Running into her third sister Saphira and her cousin Edvard did not bode well for Jayde, every time she came across them, they took great pleasure in tormenting her. The whole Freehold Clan hated her, they blamed her for all the snide remarks the people of Arvia said behind their backs.

Some of the clan members believed Jayde was a calamity waiting to happen. It was said she would bring a disaster to the family if she were allowed to stay, many pushed for her to be expelled from the Freehold Estate while others demanded that she be killed before a calamity befell the clan.

Za'thul refused to allow Jayde to be driven from the clan, by no mistake was it due to any soft feelings he had for his daughter, he was worried that should Jayde not be under the clan's control that someone would be able to perform a blood rite spell and it would be discovered she was actually his daughter.

Never mind the embarrassment such a truth would bring to the clan, but he would be charged with falsely accusing his wife and would face murder charges.

The only reason he had not killed her yet was that legend said that if you killed your child or parent, you would face harsh judgment from the gods. Whether that was true or not, Za'thul did not know, but there were many horror stories told of about heir's killing their fathers or their bastard children to hide their affairs and disasters befalling them, with those tales around Za'thul did not dare to find out if the legend was true or not.

With his hands tied he prayed that Jayde would die of natural causes in the pits. But like a weed, she stubbornly hung onto life, even after he arranged for Old Man Zhek death.

2

Saphira and Edvard were standing together in the middle of the garden, anyone looking at them would think there were brother and sister since they resembled each other so much. Both were tall and lanky, with long coal-black hair.

Saphira hair was braided and hung down the middle of her back like a thick black rope. She had a dramatic widow's peak, and her attractive angular black eyebrows framed her deep blue eyes. With her high cheeks, short, perky nose with full pink lips she would have been beautiful if not for the continuous look of discontentment on her face.

Edvard had similar features to Saphira, although his eyes were lighter, and his cleft chin added a masculine look his otherwise pretty features. Edvard's long hair was tied up in a single ponytail. On Doha is was considered a sign of wealth and power for men to have long hair, male slaves were shaven, while male servants had short hair.

Seeing Saphira and Edvard, Jayde tried to backtrack her steps, but fate wasn't on her side.

Pointing at Jayde, Edvard said: "Hey, it's that disgusting bastard."

Turning to look where Edvard was pointing to, Saphira nose wrinkled in disgust. "Filthy bitch," Saphira sneered.

"Oi, you bloody bastard get your stinking ass over here," Edvard shouted.

Jayde had no choice but to walk over to the two. Disobeying one's 'owners' could lead to a slave losing a layer of skin.

Bowing down Jayde quietly greeted them.

"Young Master, Young Mistress, how may I be of service?" asked Jayde subserviently.

Ignoring Jayde, Saphira and Edvard leaned closer together, after a whispered discussion, Saphira and Edvard came up with their diabolical plan. With a sinister glint in his eyes, Edvard smiled evilly at Jayde.

"The ancestor's library is filthy, go and clean it up," he ordered.

"A...a-ncestors' library? But no one is allowed to enter without permission," Jayde stuttered. Knowing that her third sister and cousin had come up with a new way to get her into a heap load of trouble.

"You useless piece of trash, are you refusing to follow your master's orders?" Saphira asked belligerently.

"N...n-o," Jayde tried to deny.

"But Head Housekeeper said that no one w—"

"Who is more senior, Head Housekeeper or us?" Edvard interrupted.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Knowing that is was useless to argue, Jayde lowered her head and whispered: "I will see it done, Young Master."

Either way, I am not getting out of this without a beating, Jayde thought, at least Head Housekeeper will only have her beaten, and it would just take a few days to heal, while Saphira and Edvard would have her lose a couple of layers of skin and break some bones for disobeying them.

Turning away quickly, Jayde made her way to the library, Saphira and Edvard followed her smirking at each other. There was going to be an excellent show to see, and they didn't want to miss it.

After entering the library, Jayde collected the broom from the cleaning room and started to sweep the floor.

Filthy my arse, she scoffed to herself looking at the spotless library.

