Chapter 34 - Anya

All I could feel was Lucy's big brown eyes burning a hole into the side of my head. "Stop staring at me, it's creepy." I said turning my face towards her looking at her weirdly. I was still hugging my knees when I gave her a dirty look but she just smiled and jumped up.

"Come on, I'll go run you a bath. Then after a nice long relaxing bath. I'll get you something warm to eat. You must be starving by now, you haven't eaten in days." Lucy said holding out her tiny hand in front of my face. I looked down at her small hand hesitating whether or not if I should take it but my stomach interrupted my train of thought.

Just her mentioning something about food made my stomach growl loud enough that I knew she definitely heard it. I couldn't help but blush puffing out my cheeks looking down at the floor from embarrassment. Lucy giggled at my reaction and I threw my hand into hers allowing her to help me up.

"A bath sounds amazing but some food sounds way better." I groaned grabbing my stomach tight.

Lucy giggled, "I promise to get you some food but first let's get you cleaned up." Lucy said grinning ear to ear. "Why don't you go pick out a gown while I run you a bath." She said pushing me towards the closet.

I rolled my eyes giving her a small grin, "okay fine." I feel a little better even under all these bad circumstances. I guess I should thank Lucy for all her kindness when I get the chance but for now I need to come up with an escape plan.

Their is no way in hell that I am going to become some dirty old man's sex toy. From what I read in history books, a concubine is like a mistress but the sad part is the wife knows her husband is sleeping with another women. That's just so sick and wrong in so many ways, besides I refuse to ever be second in any relationship I'm in and I'm definitely not willing to share the man I'm with.

I padded my cheeks with my hands trying to calm myself down. Stop stressing yourself over something you can't change Anya. From what I read most of the women that were a concubine honored their title as sad as that sounds but I for one am not going to be one of those girls. The only thing I need to worry about at the moment is getting the hell out of here.

I pushed all my negative thoughts in the back of my mind. I'll deal with all that mess later for now and focus on finding something you can run in easily. I told myself opening the closet door looking for anything other than a gown. I can't run in these over size puff balls, I growled in my head. Every single gown was either to heavy, extremely ugly, or impossible to run in.

I was close to giving up when my eye caught a simple white dress in between two box shaped princess gowns. I pushed the two heavy dresses aside and lifted the dress off the rack admiring it's beauty.

The dress was backless and white with long sleeves. Something I probably would have worn to prom. I rolled my eyes in annoyance just recalling how my prom went a few years ago. The dress I worn kept righting up every time I tried to dance and a bunch of jackasses kept trying to grind against me so I didn't last more than an hour there.

I'm not a big fan of long dresses because I always felt scared that I would trip and land on my face but this dress was different it had slits running up on the sides. So it will be easy to walk in, I think. I pressed the dress against my body.

It was flowy, and more important it was something I could run in if need be. Lucy popped her head into the closet looking at the dress in my hands.

"Out of all these gowns in here, that's what you found to wear?" She frowned looking displeased. "Yeah, I like it. It's simple and beautiful." I said shrugging my shoulders and it's something I can run in but I left that part out.

"I was really looking forward to dressing you up in a more..." she stop talking, I could tell she didn't want to insult the dress I picked out. I gave her a small smile, "A more extravagant dress." I said finishing her sentence for her. She nodded her head looking embarrassed.

"I'm just a simple girl who likes simple things," I said still smiling at her. Which is true just give me a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt and I'll be happy.

She still looked disappoint but her smile came back like she remembered something important. "Come on let's get you cleaned up. I can't wait for you to see your bathroom. Your going to love it!" She shouted pulling me out of closet in a hurry. I threw the dress onto the bed and followed her into the bathroom.

The bathroom was huge and was filled with the scent of something sweet like honey. In the middle of the room was a big tub that had bubbles over flowing out of it. On top of the bubbles was a bunch of little small pink flowers.

"Wow! This bathroom is amazing!" I shouted happily taken in everything around me. The walls had a beautiful peachy color to them and in the left hand corner of the room was a small fountain with a naked woman made of gold squirting water out her hands and mouth.

"I knew you would like it." Lucy said smiling satisfied with herself. "Now come on get in the tub before the water gets cold." She said trying to take off my night gown.

