Raslah opens her eyes and looks around in confusion. 'Where am I?' she thought. Then a flood of the previous day's events came racing back to her mind. She now understood why she was chained to a cold, stone wall. Why she feels like someone had beaten her from the inside out. Why her arm was burned with the mark of the Highblood. Raslah hears the door to her cell open, and she looks up to see who had disturbed her in her sorrow.

The man is a tall blueblood, one she recognized from her brother's execution. His name was Darkleer, she recalls. He speaks in a deep timbre. "The Highblood is awaiting you. It is time to get cleaned up before you meet him. Afterall, you do want to gain a good impression so he treats you favorably."

He goes over to her and she snarls at him. He doesn't flinch in the slightest, just takes out a key and unchains her. She fall to the floor on her hands and knees. "Come, now," he says, "we mustn't keep Master waiting."

He grabs her gently- for a blueblood, at least- and hauls her to her feet. She stumbles at first, but he catches her. She thank him politely and he leads her upstairs to a beautiful bedroom, filled with purples and golds. Darkleer takes her to a bathroom at the far side of the room, and nudges her inside. "Get in the bath and get cleaned up, now. Feel free to use whatever soaps and washes you like."

A lime blush spreads across her face. "I'm not getting naked with you watching me!" She steps away from him in fear of what he might do. He simply sighs.

"Please, do not make this more difficult than this has to be. And I won't look. But I am leaving the door open, so don't try anything funny." He turns and goes to stand just outside the bathroom door, guarding it in a way.

She pulls off her dirty dress and undergarments- a simple white cami and light green panties- and step into the large, already filled tub. The warm water is the perfect temperature, and easily comes up to her breasts. There are many soaps on the side of the tub and on caddy-racks. She picks several that smell like citrus fruits and clean off her body and washes her hair with them.

When she finishes, she finds a single towel hanging on the rack next to the tub. She pulls the plug to the bath to allow it to drain and stands, drying her body and wrapping it in the warm, fluffy towel. Towels like these were a luxury at home, and Raslah only had one- it was stained and had been used so much, nearly all the soft had been sanded off it by rough fingers. She steps out, and her clothes are not where she left them, or anywhere in the room at all. Darkleer speaks just as she starts to panic, worried that she'll have to go around naked until her clothes are given back. "There are fresh clothes for you on the sink."

She picks them up and quickly tugs them on, not looking to see what she's wearing until she has them on. She was given lavender panties, along with a matching camisole, and a dress similar to her normal one, but with different colors. The bottom was a deep purple, and the top was a light, fragile shade of lavender. She quickly dries her hair and brushes it using the brush on the sink. She put her towel up before turning to Darkleer. "Does this look acceptable, Highblood?"

Darkleer turns to look at her, and Raslah feels a small brush dance across her cheeks. "You look lovely. Let us go, now. We've kept him waiting long enough."

She walks with him to a large throne room, and blanches at the sight before her. The walls are painted with every color blood, as well as the floor. Her eyes land on the man in the center of the room, sitting on the throne. He wears purple and black, and has painted his face to look like a terrifying monster. His hair is a tangled black nest, and his horns are as long as Raslah's legs. When he finally speaks, she shudders in terror as his voice booms and reverbrates off the walls.

"Ah, my new servant has finally arrived!"