?
    She waited until the guards were no longer outside her room. She slowly emerged, heading for the gardens. There were smells out there that she recognised, and she wanted to see if this was an actual representation of a rose or just one of the myriad plants that mimicked the scent.
    A chime rang out and women began to return to their rooms. Honour continued on until she saw the pink roses, she fell to her knees at the base of the bush. She buried her face in the blooms and inhaled deeply. It was just like being back at the florist shop on earth. She had missed the scent of roses, true roses, so very much.
    A hand fell on her shoulder. “Time to return to your quarters, Terran.”
    “My name is Honour.”
    She rose to her feet and smiled at the bush. With her head high, she walked with the guard back to her room. If she could continue to visit that rosebush, this confinement might not be so bad after all.
     
    She was sitting next to the roses and looking around. “Hello, is anyone out there?”
    “Good evening, Honour. I apologise for the abruptness of your acquisition, but we were