"Hey stop! What are you doing?" I asked her stepping away from her pulling my night gown back in place. "Taking your gown off so you can get in the tub, what do you think I'm doing?" Lucy said looking confused putting her hands on her small hips.

"I can take off my own clothes and I can take a bath by myself too." I said awkwardly but the look on her face fell and she looked so pitiful.

I sighed, it's not like I can say I'm shy anymore Blaze made sure of that. I rolled my eyes remembering the way Blaze would torture me in the bath house. Always poking me in places she shouldn't but I felt a pain in my chest just recalling my memories of her. I miss her so much.

I sighed again, pull yourself together Anya you will see her again once you escape this prison. I looked at Lucy's sad face, "fine you can help me." I said annoyed and her face lit back up.

I took off my night gown and got into the warm water slowly. "This feels incredible." I moaned sinking deeper in to the water and stopped when my shoulders touched the bubbles on top of the water. Lucy poured some water into my hair until it was completely drenched then she grabbed a glass bottle on a stand next to her. The bottle had some red creamy liquid in it.

She poured some of the liquid into her hand and the most loveliest smell hit my nose. "Mmmm! What it that? It smells so good like cinnamon and apples!" I shouted with delight when she poured some of into my hair and started scrubbing.

"I'm glad you like," Lucy said happily turning my head away from her. I couldn't see her face but I knew she was smiling. "The young Master picked this out himself. He will be very pleased to hear that you like it." Lucy said practically singing with excitement.

I frowned at her words, for some reason the smell wasn't as lovely as before. I grown real quiet debating whether or not if I should ask her what has been weighing on my mind. I opened my mouth and before I knew it her name was rolling off my tongue.

"Lucy. . Can I ask you a question?" I asked a little nervous waiting patiently for her to respond. "Yes my Lady, you may ask me what ever you like." I could still hear the cheesiness in her high pitch voice.

"Why are you so happy working for a man who doesn't care for his people?" I asked her seriously, she stopped scrubbing my hair and I thought maybe I slipped up.

"I'm sorry for prying you don't have to answer my question." I said in a big rush trying to laugh it off but she went back to scrubbing my hair.

She was silent for a bit before she finally answered. "It's because he saved my life." She whispered I could hear the grief in her voice but she continued pouring water into my hair rinsing out the soap.

I turned around slowly to look at her small face with curiosity. I wanted to ask her how but I didn't want to push her so I waited until she was ready to talk.

"When I was a little girl my father died at war and it hit my mother really hard." She paused and her face had a pained expression written all over it. I took my hands out of the water and shook them back and forth in a frenzy.

"You don't have to answer really!" I said awkwardly trying to smile. She finally found my eyes and held them. "No I want to finish. If it will help you understand the young Master even a little then I'll be happy to oblige." She said smiling but her smile didn't reach her eyes. I dropped my hands back into the water looking back at her seriously nodding my head.

"My mother became an aggressive alcoholic. It was like she forgot I existed. . until we ran out of money." Lucy picked up a small container that looked like it had some yellow ointment in it. She put some of it on the end of her finger and pressed it to my lips smearing it in. I tried not to flinch but whatever she put on lips was burning them like crazy.

"Don't worry it's just medicine. The burning will only last for a few seconds." She said putting the container back on the stand and took a big gulp of fresh air.

"For the first time in weeks she finally acknowledged me. I was so happy at that moment." Lucy said smiling sadly, she grabbed a scrubbing tool off the stand.

"Let me see your left hand." Lucy asked and I gave her my left hand and she started scrubbing under my nails.

"One day my mother got me a new dress and she cleaned me up real good and I thought things were finally going to be okay again until she sold me for two bottles of alcohol." I couldn't help but gasp, no one likes to be looked at with pity so I tried my best to cover up the sympathy. I could see the tears forming at the corners of her eyes but she dropped my hand and wiped the tears away with her hand giving me a fake smile.

"Don't look at me like that, it's okay if my mother never sold me I probably would have starved to death. So in a way she was helping me." Lucy still had a fake smile on her face but her bottom lip was quivering a little. I guess I failed hiding my emotions. I'm not surprised I can't hide my emotions to save my life.

"I'm sorry." I said but she shook her head. "Don't be," She said smiling continuing her story.

