Chapter 4
The next time I got out of bed, I heard a rattling noise coming from the kitchen. I reached for the door and heard women chatting and laughing happily. At least that wasn't very threatening. I went back to sit on the bed and wondered if they would bring me some food soon. I decided that I would go to the kitchen myself in the morning if no food came.
Food finally arrived and I happily devoured it in my room. I went to bed again and spent my day dozing off and worrying.
During the night I forced myself to go back to the house and try the doors, but the trip was fruitless.
The following days were similar and after five days in my room, I was so fed up that I decided to take a risk and go out during the day. However, I decided to try to stay out of the eyes of the lady Malfoy, as I didn't want to annoy her by reminding her of my existence.
I put on my cape and walked resolutely out of the room. I walked through the large ballroom to the front door. It was a beautiful day outside and I decided to take a tour of the house. I didn't want to go too far, since I did not want to provoke anyone by seeming to try to escape.
I had already been around the house three times when I saw Dexter appear out of nowhere in front of me. He eyed me suspiciously. I hadn't seen him since the first night's encounter, but I was relieved that he seemed okay.
"What is the ma'am doing?" he asked, his eyes narrowed. His eyes were bright though, so I guess he wasn't intoxicated this time.
"I'm just going around the house."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to go outside. Can't I be outside?" I asked defensively. I had been around the house for a while and the servants had seen me and no one had said anything, they had just carried on doing their work.
Dexter narrowed his eyes even more and seemed to suspect I had an ulterior motive.
"The lady has asked you to come to her," he announced reluctantly. I gulped loudly and shifted uncertainly.
"Okay."
I started to walk towards the house, but Dexter stopped me. "Lady Malfoy is outside. Follow me."
Dexter started to march away from the house to a small lake. Sure enough, there was Raina, lying on a blanket in the sun by the lake. Next to her sat a young girl with black hair, maybe about fifteen, who was waving up and down a big fan at Raina and holding a wine cup in one hand. The girl was beautiful and she smiled kindly in my direction as she noticed us approaching. The girl's black hair glistened in the sun and she reminded me of Snow White very much. The girl was dressed in a simple, clean, light-coloured linen dress.
Raina was lying on the ground with her eyes closed and her head on a lush velvet cushion, looking like a princess going to a party. She wore a silver jewel on her forehead, braided into her hair and wore an expensive-looking light green dress. I wasn't sure if she looked ridiculous or gorgeous.
"The mudblood, my lady," Dexter announced our arrival. Raina slowly opened her eyes and sighed dramatically.
"Sit," Raina commanded, gesturing to sit down. I sat down on the ground with my legs crossed, tense, because I didn't dare go on the blanket, even if I could have fit on it. Raina sat up and looked at me appraisingly while eating the grapes girl started to hand her.
"Armand warned me to be wary of you, but I must admit that you have proved to be a rather dull in that regard," Raina said, giving me a disappointed look.
I didn't know what to say in response to her, so I said nothing.
Raina smiled mockingly. "Sure, I've heard that you've been coming to my door at night and then there was the attack on poor old Dexter, but otherwise you're like a mouse in a hole. Harmless and boring. I was so looking forward to being entertained by you."
I looked at Raina now, startled, but she didn't look angry, just mocking.
"I didn't attack Dexter," I gasped in alarm.
"Mudblood is lying. The lady herself found me knocked out by a bump on the head. I just had busted you snooping around and then you knocked me out!" Dexter gave me a dirty look.
I blinked confused. Did he not remember what had happened?
"But that's what happened! You got drunk and fell on the floorboard and passed out, and then you didn't wake up!" I exclaimed.
Now all three were staring at me, dumbfounded. Raina was the first to react and started laughing sweetly.
"Dexter, you old drunk!" Raina laughed with tears in her eyes.
Dexter blushed and mumbled something about mudbloods and concubines before he too sat down on the blanket and started eating the grapes the girl was holding.
"Okay, you didn’t attack Dexter. I was wondering how you'd managed to knock him out when you're obviously so bad at magic that you've never used magic once while you were here. And some say the mudbloods are as capable of magic as the ones from the wizarding bloodlines but that's just propaganda, isn’t it? Armand also said you visited Hogwarts, but I guess they can’t give talent to mudbloods. Are you sure you're not just a muggle?" Raina asked curiously.
"I can't do wandless magic," I admitted, because there was no point in lying about it when it was so obvious. I felt the need to argue to her about her prejudices about muggleborns but I was too nervous about the situation, so I just stayed quiet.
