Evil Luna's Sacrifice

(Carissa)

"You will serve His Majesty tonight."

I stopped recalculating yesterday's royal expenses. Financial reports and funding proposals piled up on the desk. I sorted them by division and stored them in the filing cabinet. My boss would lock it after work.

After turning off the computer, I followed the servant upstairs. I worked on the second floor and lived on the third floor of the palace. It was the floor for royal guests, but I was not a guest.

The servants had laid out clothes on the bed. They helped me take off my clothes and clean my entire body. It was a tradition I had undergone many times before. They dressed me in a nightgown without underwear and covered me with a coat.

"Drink this." The servant gave me a pill.

I took it and put it in my mouth. I didn't know what the medicine was for. The chief maid didn't answer when I asked. I took a glass from her colleague and gulped down the water to help swallow the pill. Then, I opened my mouth to show that I had taken it.

The woman escorted me to the fourth floor. She stopped in front of a pair of doors flanked by two guards. "Your Majesty, I bring you Carissa Moss."

I clenched my fists at the sound of that name. A woman of such low class should not have dared to mention my name without my title. I would teach her a lesson for her insolence.

"Only she may enter," Duncan Bayhill exclaimed from inside.

The two guards opened the door. I entered and waited for them to close it. The three of them stepped away from the front of the room. It was a habit I had memorized. No one was near us when the king summoned me.

A large man sat on the edge of the bed. He was wearing only a cloak and had not tied the belt around his waist. His eyes stared at me without blinking. His aura of leadership was so strong, even though he said nothing. Accustomed to that, I approached him.

"Sit," he ordered.

I obeyed. Duncan never spoke that command. When I stood before him, he would approach me, and everything would be over once he was satisfied. I had to wait for him to wake up to leave the room, because I couldn't do anything without his permission.

"Your husband is dying," the king said.

I furrowed my brow. That wasn't true. I didn't feel anything. If my husband were sick, I would have known. I touched the mark on the curve of my neck. The proof of our union gave no signal about my husband's condition.

"Are you joking, Your Majesty?" I murmured.

"Sleeping with another man for months has destroyed your bond. Your husband can feel you, but you cannot sense him."

His words pierced my heart like a sharp dagger. I forced myself not to clench my fists or show any reaction.