* * *
The servants of Jordanis’ estate moved hastily to prepare for the party that evening. They all knew there would be consequences if it was their fault that the estate did not make a lasting impression. Everything had to be perfect.
While fifteen servants continued to prepare the grand hall, the other fifteen stood in three lines waiting to shower. All of them were already soaped-up because they only had thirty seconds to shower each. The estate was too far out of town to be connected to the grey water pipeline so Jordanis’ estate only had purified as Lysander’s company maintained the clean water. He didn’t want to waste water on servants for their showers which was why thirty seconds was the maximum amount of time they could have a shower. The downtown servants even had a limit on how much water they could drink in a day: two litres was the maximum and in the hot, dry Manticorian climate and that never felt like enough.
Erik stared dazedly at the timer as his final ten seconds ticked away. The chilly water was refreshing after the blazing hot day they had had. He was personally amazed that none of the servants had ended up in the infirmary with heatstroke.
Like most of the downtowners, Erik wore many scars. The most prominent one was on his chest just below his areola. It was a jagged scar left by a stab wound he had received as a child. He was often questioned by other downtowners about how he survived. They all knew that a wound like that was usually fatal without any urgent medical treatment. Erik could never give a straight answer because he was not sure how he survived himself. The simplest answer he could give was that ‘an angel saved him’.
He quickly snapped out of his daze when there was banging on the shower door. His shower time had run out. Erik stepped through the door in front of him while a person entered from the door behind.
Warm air attacked him from all directions as he stood in the dryer. Stretching his arm out, he watched as the beads of water cascaded off the tips of his fingers and through the grate below his feet. Many downtowners hated the obligation have having to bathe every other day because they were not used to doing that back downtown, but Erik actually enjoyed it. He didn’t even care that security cameras watched him as he showered. He had nothing to hide that Lysander had not seen already.
He flicked through the coat hangers until he found the one with his name on it. Jordanis’ servant uniform was rather flattering compared to some of the other servant uniforms uptown. Lysander made the uniform match the House of Dragon colours with a scarlet red waistcoat with golden embroidery and buttons followed by a white dress shirt and black pants and shoes. Erik had never minded the uniform because any uptown clothing was better than the rags he’d worn downtown. Plus, according to Lysander, his silky black hair went well with the pants and shoes of the uniform.
Erik jumped when he was abruptly smacked on the back. Whirling around, he smiled when he saw it was his dear friend, Cal. The two had become instant friends as soon as he had started working at the estate six months ago. He found Cal interesting because she was so daring and was not afraid to stand up to someone regardless of whether or not they were from uptown or downtown.
“’ello,” she said cheerfully.
“Hāi,” he said before shunning away from her hand that was on his back so he could finish getting dressed.
“Where’sa Marky?”
“Thinksies he’sa taki’a shower… in Lysander’s yùshì,” he giggled cheekily.
“Oh,” Cal tapped her nose, “so tā’s lettin’ the big man knock ‘im then?”
“Probs.”
Although Lysander could have his way with any of his servants, he seemed to spend far more time with Mark than anyone else. Some of the servants were jealous because that meant Mark got a larger bonus in his account at the end of the month, but Erik was never jealous. After all, Mark was his older brother and he shared his money with Erik happily.
Cal and Erik walked through the giant white hallway chattering. Only when they saw Princeton coming from the other direction did they fall quiet.
“Good evening Master Bengal,” they chorused in perfect English.
Prince chose to acknowledge their inferior existence by raising his eyebrows instead of taking his eyes of his tablet screen. Once his back was to them Cal stuck her tongue out before facing forward again and acting like it never happened. Seeing this, Erik shoved her playfully and she ended up chasing after him through the hallway.
Both of sneakily came up behind Mark and simultaneously slapped him on each shoulder when they found him in grand hall wrapping the silver dining utensils in red and gold napkins.
“Hāi,” he said in an incredibly cheerful tone even though he kept his eyes on the task at hand.
“How was ya shower?” Cal asked impishly.
“Blech,” he said with a discussed expression. Cal laughed, however Erik figured Mark was most likely lying. He knew his brother well enough to know that Mark had a crush on Lysander. “Did nǐ hear? An Earthy is comin’ to the party tonight.”
Cal cocked her head, making her feathery brown hair fly. “Eh?”
“A gal who was born on Old Earth.”
“Okay, so?”
He shrugged.
“Nǐ’ve seen Earthies on the screen. They’re dark.”
Cal and Erik did not seem to believe Mark. Their minds could not comprehend what someone would look like without sickly white skin. Yes, they had seen Earthlings, but only glimpses of them when they were serving Lysander when he was watching Old Earth news on his computer or tablet. To them, the idea of people with dark skin seemed almost fictional.
“Who’sa tā?” Cal asked curiously.
Mark looked up in thought for a moment, mouthing the letter ‘N’ as he tried to remember the rest of her name.
