The Pride of a Slave Ch. 06

I woke up in my bed and stretched, a happy sort of soreness greeting me. I hadn't seen Dimitri last night, mostly because when Ryder brought me to my rooms he advised me to avoid Dimitri, because he would be informing him of what we had done.

I got up to see that it was well past breakfast and that a servant had brought in some fruit while I had slept. I bit into a pear and savored its sweetness as I looked out of my window at the green grass. I was in such a good mood I could barely stand it, and I felt the need to share it with someone.

I dressed in a flounce summer dress that I found in my closet and grabbed my tablet and books and walked to Dimitri's room. I had hoped to find him there so we could study, but when I received no call to my knock I walked in to see him gone and was sorely disappointed. I sighed and decided to set up shop on his bed, I had amazing memories on that bed and I felt in a very reminiscing mood.

I spread out my work on the bed with the intention of doing nothing but acting like I was studying, so that I had an excuse to surprise Dimitri but when he didn't show up for a while I decided to actually study. I spent two hours on political theory and history, which had become increasingly easier as I had discovered that if I just paid close attention to Victor and Mariah I could see it in action.

I closed the books after studying them and was left with the dreaded math book. I hated math, and it seemed to harbor the same feelings towards me. Usually, if I was in here, it was because of this damned subject. I moaned in defeat as I opened it up and began to work through some equations.

I checked my work against the key in the back and nearly sobbed when I realized they were all wrong. I cleared the tablet and started again, this time trying to work out the equation all over again. After about three tries I felt near to outright weeping and picked up the math book and laid my head down and covered it with the book.

"If there were a way for me to shove this into my head and actually understand it, I would barter a first born I think." I mumbled into the mattress and heard a soft chuckle.

I looked up, the book thumped down my back, and smiled when I saw Dimitri in the door way. I sat up and pulled the tablet to me, dimming it to hide how many recycled pages I had. He still walked over to me and picked it up chuckling again as he pulled each page out and read through the work.

I laid back with a dramatic poof, and stared at him, "I absolutely hate mathematics Dimitri, it is appalling at how complicated it is."

"Its really not that difficult."

I scoffed and closed my eyes, "Its unfair to say that. It is not that difficult to you, but I was under the impression that you were failing your art class, to which I can reply, it is really not that difficult."

Dimitri snorted, "I am not failing my art class, who told you that."

"Joseph, he told me right after he told me that I should leave here because even you were artistically slow and it would ruin my natural abilities."

The air between us froze and I sat up slowly seeing Dimitri's eyes become very light, "Does this Joseph do that often Seraphina? Ask you to leave with him?"

I waved it off, "Don't Di, I already told your father, there is nothing left to do. I will not be alone with him anymore, and that is that."

Dimitri didn't seem to wave it off as easily and I felt put out by his sudden coldness. I leaned back onto my stomach and watched as he wrote down the right equation and showed me how he got it. I nodded and began work, sensing, instantly, that Dimitri was in no mood for any flirtation from me.

I finally got the answers and sighed in relief and saw that Dimitri had a pair of earphones in and was working on his own tablet, a few of his books open as well. I sighed, knowing the earphones were a way to tell me that he didn't want to be bothered so I gathered up my books and tablet and stood up.

A brief flare of inspiration came over me and when I walked past him to go out of the apartment I leaned down and kissed the side of his neck. He leaned into my kiss a bit and reached up and caressed the side of my face before returning to his work. I smiled and left, feeling a little less nervous about how he was acting towards me.

I dumped my assignments on my bed and quickly changed into my paint stained t-shirt and skirt.

It was unusually hot and I found that wearing the dress had been quite cool, and I didn't want to exchange it for pants yet. I walked into the Lilac studio and saw my painting. It was beautiful and very erotic to my eye, I followed line after line and recognized the different lines of Dimitri's body. I even blushed when I realized I had a line in there that reminded me of his beautiful cock. I squealed in embarrassment for a second and grabbed the painting and took it down, tucking it away, making sure it faced away from me.