Warily keeping an eye on Saphira and Edvard, Jayde was trying to figure out what they were up too. She was confused why both of them were just lounging around near one of the glass cases that housed one of oldest treasures in the library, she had thought that as soon as she had entered the library, one of them would have run off to call the Head Housekeeper.

Jayde concentrated on sweeping the clean floor, while sneaking peeks at the two occasionally. Saphira and Edvard seemed to ignore Jayde while discussing the latest gossip in Arvia, but unknowing to Jayde they would glance at her sometimes and smile sinisterly.

As Jayde neared them, they stepped away from the glass case. Still pretending to ignore Jayde they carried on with their discussion.

With her back facing the two, Jayde missed the cold, ruthless look in Saphira's eyes. Controlling her strength Saphira suddenly lunged forward hitting Jayde squarely in the back. Caught off balance and with no way to save herself, Jayde crashed in the glass case, toppling it over.

Time seemed to have slowed down to a snail pace as Jayde watched the glass case fall and shatter, the gold tome inside falling to the side.

With the sound of the glass case shattering, time seemed to revert back to normal. Jayde fell on to her hands and knees, one of her hands falling on a couple of pieces of broken glass shards lying on the ground. The glass shards cut deep into her flesh and blood started to seep from the numerous deep cuts.

I'm dead was all that was going through Jayde's mind at that moment. The elders will never pardon her for the crime of breaking the glass case, even if the tome was undamaged. The tome was the oldest, most precious treasure of the Freehold clan.

It was rumored the founding clan leader had been entrusted with guarding this tome and should any damage come to this book, the whole clan would be exterminated, but as long as the tome was safe — the Freehold clan would enjoy success and grow strong. No-one really remembered why or how the golden book came to the Freehold clan, but it had been guarded zealously for several generations.

One would have thought that considering how vital this tome was to the family, it would have been locked away in the family treasure vault, but the founding clan leader had left strict instructions it was to be placed in the clan's library, the reason for this was lost through time.

"Oh you useless piece of garbage, look at what you have done," Edvard screamed. "Cousin, quickly go and call the elders."

Unable to hide her grin, Saphira quickly ran out of the library. She raced to the clan's meeting hall, her whole body filled with joy. Finally, she could get rid of this thorn in her heart, for years her classmates at the academy had taunted her, whispering behind her back all because of the scandal caused by Jayde and her slutty mother.

She knew her classmates were envious of her outstanding talent, but every time she achieved something someone would always bring up that abomination and her slut of a mother.

Meantime, Jayde was trying to stand up, but Edvard kicked the back of her knees harshly, making her fall back down to the ground, her bloody hand accidentally landed on top of the golden tome.

Jerking her hand away quickly, Jayde did not notice how the eight intertwined leaves engraved on the cover of the tome started to glow softly, her blood disappearing, as though being sucked into the book.

"Oh you have done it now, you ugly bastard," Edvard taunted softly.

"They are definitely going to hang you now."

Jayde hung her head, smiling bitterly to herself. Isn't that want you wanted, she thought.

Her whole being filled with despair and helplessness, her limbs trembling with fear — she didn't have the strength to even attempt to stand anymore, sitting there among the broken glass, she looked like a broken doll.

Suddenly the air surrounding Jayde changed, there was a strange feeling prickling her skin, the atmosphere felt electrified.

The world seemed to have suddenly gone quiet, as though all of a sudden someone had hit the pause button. Edvard looked around warily, he felt something was really wrong. Swiftly he backed away, trying to get as far away from Jayde and the mess around her.

The pressure around the two increased exponentially, slowing Edvard escape.

Jayde felt it was becoming difficult to breathe, even trying to lift her head took immense effort.

The pressure around them kept on increasing. Both Edvard and Jayde felt as though their arms and legs weighed a ton. Edvard strength finally gave out, and he crashed to his knees.

His eyes darting everywhere he was filled with fear and regret, why did they have to break that specific case, there were other precious scrolls and tomes they could have targeted — the stories were true, he thought, they had bought a disaster to the clan.

All of a sudden, like a balloon that had popped, there was a high pitched squeaking noise.

Then all the energy and pressure released, and there was a blinding light.

BOOM!!

The library exploded.

© DJ Rogue 2023. All rights reserved