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She turned and touched the queen’s shoulder. “I had no idea, Your Majesty. I’m so sorry. She was taking so long assisting me, I thought I’d very well be late, and the little smirk she wore the whole time—I should have known something else was at play.”
I snapped my mouth shut and couldn’t help the low snarl that escaped. Where was Noah to see this Vanessa? He knew she was aware of my outfit. She’d been there when he told me about it.
“How stupid this human is, Your Majesty. To not follow a direct order. I kept reminding her she needed to get ready as well and that the event was far too elegant for her plain clothes. But she had the audacity to tell me I was the one who was misinformed.”
Vanessa stepped closer to me, shaking her head. “After the wonderful life you've been given.” She turned back to the queen. Much quieter so that no one else heard, though they were watching like predators drawn to a kill, she whispered, “The damn child had the gall to tell me it didn’t matter what you wanted. That she was allowed to do whatever it was she pleased.”
The queen stood frowning, stoic as though she were a mere statue. The frown deepened before she looked at me in disgust. Lips puckered, she strode toward me. Circling me as the crowd stood quietly.
The weight of the number of eyes on me grew heavy, and my face heated beneath their stares. We were the main event now. I was too embarrassed to meet anyone’s gaze that I knew. Though I’d done nothing wrong, Vanessa, and it appeared the queen, were totally fine with humiliating me.
Arguing my side would prove my insolence at being a feeder and addressing the queen at an event like this one. They’d trapped me. Right where there was nothing I could do.
And Vanessa knew it. She smiled at me with her dainty, evil hands on her hips.
“Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness. Please let me go and dress appropriately so that I may make this up to you,” I said.
The queen brought her hand to her face, studying me. After cocking her head to the side, she shook it once. “After what the duchess has told me, I should throw you out of the very castle itself.”
There were a few gasps from around the room, I assumed more from staff than the other fae.
Where were the king and Noah? They'd never stand for this kind of humiliation.
“You are Prince Noah’s feeder though, and as he is not here to determine the consequences himself, I shall do so in his stead.” She turned on her heel and whispered in the closest staff member’s ear.
The man looked at me and then ran off somewhere.
“Because you have chosen to humiliate me and the duchess at her celebration dinner, it seems only fair that you are humiliated as well. Instead of metaphorically ripping the clothes off your back by throwing you out, perhaps something else can be arranged so that you are punished properly.”
The man the queen had spoken to returned, this time placing a chair near the queen.
Vanessa lunged forward, grabbing me by the front of my dress before I had time to react and ripped it, yanking harder when she saw what was happening. The rip tore deeply and I was standing with my lace undergarments showing.
“Please,” I cried, trying to cover up as the silent room watched.
She dragged me forward and threw me into the chair. My dress slipped off my shoulder, and holding it up and keeping the front closed wasn’t possible. I let it slide off my shoulder as I desperately tried to hide what I could.
“Sit down and let your queen speak to you,” Vanessa said. “I’ve never seen anything like this, Your Majesty. Perhaps she should be made to sit here and lower her hands so she can be as disgraced as she made you.”
The queen stared at me. Something flashed in her eyes, but she continued looking at me and only me. “Remove your hands, Cora. And face your punishment.”
Degrading humiliation. I trembled, hands shaking as I removed them and sat up, the dress falling lower to reveal my stomach as well. Tears welled in my eyes, but I didn’t want to give in. I wouldn’t give in.
I’d never been so exposed. So on display. Both being torn down verbally, put into the exact place that the fae must think of us human feeders, and being stripped in public. Humiliated in a place where decorum was key to respect.
I had been stripped of more than my clothes. They’d stripped me of my worth, my value.
And for that, I cried inside, screaming in the delta position as I kept my gaze forward, not outwardly letting on to the pain while I broke piece by piece on the inside.