I grabbed my sketch pad and opened it up past Dimitri's drawings and I sat on the window seal and let my hand sketch again. I was thinking about Dimitri, worried about him, but I was also thinking about Ryder. He had told me the same thing Dimitri had, once we had finished making love, and it was a touch heartbreaking to hear, but I had already known that before I even allowed the idea of being with them into my mind.

I loved both these Princes my whole life, and there had been a point when I was sixteen, that I realized I would lose my cherished loves. As I realized this I had started to think of different ways to keep them, most involving tying them up and never letting them go. But it had been my mother that had put the idea of possibly getting into the University into my head and it had been Becka's older sister that had put the idea of sleeping with the both of them into my head.

I couldn't believe I still remembered that but I did, and I grinned to myself, I guess I had taken both of their suggestions. I was unsure of what would happen when the two men actually married, what wife would stand for a slave to be their husbands concubine. I looked down at my drawing and saw that I had drawn Ryder.

The sketches of him were not like the ones I had done of Dimitri, these ones hadn't been fueled by arousal, they had been fueled by love. And as I looked down into Ryder's bright laughing face, I did feel the pain of loving him hit my heart, much in the same way it hit my heart when I thought of Dimitri.

I sighed and kept drawing, each page turning out drawings of Dimitri and Ryder. Finally I walked over to the fresh canvas I had put up and I began to paint. I worked on another abstract, the paints blending into the beautiful array of colors. It turned out to look like a sunset, just a the moment when the sky slowly turned to night, part of it still afire with the sunset but the other part bleeding the dark blue into the sky for the quiet darkness.

Half way through the painting I got frustrated with my hair and grabbing a paintbrush I wasn't going to use I pined it up and out of my face. I felt a strange frenzy take over me as I kept painting, it was a lot like the manic energy I gathered when I tried to stop Dimitri and Ryder from doing something. I let the frenzy flow out, as I grabbed another empty canvas and paint. I had begun to fling the paint around a bit as I kept painting, one line turned into two lines, colors, shapes, impressions, I kept going, and it wasn't too long before I stared to see Ryder and Dimitri's faces hidden in the painting.

I watched as the burning side which held Ryder, and the dark blue night that held Dimitri blended together. The colors were strong on their own and when the blended it was like they were at battle, neither one quite mixing with the other. I fought the colors on the canvas until I finally gave up and put a strip of white down the middle of the two colors. The white blended the two colors with each other, creating a softer pastel of both.

I dropped my paintbrushes into the bucket of cleaner and stepped back and stared at my painting. I couldn't help but to chuckle at the irony of the painting. I, obviously, was still very aware of the balance I needed to maintain when it came to both of my friends. I took my time cleaning my brushes and I made sure to position the first painting I had worked on that day, so that it would dry evenly. It was good, and I thought about possibly giving this one to my class.

My stomach twisted when I thought of going back to my art class. I sighed and turned all three paintings to me and decided that it would probably be the first one that would be ready for class, the other two would take a long time to dry. I sat back and waved my sketchpad back and forth trying to fan away the sweat and heat that the room always caused, thanks to the huge windows.

I walked to the windows and opened the last two I hadn't earlier and opened them wide, bending far forward to do so. I felt someone behind me and turned quickly, letting out a relieved sigh when I saw Dimitri standing behind me. He grabbed my waist softly as I finished opening the window. He let me go when I stood back up and I turned and smiled at him.

"Thanks, did you see the paintings?"

He nodded, "They are good. I like the first one best."

I blushed wondering if he knew what the subject was and saw him smile down at me before grabbing my hand, "My father wants to have lunch together." I smiled, "He seems to be trying very hard to spend time with us lately."

Dimitri looked at me sharply then pressed his lips together into a firm line, "you think?" I nodded, "Yes, I remember when we were lucky to get even one meal a day with him, now he insists on breakfast and usually he is there for dinner as well."

Dimitri sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "I didn't notice, but you are right."

I could feel the worry rippling off of Dimitri and I looked up at him worried, "What is it?"

