Chapter 9 : Will He Come Tonight?

I managed to remake the roasted duck and red curry to the same quality as last time, but I had the maids prepare the rest of the side dishes and carry out the tableware.

I arrived right before sundown and put a little too much effort into my outfit and makeup. That was the hopeful part of me still alive. I brought the leather holster that I embroidered for the prince and placed it in the middle of the table setting.

There was the slightest breeze whirling off the gentle creek, and it enlivened my spirit which was rather downtrodden and depleted recently. The ends of my hair pulled tightly in a high ponytail, brushed against my face in the wind as a reminder that I was human, not a princess without consequence.

I smoothed my long, silken magenta gown and tucked it carefully under my thighs, as my legs extended in front of me, the princess' cream-colored Chanel espadrilles peeking out at the end of the dress.

Whether or not the prince came tonight, my mind was finally enjoying a moment of respite. I drowned out the inevitable fate that might happen in another week and the only thing I wanted to focus on was the freedom I felt right now.

Lily, if only you could have been here too, it would have been the perfect night.

"How cute! A picnic!" The Luna Queen's fingernails bore into the back of my neck, as she made her presence known. I tensed at the sensation which felt like syringes extracting blood from my veins.

I wondered how long she'd been examining me out here, but it shattered the illusion of freedom I had created for myself moments before.

"Did you make sure to ask his mommy if he could come for a play date?" the queen sneered, her eyes sarcastically following my every movement. She circled around me, making sure to place a foot directly into the curry I had prepared, ruining the hours of preparation I had labored for this evening.

"Don't be mad at me darling! You should be on your knees thanking me for what I'm about to do." The Luna Queen's tone shifted from playful to poisonous as she clawed my forearm and dragged me away from the creekside.

It became clear to me that the prince wasn't going to show up, it was stupid of me to ever think so, and now it would be up to the animals to enjoy the uneaten feast.

I couldn't speak. I didn't need to speak. The queen would do what she wanted and I too was curious what this could have been about. Her hold on me was tenacious like a Rottweiler, but her pointed teeth peering through her lips looked more like the dog than anything.

"You must be getting pretty comfortable wearing my daughter's clothes," she spat out, her walk no longer graceful like it used to be.

It felt like she was skipping five steps in between each stride with the pace she was going. Not accustomed to wearing heels, my feet dragged in the muddy terrain like soccer cleats, leaving a trail of my footsteps.

She continued her diatribe between labored breaths. "Making demands and such like you're some sort of royalty." She scoffed as she released her statement, and now it dawned on me what she was so upset about.

"If I knew you'd be this difficult I would have killed you with those other b*tches," she admitted, referencing the three maids' deaths.

Her threats and behavior weren't as concerning to me because I knew she was desperate. When the two weeks commenced, she acted like I had everything to lose and the peace treaty was a minor inconvenience if it fell through, but I knew she needed me to deliver a prince to the throne."

We approached the backside of the palace as she had two guards open the latches to an underground passageway. As the doors closed behind us, she tossed me forward and I landed hard on the concrete ground, the dress ripping at the knees where I fell. In front of me, I saw a row of cells and a girl who I could hardly recognize if it weren't for her sapphire-colored eyes.

"There, you said you wanted to see your sister. You have five minutes you worthless f*ck."

My knees were lightly scraped from being thrown on the ground, but otherwise, after dusting myself off, I was okay.

"Lily!" I screamed out, to which I heard no sense of acknowledgement from my sister. Her eyes looked frosted over and her arms were splattered with bruises the color of plums. Her nails were tapping on the iron bars of the cell as if she was trying to send me a message in code, but I couldn't understand.

"What did they do to you?" I asked aloud, not expecting her to even speak at the moment, but desperate for an answer. It looked like she wasn't mentally sentient.

"Nothing that couldn't have been prevented if you did your job!" Queen Regina cackled from behind me. As she approached, she grabbed a wooden staff that was presumably used for beatings and smashed the fingers of the prisoners whose hands were wrapped around the iron bars.

I unwrapped Lily's fingers, which were muddied and sliced up, from the ironwork of the cell door so she wouldn't be bludgeoned by the Queen.

What did she mean 'been prevented?' I was given an impossible task and had two weeks to do it. "I still have time," I uttered, my fingers clawing at my thighs in anger. This was totally unfair and it was infuriating that the two people that decided my fate were this heartless queen and a loveless prince.

"Ha!" she cackled maniacally. It has almost been a week and what do you have to show for it?"

I stood, my blood percolating as I focused on the Luna Queen's powdered face, her slimy emerald eyes, and that austere bun that didn't move when she walked. How much I loathed her, yet how much I needed her to get my sister out of this hell hole. My reliance on her was the most unsettling part.

"I tried to make this easy for you. Shake your t*ts, wiggle your a*s, and it would've been over the first day. You decided to play it 'fair,' 'virtuous.' You decided to take the noble approach, and look where it got your sister." The queen then slid towards Lily's cell and reached through to grab my sister's emaciated arms.