"The man my mother sold me too tried to sale me to another man who ran a prostitute house. Thinking he could make good money off of me but I was to young and he was turned down. So I was considered useless to my old master."

Lucy let out a big sigh grabbing my right hand, "He was extremely cruel, he would beat me for doing the slightest thing I did wrong or just cause he wanted too." Lucy said scrubbing my nails. I could tell that her memories were extremely painful. I pulled my hand away from her putting it on top of hers squeezed her hand tight.

"One night he got really drunk and angry when their was no more alcohol to serve him. He blamed it all on me saying that I drank it all, so he beat me until I couldn't move. I thought I was going to die and I guess he thought so too. He dumped my body on the street and left me for dead." I couldn't control my tears I knew I was naked but I didn't care. I stood up in the water wrapping my arms around her hugging her tight. I could feel her body tense up but she slowly loosened up leaning against me.

I feel so guilty for ever thinking I had things bad. Lucy is so much younger then me but yet has be through way more shit then I have ever been through.

I could feel the water on my body seep into her clothes. She finally pulled away from me holding my hands in hers. She smiled a real smile for the first time since this conversation started.

"One of the palace maids found me and snuck me into the palace when she realized I was still alive. She took good care of me, healing my wounds and feeding me to help build my strength back." Lucy smiled like she was reliving a fond memory.

"Her name was Poppy and she was like a big sister to me. Sweet, kind, and loving but I knew she was putting herself at risk for me so I was planning on leaving when I was completely healed but someone told on her and the guard's barged into the room that I was staying in and they dragged me to where the young Master was." Lucy got up and grabbed a big white towel for me, wrapping it around my naked body.

I forgot I was even naked I was to busy holding my breath, it was like someone was telling me a horror story and I was soaking in every detail. I stepped out of the tub sitting down on the tub step waiting for her to continue her story. "The young Master is a terrifying man. I will not lie about that." Lucy said looking me dead in the eyes sitting down beside me.

"When I first met him, his presence gave off such a powerful vibe. The energy in the room it was almost suffocating. I couldn't even look him in his eyes. His voice had so much power behind it. I could barely stand up when he told me to rise." Lucy got up and grabbed another towel putting it on top of head drying my hair.

"Again I thought I was going to die for sure this time but I was more worried about what he would do to Poppy." Even though the towel was over my head I could still hear the fear in her voice like she was reliving that moment in time.

"I don't know why he actually spared our lives that day. I want to believe it was out of kindness but I was told it was because he was bored and didn't want to smell the stench of blood before he ate his dinner." Lucy said helping me dry off my body.

"I'm guessing you don't believe that part?" I asked looking into her small face. She smiled happily, "I don't believe that for a minute. He gave me a job, a roof over my head, and I have plenty of food to eat everyday." Lucy opened the bathroom door looking around the room before she turned around giving me a very bright smile that would have maked the sun jealous.

"Want to know a secret?" Lucy whispered to me grinning ear to ear, I nodded my head yes. "I believe the young Master is not as scary as people say he is. I think he is just. . misunderstood." Lucy said in a tone that sounded more like a fact and not her opinion.

"Well what happened to Poppy?" I asked nonchalantly picking up the dress I through on the bed earlier. When she didn't answer right away I turned around to look at her. Lucy's face was pale and she looking like she was about to puke.

"Oh my God I'm so sorry I thought you said he spared both your lives." I said feeling like an asshole for even asking. I dropping the dress on the bed and gave her a big hug. "No he did. . but a few months ago she spelt wine on the young Master." I wrapped my arms around her head pulling her into my chest and she cried her eyes out.

Just when I was thinking maybe the Emperor wasn't such a bad guy. "Why would he kill her over something so stupid if it was just an accident. .," Lucy cut me off.

"No, you got it wrong the young Master couldn't have killed Poppy at the time she died. I was her replacement when she was told to leave the room. An hour after she left one of the guards came rushing in saying they found a young girls body she was raped and brutally murdered. I didn't know at the time that it was Poppy's body that they found until I over heard the maids saying it was her." Lucy said cried even harder into my chest. I rubbed her back in a comforting manner telling her to shush and that everything was going to be okay.

I think Blaze was right on the money. The serial killer has to be guard, that's the only logical explanation and he's here hiding out in this palace.