He tried to smile at me but it was stiff and wrong and I crossed my arms and frowned at him, before he could lie to me. He took one look at me and sighed, "I will let you know as soon as I figure it out myself."

I nodded, "Alright, if that's the best you can give me, then I will take it I suppose." He grabbed my hand, "Lets go then." I squeezed his hand and followed him out of the room.

********

Lunch ended a lot more quickly than I had wanted, but then I had to get used to it. The King was called away abruptly and asked that Dimitri join him. I waved to both of them and helped the servants pack up the small picnic and then they insisted they carry it away.

I walked back into the Palace and into my room and I spent the rest of the day alone, working on different assignments and studying ahead for the coming week. It was after dinner, which I had eaten alone, but before it was too late that I heard the soft knock on my door. My heart skipped a few beats wondering if it was Dimitri on the other side, but was startled to see Victor.

He greeted me and asked me to follow him, which I did, only to discover that he had been leading me to the Lilac room. I walked in with him and winced as he turned on the lights in the bare room. He walked over to the three canvas' and touched each, "When did you make these?"

I blushed, "Yesterday and today."

Victor walked back to where I was standing and stared at them, "For a class?"

I nodded, "One of them is going to my class, the other two was because I had a lot of pent up energy that needed dispelling."

Victor looked at them in silence then ran his finger over his mouth in though, "Dimitri informed me of the change in your relationship with him and Ryder."

I blushed deeper and dipped my eyes down in both embarrassment and guilt, "I cant say I'm too happy about it Seraphina."

"Because I am a slave?"

He snorted at my comment, "Because I think of you as a daughter, and I don't particularly like the path you are headed down."

I stared at the paintings and pointed to the last one I did, he looked at the one I had painted and nodded, "Yes, seems a bit prophetic doesn't it. Those two will never work well together, not even as they mature and realize their parts in this functioning government."

I nodded and bit my lip, "I'm being trained to be their advisor, aren't I?"

Victor nodded looked at me coolly, "yes, it was decided upon, shortly after your acceptance."

I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes, "And if I don't want to be?"

Victor snorted, "I think you, Dimitri, and Ryder already decided that amongst yourselves."

I couldn't help but feel the irony and laughed, "I slept with them, it doesn't mean that I will be a good advisor to them."

I heard soft clicking of high heels and turned to see Isadorre walking in, "You already are their advisor." I looked up at her confused, "They seek your opinion and approval of what they are doing almost constantly. Ryder does it far more often than Dimitri, but then it is a royal advisors job to advise, not run the country."

I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed my hands up and down my arms as if trying to warm myself, even though the night was brutally hot, "All advisors have been men."

Victor nodded, "Yes, and you see how often they are used. Mariah and I prefer to contact each other directly to ask questions and gain ideas for events and situations, but our mothers had advisors for them, because they couldn't get along."

"I don't remember reading that."

Victor chuckled, "Because they all failed horribly and Mariah's mother spent a great deal of time trying to kill my mother."

"You think that Di and Ryder will end up like that?"

Isadorre laughed bitterly, "They already are like that. They go too long with out you around and they start to trying to kill each other. Our government is built upon the idea that the Alpha and the King are close enough to run a country together, successfully. Keeping that in mind, how often are you breaking up their bickering or having to remind one of the others strengths and good points."

I wanted to deny what she was saying, but I couldn't because she was right, "I will be the first human advisor."

"A bonus to be sure, simply because it will make the Administrators feel like we are giving humans more respect, which we are trying to." Victor said softly

"I will be the first female advisor."

"Well, that is something that will be a tad harder to overcome but I'm sure that it will be done with more success than without you as the advisor." Isadorre touched my arm and smiled at me.

"What of my relationship with them?"

Victor snorted, "That is between the three of you, and clearly none of my business. However, I ask you to remember that my son will have little choice in his future wife."

I gaped openly at him, "He is going to have an arranged marriage?"

He nodded, "It has always been done this way, my wife was arranged."

"Oh." I said softly.