"Someone owes you an apology, little girl!" Queen Regina bellowed disturbing laughs as she bent my sister's elbow around the iron bar, to which my sister didn't react. I was expecting a loud shriek from Lily and instead the only noise emitted was from the Luna Queen enjoying herself.

"You…you drugged her?" The words slipped from my mouth, but it was too late to catch them. I couldn't help but notice my sister didn't react to anything and it looked like she was in a state of either complete numbness or total apathy. This wasn't the same girl I knew from weeks before.

"Why, yes, drugs are an effective way to render people defenseless," the Luna Queen admitted. I wasn't sure how to feel about my sister being drugged, but I deeply wished that it meant she couldn't feel whatever pain she was enduring here.

"Don't worry, they'll wear off and your sister here will overcome the slight bruising. That's if you can fulfill your end of the deal." There was nothing slight about my sister's wounds, and if I wasn't in the presence of a vile beast, I would have broken down, but I wouldn't grant this monster the satisfaction.

The Luna Queen added, "Wouldn't it be great if the prince was defenseless?"

She took a step in and held my cheeks tightly with her icy hands which were covered in the dirt from my sister's arms. She clamped viciously against my jaw so that my lips were puckered like a fish. Then, she forcibly shook my head back and forth and exclaimed, "Wouldn't it just be magnificent! Eureka!"

She looked like she just discovered the theory of relativity as her pupils dilated and her eyebrows stood tall. Queen Regina threw my head back and released her grip, her tone gravelly, dark, and similar to a growl. "This time, I'd suggest you take my offer."

As much as I wanted to be obstinate and not play into the queen's heinous ways, I knew there was only one way if I wanted to free my sister from this state. "What is it?" I released with a brisk tone. I knew whatever she was about to say was going to taint my soul with evil.

The Luna Queen pulled out a vile from her bralette and championed it into the air. "Slip this into the prince's drink and give him a night he'll never forget!"

She clawed into my arm again with her nails and grabbed the wooden staff that was resting against the cell doors. She swatted the metal doors so that the two guards would open up for us. As we walked up the stairs, the queen cackled and proudly thanked the guards, "Men, keep up the great work!"

***

Dylan's POV

"I swear, she said she was going to be right here! Look, everything is set up. Maybe she had to go back to get something."

It was weird. Why would the princess go through all the trouble to do this, only not to show up?

"I promise, Alpha, she told me she'd be here. It's not like her to just skip out on the whole thing. Something must be–" Leo raised his hand to stop my diarrhea of the mouth, something he did very often when he needed mental space to think.

The blanket was laid out, the roasted duck and curry were splattered all over, probably the damn animals who got to it, but in the middle of the table setting was a nicely wrapped package.

Leo walked over to the package, carefully dodging the spilled curry, and held it up. He tore off the wrapping paper since he didn't care for extraneous inconveniences. He palmed the object, but I couldn't get a good look at what it was.

"Alpha, what is it?" I knew he wouldn't satiate my curiosity willingly so I made my way closer to which he turned away.

"It's nothing. Now leave." Leo was a bit defensive, but after years of dealing with the man, I knew not to push him further. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking but that's what made him an unconquerable warrior, not knowing his next move.

It did make it difficult to be his friend, but I realized I didn't need to understand his mind to know that he was a genuine, upstanding man.

"Fine, but mind if I take a plate of the curry?" I teased, and he glared his eyes at me and I relinquished my words. "Fine, fine, I'll just have to make do with Cup Noodles for the fifth night this week."

He let out a small laugh, which accomplished my main purpose when I spent time around Leo: to treat him like a human, not a beast.

As I made my way back towards the palace, I saw the princess with the queen trudging through the palace grounds amidst the foggy haze that had overtaken the evening. They were both walking rather hastily and the princess appeared troubled. There was no warmth between mother and daughter, and then I noticed the princess' gown was ripped and dirtied.

Something wasn't right. The queen looked to be yelling at her daughter when previously she had spoken so highly of her.

I had to say, Leo saw this the minute he entered the palace. He told me before the treaty dinner, 'don't trust that queen,' and now I was really having my doubts that her intentions were honest and clear.

I hurried back around as the queen and the princess made their way into the palace and decided Leo had to know about this. Not that he had any warmth for the princess, clearly, but because he needed to know the queen was up to something suspicious. Something that could impact our pack.

There Leo was, his hand gripped around the duck breast as he gnawed into it. He broke his concentration from the piece of meat, catching me out of the corner of his eye, and exclaimed in an annoyed tone, "I thought I told you to go."

The look on his face was hardened, disappointed, and annoyed. The princess promised she'd be here, even went through the trouble of setting the whole thing up. I couldn't imagine this was deliberate. But, for Leo, deliberate or not, he didn't take kindly to having his time wasted.

Normally, I wouldn't disobey my Alpha's command but this was one of the rare exceptions.

"Alpha, it's about the princess," I confessed.

His eyes opened at the word 'princess,' and he ordered, "Go on."

I swallowed before revealing the harrowing truth, "She's not the woman she claims to be."