Warmth!

Luna's Pov

I winced as I made my way to the palace. "Traitors!" I cursed. When I had awakened, I had totally forgotten that I had sustained some injuries from my days in the dungeon. I had been feeling so strong and refreshed. And then, there had been the discovery that Indrik had bathed me. The thought still made me so uncomfortably warm. That had filled me with enough anger and adrenaline to further numb the pain. It wasn't until he had pinned me to the bed that the pain had fully kicked in.

I would like to say that was the only reason I had stopped fighting but that wasn't true. I shivered as I recalled that warm feeling that had overwhelmed me, like hot tea on a cold rainy day. It had paralyzed me, preventing me from fighting off Indrik's advances. I traced my finger over my lips as I remembered what had almost happened.

I was pulled out of my daydream (or was it evening dream?" by a figure appearing before me out of the blues. The night had arrived without me noticing and now, I had to squint before I could make out the features of the person in the flickering light of the mounted torches.

"Beta Green?" I gasped, stumbling back. I recalled the last time we had met. The night that I had poisoned Indrik and he had made his men torture me till I thought I would surely die. Even in the dark, I could make out his cold eyes as he sized me up. For a moment, I wondered if he was going to call for his guards and make them take me away but instead, he turned around and walked away, his arms tucked behind his back. I remained in the spot for a moment, blinking as I tried to make sense of what had just happened but I could not. I figured that I would ask Indrik when I returned but for now, I hurried to the kitchen, praying and hoping to not run into anyone else.

The kitchen maids looked at me like I was an agent from the underworld who they would sooner squash under their chubby legs than give some food but they did not give me any trouble either, much to my relief and surprise too.

I hurried back to our quarters, taking care to stuck in the shadows. The last thing I would want would be to run into either Blaire or Leon. Blaire would rip my head off for trying to kill Indrik and Leon would do the same for not managing to complete the task.

"Food!" Indrik cooed excitedly before I could even slip in fully. I had barely dropped the tray when he helped himself to some scrambled eggs.

"You are going to finish the food before it is even served." I complained.

"Just hurry." He replied, his voice muffled from being stuffed full of eggs. "You have no idea how much torture I have had to endure these past few days you've been out of it.

"Few days?" I mumbled as I hurried with dishing the food.

"Yeah! This is the second night since you have been unconscious. You should have seen how much torture I had to endure."

Two days. No wonder I was feeling so famished. I handed him his dish and got busy with mine. I was too hungry to observe the master-maid rules. Besides, being a maid who was a master also had to have its own perks. We seemed to be in a competition about who could finish faster as we wolved the food off our plates. I handed Indrik some water and drank some myself before clearing off the plates, my mind whirling with questions the whole time.

The words practically flew out of my mouth when I finally returned to the room. The lantern that sat to a corner added a glow to the room, although dim. He was sitted on his bed, his eyes fixed on something outside the window.

"I saw the Beta." I started. He didn't turn or make any movement that might have suggested that he heard me or was surprised by the news.

"He didn't give you any trouble, I hope?" I narrowed my eyes, wondering what he was up to.

"No! Although he did look very cold. Everyone does. How did you manage to get them to let me go?"

"The truth!" He replied, his eyes still fixed on whatever it was that had caught his fancy.

"What?" I choked. I recalled the truth as being me giving my master poison in place of medicine. Sure, it had been to help him unlock his wolf but I doubted that would have convinced them very effectively. There was no way that truth had saved me from prison. "What truth?"

"The truth." He repeated. "You should go get some rest. Your wounds still need more time before they are fully healed. You can go visit the doctor if you have to. No one will get in your way."

I continued to stare at him, my mouth wide open as I tried to understand what was really going on.

"How about you? How are you feeling?" I asked, suddenly recalling that we had not had any conversation about his wolf since I had become conscious. Could it be that we had failed? Had they found another way to save him without freeing his wolf? Sure, I could feel a new energy flowing within his veins but I might be mistaken. Also, he still looked rather lean and pale. Even in the dimness making me wonder if he had not fully recovered from the poison.

This managed to get his attention as he turned away from the window and toward me, flashing a smile. "Better than I have in ages and ready to start getting a lesson from my master as soon as she is fully recovered."

That strange feeling from earlier flowed through me again, filling me with warmth.

"How about tomorrow?"