exposed

Pov Roxanne

Their screams echoed in my mind again and again as the guards dragged  the first available girls out of bed and into the hall. One of them, Sahara, was only 13. She had been brought into the harem months ago and considering her beauty, it was decided that she should be trained for king's bed and not be used as a servant. She had been kidnapped from Arabia and still could not speak our language. I shivered in the thought of what those savages might do to her and before I could stop myself I yelled:" wait!"

The guards were almost out of the door, but there was something in my voice that made them turn around. Two of them were keeping Sahara by arms as she was kicking and crying for help, the other two had another girl, Firouza, who was struggling silently. Before they could take another step, I rushed over:
" please, take me. Let her go. Your master wants a virgin for entertainment and I fit what he desires."
For a moment, everyone was silent. The girls stopped crying and it seemed no one even breathed. Then it was my mother who spoke in a trembling voice:
" what are you doing Roxanne? Have you gone completely mad? Do you know what they are going to do?" she took my arm and drew me back to herself. But I was still looking at the guards who were weighting my offer and what they could do. I had to take my chance:
" take me to your king. This girl is not trained to entertain a king.she will not be able to satisfy him." I said in my most flirtatious voice, praying that they would listen to me. It worked. Before I knew it, they threw Sahara on the floor and grabbed me from my mother's arms and dragged me out. The last thing I heard was my mother's crying :" No, do not do this."

As we were dragged down the corridors to the throne room, I took Firouza's hand to try and calm her down but I was a mess myself. It was one of the advantages of the veil, that I could easily hide my feelings and at that moment, I was scared. I was not sure how, but all I wanted was to end the raid of terrors at nights and I knew that the risk I had taken could have ended up badly. There was no guarantee for my safety.

We reached the tall doors of the throne room, I could hear drunken laughters of men inside which made me even more terrified. Harem girls rarely danced for anyone other than the king unless the master had decided to give them away to one of his men, then they would have been asked to dance in front of that lucky gentleman to show their skills so he could appreciate king's generosity even more.

There were also girls who entertained king and his companions when they required, but they were slaves kept for entertainment purposes and not king's concubine or bedmates. Dancing was a skill that all the women should have learned and a noble woman never danced in front of any man but her husband. I was mastered in dancing, but never thought I could do it for these drunken barbarians.

I took a quick glance to my clothes, I was wearing a long light blue dress that was brought to me the first night in the hall. It was not a formal or fancy dress, just what I normally used to wear in my chamber while studying or sewing. The neckline was low and it became tight around my breasts but below my waist, falling loosely over my feet. My veil was also the same colour, connecting the thick layers of black lace that covered my hair.

It was our custom that maidens from high families were supposed to cover their hair with a lacy cover. Slaves and servants never wore those scarf as it was mostly a sign to indicate they were single and respectable and was only used as a element of beauty. My lace, however, was always black and so much thicker than others because of the king's order. 

The door opened and we were pushed inside still accompanied by guards. My heart clenched in pain at the sight of my brother's throne room, it was filled by drunken men who knew nothing of royal manners. I walked towards the throne in trembling steps. Up there, was Alexander, sitting on my brother's throne and wearing his jewel crown. 

I quickly scanned my surrounding, there were around 20 men in the room, all drunk and howling over us which made me more nervous. For a moment, i regretted what I had done by volunteering to be brought here. Those men were looking at us like a lion watching his prey. 

As we drew closer, the room became silent. I watched as the smile on Alexander's lips faded and his expression turned to shock. We stood only steps away from the throne when he got up and came closer to make sure he was seeing correctly. Firouza made a curtesy but I stood there staring into his blue eyes that now had streaks of red because he was slightly drunk. 

