Slave quarters.

Eleanor's POV

“ You should have something to eat because you have to take your drugs,” the doctor whispered to me. She had been trying to get me to talk to her but in a way, I just couldn't. Where was I going to start from?

Was it from Phoebe lying? Or is Andre making me watch as they make love? That was a first for me. He had never done that before. He had never insisted that I watched them as he banged into her. Stripped out of his trousers.

“ Eleanor, are you listening?" She asked, yanking me out of the stream of thought that had consumed me a while ago.

“Yes…yes…I am,” I forced a smile on her face. “I can't just stomach anything" My gaze was averted to the ground. I could still recall everything happening because it looked like it had happened yesterday when it had been days back.

I couldn't get the image out of my head. The one with him slamming into her. Her ecstatic moan echoed everywhere. She kept pleading for more while making sure that I saw everything.

“I think that I am hallucinating at the moment. Everything just keeps playing at the moment in my head”

"Would you like to talk about it? I might be of some help to you, that is if you are willing to share”

I snorted, contemplating if indeed I was going to say a word. “ I noticed that you call him by your name, what's wrong? Did the king annoy you? Or what relationship do you have with him?”

I exhaled deeply, before asking suddenly. " What is a mate's duty to his mate? Is it to take her side? Or…”

Her mouth was wide agape. " You are his mate?” I nodded, giving her an answer when her eye trailed on my body. “ Are you really his mate? Because everyone is used to seeing Phoebe with him they all had forgotten that he has a mate”

I bit hard into my lips while thinking about what she had just said. “ For how long had she been with him?" I waited for an answer. She looked deep in thought which meant that it would have been a long while. Another reason why I wouldn't have him.

I could feel it, that sour taste as it spread in my mouth. Another constant reminder that I was back to where I had begun, where I wouldn't have him. There wasn't going to be a chance. There never had and would never be.

“ Since he was little" My shoulders slumped forward gently as the futility hit me. It was gone. All I should be focused on should be running away and not having his heart.

“But if indeed you are his mate, there has to be a way” A glimmer of hope shone on me. I edged closer to her. To listen to what she had to say.

“ The Lycan council would want you to be his queen if they find out that you are his mate. I have heard talks about how they have always wanted to know who exactly his mate was”

" But I can't do that…Andre would have my head" he was already acting so cold and there was nothing that would stop him from rejecting me.

“ Then…come” she crooked her middle finger at me. Urging me to come forward. Leaning with my head placed close to her, I raised a brow at her before bursting out into a peal of laughter.

“ Not Andre '' I could see that it would be futile before I even started. He wasn't the type of person to get jealous. He never even cared for me. So what guarantee did I have?

“I would have taken your advice if he had as much as showed me an iota of his love. But he hasn't, he doesn't even care, he looked at me with so much disgust in his eyes when he thought that I had pushed Phoebe. You ought to have seen him, no it wouldn't work”

“ Don't tell me that you are giving up already before even trying. If you do, how are you going to cope here if you are made queen? The palace is a venomous place. A place where only the wise live and for you to stay, you have to be wise”

I was contemplating doing it. There wasn't going to be any harm with me trying. “ Do you have someone in mind?" My hands were laced with each other. I wouldn't want to put anyone in danger.

“No” she shook her head to the side. " Do you know how beautiful you are? Your face is the kind that a lot of men would go to war just to possess whoever owns it. All you have to do is flash a smile at them and they will be lost, and will do everything you want them to”

My hands moved gently to my face, caressing it gently. “ Are you sure?"

" Never been this sure. All you have to do is eat now, get enough strength and we will get to work. Pick one of those beautiful gowns that cling to your curves” I jolted when she moved closer, touching me.

“Flaunt them out, wear a smile on your face, and watch things play out for each other”

I sat deep in thought, this was going to be much work but there was nothing wrong with me doing it. Maybe Andre will come around and have a soft heart for me.

Maybe. Just maybe, that would be it.

“Eleanor” the door creaked open, the head maiden stood at the door with fury on her face. “ Look who is lazing about when she has work to do, do you think that you would be spared from receiving punishment just because you work exclusively for his majesty?”

My steps fumbled when I forced myself up. "I don't…. don't…and…, please don't"

I yelled out when she held a fistful of my hair. “ You should have thought clearly about it before roaming about, the king has ordered that you should be sent to the slave quarters, what better way to exert punishment on you than that?”

I didn't want to believe that. He wouldn't. "Get your hands off her. Can't you see that you are hurting her?" the doctor tried to intervene, when she was thrown as sizzling gaze.

"Why do you care? Don't you know your place? Tend to the sick patient that are brought in here while I tend to mine who needs to be taught what is needed"