"Mmm, what about potions, divination or anything else?"
"Some of them."
"Right, then I guess we've been watching out for you for nothing. What was your name again?" Raina asked bored.
"Her... Renea Maga."
"Herrenea Maga. What a terrible name."
"Well, it's just Renea," I corrected, but Raina wasn't listening anymore and was talking to the girl.
"We want to play discipline with Herrenea, so will you get it from inside, Sabia?" Raina said to a girl, Sabia.
"Oh yes, what an excellent idea, my lady!" Sabia exclaimed happily and jumped up and started running back towards the house with the skirts of her dress flapping in the wind.
I felt my face go pale. Whatever the name of the game was, it didn't bode well to me. But I didn't think I would be given the chance to refuse to play if the pureblooded lady of the house wanted me to play.
"Have you ever played discipline before?" Raina asked while snapping her fingers at Dexter and pointing at the stuff on the blanket. Dexter collected the items from the blanket with a wave of his hand, wordless and wandless, but continued to eat the grapes.
"No," I forced myself to say.
"That's fine, but I hope for your own sake you're not too slow to learn."
I didn't wait any longer, but got up and started running. I would not be tortured any further by the medieval aristocracy, no matter what. I could hear shouting behind me, but I didn't care, I ran as fast as my legs gave towards the woods beside the lake.
Suddenly, something wrapped itself around my legs and I landed on my face on the hard wet ground.
"What on earth are you up to all of a sudden? You're upsetting the lady by going off like that," Dexter hissed as he came up beside me and lifted me up from the muddy ground. He had apparently conjured up a trip jinx on me. I glanced at Raina, who didn't look upset at all, but seemed to be laughing her ass off at my attempted escape. Dexter dragged me in front of Raina, no matter how I struggled.
"Why did you so suddenly want to leave?" Raina asked, laughing. She had started laughing even harder after seeing my muddy appearance after falling to the ground.
"I'm sorry, but the game didn't sound very pleasant to me," I hissed irritably, feeling tears coming.
Raina's laughter faded and she looked at Dexter with a frown as if he could explain what I meant, but Dexter just shrugged.
"But it's just a game. Don't you like playing games?"
"I do like playing games, but the discipline part of it doesn't sound pleasant to me," I said anxiously. Raina was obviously so spoiled that she didn't understand the emotional state of others at all.
Raina gave an amused sneer. "There's no real discipline involved, you fool. I must say, you're not exactly the sharpest mudblood I have met" Raina laughed, "You'll have to wait to finish the game with your escape, because I've already gotten excited about the idea and it takes four to play."
Now it was my turn to look dumbfounded. "You mean I can leave, if I want to after the game?"
"Of course. You're not a prisoner, and from what Armand said, I got the impression that he had interrogated you for what he wanted." Raina shrugged, "he has no need to keep you here by force especially since you have proven to be completely harmless. We had thought that since you hadn't left, it meant you wanted to stay," Raina grimaced," I hope you didn't have high hopes for Armand, because I don't think he cares for you very much. From his point of view, you're not a wife like I am and the whole thing was obviously just a propaganda by William to calm the miserable rebellion down and humiliate Armand and me at the same time. It was win- win for him."
I stared at Raina with my mouth open. Sabia was running with a happy smile on her face, holding up a deck of wooden cards, breathless from running. "I found them, lady! We can start the game," Sabia's gaze fell on me and she gasped in surprise," ooh, what happened to the ma'am?"
"She tried to run away and I jinxed her to the ground," Dexter explained.
Sabia's eyes widened. "Noo, you can’t leave before the game! Ma'am should stay for after the game, so I can pack some food for the ma'am to take with her."
I stared open-mouthed at the waiting faces of all three of them.
"I guess I can stay for the game," I mumbled.
Raina slapped her hands together triumphantly. "Excellent. Let's split into two teams. We could be muggles versus people with magic, right?"
Raina meant me and Sabia with the muggles. To be fair Sabia was by all accounts a muggle. I didn't even bother to be offended by Raina's words as I looked at Sabia's sincerely happy face.
It turned out that the game was somewhat of a canasta style card game. The cards were clearly the product of the wizarding world, as they would move and shout instructions during the game. Since there was no actual magical secrecy code and no Ministry of Magic in the Middle Ages at this point in time. I still knew it was dangerous to let muggles know about the magic so I concluded that Raina and Dexter must trust Sabia enough to know that she knew they were really a wizard and a witch and wouldn't tell other muggles. I knew that muggles in this day and age were suspicious of people doing magic, so it was often dangerous to show off or do magic in the presence of a Muggle unless you wanted to be attacked by a mass of them. Sabia didn't seem the least bit surprised by the magical cards, however, and she did gently respond to them from time to time. I quickly learned the rules of the game and despite Sabia's gentleness, the game ended in our victory. After that Raina insisted on being on the same team with me.