I could hear my own heart beats through the silence that was only broken by Firouza's occasional sobs. Nevertheless, I gathered my courage and opened my mouth:
" your virgins are here to dance."
As I said it, I bit my tongue. What was I doing? How was I going to dance for these drunken men? I could not perform with my long dress, so they probably were going to make me change into a dance custom which was close to nothing. Once again, I was thankful for the veil otherwise the fear in my eyes could reveal emotions that I was trying so hard to hide. I had to be strong and ask about the girls that had been taken last night.
Alexander watched me as if he could not believe that I was really standing there, his eyes fixed on my veiled face. He asked:
" what is she doing here?"
One of the guard explained that I wanted to come so they decided to bring me instead of a girl they first had picked. Alexander listened, his eyes still fixed on my every move. 
" so you volunteered to entertain us?" he asked in a cold icy voice.
" where are the girls you took last night?" My words came out before I could stop myself. He seemed surprised by my question and then his expression changed into anger.
" you dare to question my actions? Have you again forgotten your place?"
" I am not the forgetful one your majesty! You have forgotten your words as you promised to protect and respect us the first day and yet your guards break into our hall in the middle of the night and drag us out for what you call "entertainment". 
He was breathing heavily in anger, his face turning red as he suddenly cut through my words and yelled:
" silence!" He shouted and threw his goblet of wine to the wall. I instinctively took a step back, my body trembling as a result of his voice. His bloody eyes were still piercing into me making me feel uncomfortable and scared. He stood for a while motionlessly and then said in a firm voice:
" everyone, out, leave us!"
No body moved. It had been a while that no one made a sound, I honestly had forgotten about others. They were all in shock, watching Alexander and me in silence.
" out I said!" he yelled again and this time, it was like everyone came out of their shock and moved quickly to the door. The guards hesitated for a second, not knowing if they should take Firouzah or leave her and finally decided to usher her out.
I was terrified, he was at rage and we were alone and worst, he was drunk. He waited for the room to be clear and then his gaze returned to me.
" you speak recklessly princess, are not you scared of what I would do to you?"
He was circling me now, trying to intimidate me. 
" I could send you to dungeon" his eyes evaluating me to see any sort of reaction.
" or maybe you prefer to become someone's bedmate." my body visibly trembled at the thought, which made him smirk. 
" tell me princess, are you not at all worried about your own fate? Every time you act for someone else's well being, harem women, your brother, even peasant people, when are you going to realise that maybe you should be concerned about yourself?"
He got what he wanted, now I was really scared. What was he going to do to me? I have done a stupid thing by coming here, my brother warned me about this man who was standing only a step away from me and yet, I had disappointed him once more by not running away when I had a chance. He was standing so close that I could smell him now, a mixture of spices and alcohol filled my senses and surprisingly calmed me down. He was a barbarian and I had heard so many nasty things about them, I thought they were dirty uncivilised men who rarely bathed but this man seemed clean enough with his blond hair and bare face. His eyes were light blue, now showing red veins as a result of wine.
" what are you going to do to us?" my voice came out as a mumble. He bust out laughing.
" See, this is much better. Now you care about your fate as well as others. As I told you before, my men will pick the women they desire as their wives, that is actually what happened to your two friends from last night. You see, I was once again misjudged by you princess. I have kept my words."
His expression changed from laughter to seriousness.
" as for you, I see that you still have not accepted me as your new king and until we resolve this problem, I cannot consider anything for your future. I want you to obey me and accept that your brother is no longer the ruler of these lands, that I have the same privileges  as he did and you are going to pay me the respect you used to have for him."

He turned and walked to the throne and sat on it.

" We re going to start now. Remove your veil."
I was in a nightmare and I could not wake up. A stranger, a barbarian, someone who had taken away all the things I loved asked me to take my veil off. I could not believe what he was asking me.His shout made me jump:
" take it off, You know that I can do it by force. I let you do it yourself."
" no, please, my lord, do not ask me to do this. I can not... It is not right..."
I was crying in fear, just begging him not to do this to me. He was staring at me with a stoney face still waiting to see what I would do. I took a few steps towards the throne and kneeled.
" I beg of you my lord, have mercy. Ask me anything but this."
He got up and reached for my hand, took it gently and helped me to my feet. I was still crying and my body shook visibly in fear.
" You see Roxanne, this is what you should have done when you entered the room. But as I explained, you will have to behave like you did for your brother and from what I heard, you always took your veil off when you were alone with him."
In an instance his hand reached to my veil and his powerful fingers tore the piece of silk from my lacy scarf. His action was so sudden and forceful that I could not react in anyway as I was pushed to the ground with my knee length hair freed from its cover and my face exposed in front of a ruthless stranger. 
a moment later, his blue eyes stared into mine with no cover in between. I was unveiled.