Read Testament for Free Online Page B

knock em’ dead, all right?”
    “Okay, let’s go.”
    Griff could’ve let me make the bus ride to the palace on my own, but of course, he didn’t. We squeezed into a seat together, and he held my hand the entire ride. Gazing around the bus, I could tell several other girls from the slums were also on their way to the palace.
    When it screeched to a halt outside the gate, I turned to look at him. He smiled and squeezed my hand. “I’ll be in the audience tomorrow night. So, if you get nervous, just try to find me.”
    “That is if I make it through the preliminary interviews,” I countered.
    “You will.”
    I rolled my eyes at his confidence. “All right, I’ll see you then.” I kissed his cheek and then made the lone walk up the aisle and hopped off the bus. I walked empty handed into the palace, just as I had been told. Of course, this time I entered through the revolving doors of the front entrance, rather than the service entrance in the back.
    As soon as I stepped into the lobby, a snooty looking official with a clipboard came up to me. “Name please?”
    “Cadence O’Bryant.”
    She checked my name off with a flick of her pencil. “You need to get into that line over there.”
    I nodded and headed over to a somewhat clump of a line just outside the double doors of the banquet hall. The lobby rotunda echoed with voices. I guess a lot of the girls knew each other since they were chatting each other up. Maybe it was nervousness. I craned my head, surveying the different girls in different types of dress from the very wealthy to the somewhat poor like me.
    I jumped at the sound of a voice behind me. “You’d think there’d be more, huh?”
    I turned around to see a pretty, dark-haired, dark-eyed girl. “Yeah, that’s just what I was thinking,” I replied.
    She bobbed her head. “The truth is there were probably over a hundred summoned. But a great many were weeded out before they even got through the palace doors.”
    “Really? Why?”
     “Let’s just say they were the “toos”. You know, too ugly, too skinny, too fat, too ethnic. Basically, anything that would be perceived as too tragic for Kellan to be seen with.”
    I giggled. “Yes, that would be a tragedy, wouldn’t it?”
    “Of course.” She extended her hand. “I’m Maggie McNeil by the way.”
    “And I’m—”
    “I know who you are.”
    My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You do?”
    “You’re Griff’s sister.”
    “Yeah, but don’t hold it against me,” I quipped.
    Her face remained serious. “Why would I do that?”
    “Oh, you know, because he can be a real pain sometimes.” When she didn’t respond, I asked, “How do you know him?”
    “He’s a—”
    “Cadence O’Bryant.” a short advisor bellowed my name.
    It was time to face the music, so to speak. But, I couldn’t move. The bottom of my worn-out shoes appeared glued to the floor. Inwardly, my mind screamed at my feet to move. Finally, I lurched forward and through the main doors of the ballroom. A long table was in the middle of the room. Richard, his social secretary, and a couple of advisors sat at the table.
    “Cadence O’Bryant.” Richard eyed me over the top of his glasses. “You work here at the palace as the main floor dining hostess?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    He bobbed his head. “From what I see, you do a great job at that. Mrs. Sullivan highly recommends you.”
    I fought back a laugh. The only reason Mrs. Sullivan recommended me was because I kept her rolling in extra money from my dream interpretations. “I’m glad to hear that, sir.”
    “Turn around.”
    “Excuse me, sir?”
    “Turn around. We want to see what you have to offer.”
    Blood pounded in my ears at his request. Venessa’s last words to him about not being a sexual object echoed in my mind. I bit down on my lip to keep from repeating them.
    Richard noticed my hesitation and raised his eyebrows. “Is there a problem, Miss O’Bryant?”
    I’d bitten down hard enough that