"Its barbaric, but it really is the only way to ensure that a woman is paired with him that will allow him to rule entirely. Most men will give in to the power of sex, and if a Queen were to withhold herself so she could gain power, it destroys the governments basic structure." Isadorre said softly to me before taking a few steps forward to look at my paintings.

"It happens often when the heir is female simply because it is in a males psyche to be the dominating one. What everyone seems to fail to understand is that the heirs are raised since birth to be heirs. They are schooled and taught especially with that thought it mind. So, when a husband or wife comes along thinking they can rule, they are sorely unequipped to do so, and usually it results in a great deal of turmoil."

Victor was trying to get me to understand, and from a logical stand point, I did understand him. It was the emotional part of me that didn't understand, the boys would be expected to have children with the women their parents chose, and if they didn't love the woman or the woman didn't love them, how could they have a happy life.

I sighed trying not to dwell on it too much, "When will they be taking over then?"

Victor smiled, "Mariah and I are going to start throwing them into as much as we can very soon."

Isadorre looked up from my more erotic painting, "Why so soon?"

Victor shrugged at his sister, "We both have become quite jaded when it comes to a lot of the politics and the government needs the new vision that Dimitri and Ryder have."

"What does that mean for me, exactly?" I said softly.

Victor smiled at me and picked up the third painting I had made of Dimitri and Ryder and held it up, "May I have this?"

I nodded, "Of course."

Victor wrapped it in brown paper I hadn't noticed had been sitting there until I saw him start to wrap, "You will be introduced into society as the heir Advisor after your first semester is over."

I gasped and counted on my fingers, "That's like four months away."

Victor nodded, "Yes and I would like to see exceptional grades in your academics so there would be one less complaint about your introduction."

I nodded, "Okay, but you haven't forgotten that I'm a slave, right?"

Victor chuckled with his sister, "Of course not, and I would ask if you would like your brand removed but I can already imagine the answer."

I sat and thought about it, it would be amazing to have the scar that forever defines me as the lowest example of our society removed, however, my mothers pride wouldn't allow me to do it. I had been born as a slave, and if I eliminated that small piece of my history, I eliminate the greater part of who I was.

"No, I don't believe I will."

Victor shrugged and looked over at his sister, "See, her pride runs very deep."

Isadorre looked at me with a worried look in her face, "You do realize that you will give every single Immortal the excuse of your status to refuse to accept you as advisor."

I crossed my arms and felt something tickling at the back of my mind. I concentrated and realized I was trying to remember a recent lesson in my political history and developments class. I broke down what the thought could possibly be and after far more work that I liked, the memory came back.

I cleared my throat to stop the two from debating each other, "Actually there is a provision in the original contract of governmental development that says that the advisor to the Immortal leaders could be a human of any status, granted that the current rulers, and future rulers approved of the candidate."

Isadorre started, "Where did you learn that?"

"Class, it took me a second to bring the memory back up, but once I did, it seems like a pretty simple fix, the complaints of the officials are easily over ruled by the very book they like to use to control the situations."

Victor snorted, "Don't say that out loud too often please."

I laughed and nodded, "I don't know much about the official business and history of the advisors, simply because I think my instructor finds the whole thing boring. We glazed over it briefly and are moving on."

Isadorre patted at her dress, as if to remove invisible wrinkles, "Well since we are going through with this plan I do believe it would behoove you to do a little extra studying on the title and responsibilities you will inherit from my brother and royal sister's unused advisor."

I nodded and helped Victor finish wrapping my painting. I didn't ask what he was going to do with it because I didn't feel it was my place. I looked at the other two paintings woefully and decided on the first to take to class. I grabbed my painting and Victor grabbed his wrapped painting and we left the Lilac room, each of us silently thinking about the conversation.

I left the two immortal royals down the hall as I went quickly into my own room. I had something new I must study and learn about and I felt ill equipped to do so. I left the painting on the side of my bed and walked quickly through the twisted halls until I came to a large, carved, maple door. I touched the different carvings, looking at the rendering of Shakespeare's Hamlet. I always touched Ophelia's flower covered form in the carving, feeling sadness as she laid in the bottom of the river.