“Wǒ dunno her name, but she’sa comin’ with the enemy guy, Koris, so Lysander wants wǒmen to be really nice to her and not give tā de any funny looks.”
“Does Lysander wanna knock her or somethin’?” Cal asked ignorantly.
There was a twitch in Mark’s cheerful smile that only Erik noticed. There was no denying the fact that the Jordanis man enjoyed having sex with various people, but Mark liked to live in a naïve fantasy world where he only wanted him. Although Lysander paid special attention to Mark, he had also ravished Erik, other servants, and a good amount of uptown civilians. Strangely enough, he hadn’t touched Cal yet, but none of the other servants knew why.
On paper, there was nothing truly special about Mark to Jordanis even though Mark felt there had to be something different about his relationship with Lysander compared to everyone else’s. Mark had never actually admitted this to anyone else and always joined in when the other servants complained about Jordanis, but it was plain enough to Erik.
“How long till the party thingy starts?” Erik asked to change the topic.
Cal and Mark both looked at the monitor above the entrance to the kitchen but for different reasons. Cal looked at it because it always had the time on it while Mark looked at it because it showed a live-feed of the world outside. Because clocks were incredibly rare downtown, Mark was used to checking the time in other ways like watching the light that seeped in through the doors or windows travel across the floor as the Jhard moved. Of course, he had also had to stay out of the light to avoid getting burned.
“In ‘bout an hour,” Cal said.
“Just before the Jhard goes down,” Mark said.
Erik registered Mark’s quicker than he registered Cal’s. All three had been there the same amount of time and yet Cal was more integrated into uptown ways because someone had taught her about clocks and how they worked back downtown.
Everyone looked to the door across the grand hall when they heard the familiar sound of the whistle. There stood Lord Lysander Jordanis, already dressed for the evening in his black garments and House of Dragons robe with his hair smoothed back and a cigarette leaning out of the left side of his mouth.
“All right, children, I have an announcement to make.??
?
Erik and Mark exchanged a quick glance. The quick eye contact was enough to tell Erik that what Lysander was about to say was the same thing Mark had already told him.
Jordanis strode gracefully towards the servant like he was strutting on a catwalk.
“Besides Lord Koris Young, Miss Nikhita Kothari will also be attending the party tonight. She’s the new head of security for the House of Oxen which gives you one good reason to be nice to her.” He stomped to a halt when he was a good few feet away from the gathered servants. “Miss Kothari was born on Old Earth and therefore it may come as a shock to you how different she looks. You will know her when you see her seeing as Nikhita will be the only dark-skinned woman in the room. However, do not stare at her, give her strange looks or ask her questions about her skin.” Lysander eyeballed one particular servant at the front of the crowd who had been known for asking people inappropriate questions. “You are to simply serve Miss Kothari like you would serve any other uptowner. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Lord Jordanis,” all of the servants in the grand hall chorused.
Jordanis scanned all of them with his eyes to check for any fault. When he found none he gave a quick nod.
Once they were sure the speech was done, the servants scattered and returned to their duties. Cal turned to head for the kitchen like Erik when two arms wrapped around her chest and she was pulled back into someone. She was not alarmed. She recognised the sleeves of the red robe instantly.
“After the party has finished I would like my birthday present,” he whispered in her ear before kissing the top of her head. Cal made no attempt to hide her shudder of disgust.
“Hasn’t Mark given ya a present already?” she hissed back, gritting her teeth.
She felt the vibrations of Lysander’s chuckle: “I do not think you understand the rarity of your present among downtowners. Mark does not have what you have.”
Virginity.
“Do I have a choice?” she asked aggressively.
“Of course,” he reassured her. “I will never force somebody to have sex with me. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want that three-thousand yuan anyways.”
Her eyes widened. Three-thousand yuan – that was more than any servant would make in five years.
“No… No. You can have it for the yuan.”
“Good girl.” He kissed the top of her head again. “Meet me in my quarters once everything’s been cleaned up after the party.” He paused for a moment in thought. “Listen, I can promise that it’ll be enjoyable for the both of us. I’m not into hurting people. And remember, I won’t force you… It would just make me very happy.”
Without another word, she squirmed out of his embrace and strode towards the kitchen. Lysander watched her go with an amused smile before making eye contact with Mark. Once Mark realised Jordanis was staring back at him he quickly looked down and continued his work.
After washing her hands and putting on gloves, Cal jumped in beside Erik to cut up some barely-defrosted potatoes. Like many downtowners, she was always tempted to steal a bit of the food she had prepare on a regular basis, but there were no blind spots in surveillance when it came to the kitchen for that exact reason.
“Nǐ okay?” Erik asked when he glanced up at her. She did not seem to be her normal nonchalant self.
“I’ma fine,” she said with a slight crack in her voice.
“What did Lysander want from ya?”
“Nothin’. Tā just wantsa me to do some extra cleanin’ after the party thingy tonight.”
Erik nodded. He saw no reason to inquire any further. Cal was not a liar. In fact, she was the bluntest person he had ever known.