We played for several hours and I was so immersed in the game that I started to relax and enjoy the game. I couldn't deny that they were fun to play with. Raina was clearly spoiled and arrogant, but also made everyone laugh along with her notions and treated her servants as her friends of sort, and didn't seem to get angry, even when Sabia or Dexter argued with her about things, which I found very unusual for what I had seen so far. The other two servers in the house brought us dinner and we ate while playing. I found myself enjoying myself for the first time since the events at the Ministry of Magic that I forgot to think about leaving.
We played until the evening cooled down and Sabia announced that it was too cold outside for a lady. Raina rolled her eyes and muttered something about a killjoy, but Sabia just smiled serenely and started gathering cards and blankets.
"Would the young mistress like to wash up today?"
I looked at Sabia's friendly face in surprise and then at Raina in fright, who wasn't listening to us at all, but was explaining to Dexter how she had won the last game with her own wit.
"I know the lady hasn't washed once since she's been here, so I was wondering if you'd like to wash up and maybe change clothes," Sabia continued with a smile and a meaningful glance at my blood- and vomit-stained wedding clothes.
"That would be lovely, thank you."
"The only bath is in the lady's room, so I go ahead and heat the water," Sabia chuckled and strode briskly towards the house. My eyes widened in horror and although Raina had been,well, maybe not friendly; but not hostile towards me either; I didn't think she'd let me take a bath in her room. Sabia seemed friendly, but a little naive, so I wondered if she was thinking about Raina's wishes at all. I didn't dare call Sabia back though, so I kept walking alongside Raina and Dexter, wondering how I was going to save myself from the situation.
After entering the house, I turned towards my own room and decided that Sabia would have to come and get me from my room, because I didn't dare just push it with Raina.
"Aren't you going to take a bath, ma'am?" Dexter asked. He had probably overheard Sabia and I exchanging words. Raina turned to look at me with raised eyebrows.
"Ermm... I–" I started, but Raina spoke over me.
"I don't know how you mudbloods normally live, and maybe that’s how you people have gotten your name, but I'm going to have to insist that you wash up if you want to stay here."
I blushed and muttered that I would like to wash.
"Good, come on then. We'll have to see if we can find you a new dress from mine or Sabia's old ones. I didn't bring very many with me here, though, so we'll see." Raina sighed wistfully, as if desperately missing her dresses that she had lost somewhere.
****
It turned out that Raina didn't really mind that I washed up in her room, but she went to lie on her bed on her back and babbled on endlessly about some French Muggle tailor she still missed from her days in France, even though he had died two years ago of pneumonia. She then went on to talk in detail about what she had worn the first time she had arrived in England a month ago and how it had not suited at all to the weather in England.
I listened to Raina's endless stream of words in confusion. I didn't understand her at all. She called me a mudblood and clearly thought I was inferior to her, but she didn't seem to be particularly malicious; more just self-centered and thoughtless.
The bath this time was a much more pleasant experience than the first in the war zone, as there was no fear of being murdered or raped depending on the outcome of the bath, and the water was warm this time. Raina also very ostentatiously let me borrow her washing products and oils, as she couldn't bear to look at my unruly hair any more and smell the "country garbage" smell in me any longer.
Sabia helped me, even though I tried to say I could manage on my own, but she insisted and combed my hair softly as I layed in the bath.
"I wish those idiots would get it in Hastings soon and then London. I can't bear to live in this shack any longer. Armand promised we'd move as soon as we won London, but I had no idea it would be so difficult to beat the Muggles and the rebellion." Raina grumbled from her bed.
"They can't use magic too much or the Muggles will know what's going on. You must be patient, my lady," Sabia said calmly, and I deduced that the conversation had taken place between them several times before. She moved to the other side of my head to sort out my tangles from there. Raina gave a sour sneer and then an excited look flashed across her face, like a cat in mischief, and she sat up.
"By the way, I have been meaning to ask. Did Armand sleep with you?"
I blushed and looked at my hands in the water, feverishly wondering whether I should be honest or not. Raina laughed lightly. "So I guess not. I thought so, but I'm still disappointed. I had a vision that you were sleeping together, but I guess that didn't happen then." She shrugged.
I felt my eyebrows rise in surprise. "A vision?"
"My lady sees the future, ma’am," Sabia said excitedly. I turned my surprised gaze to Raina and she gave me a smug smile.
"Do they always come true?" I asked uncertain. I thought the risk of being raped had passed, or at least diminished. Of course, I wasn't quite sure if Raina's ‘abilities’ were the same as Professor Trelawney’s had once been. I hadn't seen her do magic once, so I doubted her magical abilities. And divination was, to say the least, a very questionable area of magic in general.
Raina grinned. "Well, not really. Sometimes I think they're just my imagination. At least Armand thinks they're complete nonsense.” Her smile weakened.
Raina slyly turned her gaze to me. "Still, I thought it was strange that he would agree to marry a traitor mudblood, and one so plain-looking as you are, so I thought there must have been some emotion behind it. Maybe it was something else."
I bit my lip thoughtfully. I myself didn’t believe for a second that it had anything to do with feelings for Malfoy, so the reasons were elsewhere.
"The King gave me as a gift and I got the impression that he had no choice," I said honestly.
"William can't tell Armand to do anything. Not really at least, so I'm guessing there is some plotting from Armand behind it," Raina scoffed.
"Isn't Malfoy loyal to the King?" I asked, frowning.
"He's the king of the muggles, or not even really the king of the muggles yet. Armand is only in William quest for his own lust for power and that's why he and William are working together. William wants power and feels he is the right person to rule the muggles because he is distantly related to the former king here in England and because his wife is also related to the former king. Armand, on the other hand, wants power and riches, as they were not available at home in Normandy and he is hated at the wizarding court. So this silly war is the only way he sees he can gain power and glory for his family and William agreed to take him on his mission, even though he hates Armand and me. But Armand gets results effectively and William would not win without him. Probably. And he knows it too."
"And Valdis opposes William?"
"Yes. She's leading the rebellion to improve the status of mudbloods, half-breeds and even muggles alongside purebloods, and she’s gaining more and more support. In reality, it's anything but that. Valdis is wreaking terrible havoc in her wake and has in no way increased anyone's power but her own. But the desperate mudbloods and so on are easy to manipulate, I guess. I've heard rumors that she kept the previous muggle king under the imperius curse for nearly ten years and when he died she refused to submit to William's claim for the crown, so she put the other who had claim for the throne, Harald, under the imperius curse too and is trying to use that to continue her rule over England. The king of the wizarding folk did not accept this and therefore acceded to William's demand for a war for the kingship of England."
"The king of wizarding people?" I asked, confused, and then my eyes rolled. "You mean King Arthur?"
Raina grimaced at the name, but nodded.
I didn't know how to answer that, because I was so stunned by the information. King Arthur was famous in both wizard and Muggle history. He had ruled the wizarding world, with the possibly even more famous wizard Merlin to help him. There was also one of the world's most famous dark witches, Morgana le Fay, King Arthur's half-sister living during this era. Her destruction of both the muggle and wizarding worlds was also known by everyone and possibly even eclipsed Voldemort with her horrific deeds. Raina did not mention Morgana or Merlin, so it was possible that these events had not yet begun.
I wondered if this Valdis witch was possibly Morgana's assistant, as their interests were the same. I knew that in the next few years Morgana would come to England and fight William and wreak havoc on both sides. Morgana's destruction in Europe would eventually be stopped by Merlin and Arthur, but at a heavy price. King Arthur would also die in the island of Avalon and his half-sister Morgana would leave the world of the living at the same time, or at least that is how history knew the events. However, I suspected that history might have had a bit of a coloring pencil on the stories over a thousand years that had passed and events might not have gone exactly like that. I felt a chill as I thought about Morgana. She was accused by many of inventing the killing curse, among other things, and her speciality was thought to be casting cruciatus curses and creating really malicious dark objects.
Raina's words also made sense to me about Malfoy. If King William had no real say over Malfoy, Malfoy must have had some ulterior motive in marrying me. Renea may have been at the center of their enemy, but it must have been a great disappointment to Malfoy that I knew nothing about them and was now stuck with me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and felt a cold fear seep into me. Malfoy would surely kill me if he found me useless, once he had time, so I would have to leave before he returned to retrieve his wives after the Battle of Hasting.
Sabia dressed me in a thin cotton tunic and dressing gown and escorted me downstairs, after Raina had announced that she would like me to come in the morning to try on the clothes, as she no longer had the energy today to think about which of her precious dresses she could give up and give me.