Chapter 5. His chamber

☉NAIDA

Bloodied, warped green eyes. A dripping knife. Flashes and screams. Blood everywhere. All of the floor, pools of it, in my hands. Images and echoes of the mutilation drowned my senses. Most of that dark, sticky blood dripped down my hands.

All over my hands.

She put a knife to his heart! Execute her!

The accusatory screams were so jarring that my eyes flew open to meet darkness. I was panting, sweating, trembling. For a moment I had no idea where I was, so I panicked, flailing my arms to feel the walls around me. It felt like some sort of enclosure, and I began to feel claustrophobic, gasping for air and scrambling to my feet.

My body hit a door and it fell open, and I crashed into a hallway that was so bright it hurt my eyes. Wincing, I pulled myself up, looking back at the enclosure I had just fallen out of.

Brooms of different sizes lay scattered all over the place, and I sighed. I had fallen asleep in a broom closet. I moved to rearrange them when a haughty voice grated against my ears from behind,

“Did you just crawl out of a damn broom closet?” It was Athelia, one of the maids who had just made it her sole purpose to make my life here a living hell.

It was two weeks after Eolia helped me blend in with the maids, and Athelia remained snoopy, bratty, and forever suspicious of me. I had never let her walk all over me, which enraged her even more, but I also couldn't do much about her behavior towards me. I had to maintain a very low profile, and getting in fights would blow my cover.

“Mind your business,” I quipped, hastily putting things in order so I could leave.

“Every single day, I'm more convinced that there's something very strange about you.” Athelia kept taunting me. “What? You don't have a smart response this time? Because of a damn pretty face, you think you're untouchable, huh, Naida?”

I gave her a withering look, “You're not even worth my time.”

I brushed past her, making my way back to the room I shared with Eolia. She was there, straightening the sheets over her bed. One look at my face and she let out a worried sigh,

“You have been falling asleep in random places again, haven't you?”

I said nothing, because she knew damn well I couldn't sleep at night. After all, she usually heard my screams at night from the bloodcurdling nightmares of the full moon night of Cassian's death. I felt guilty, because I couldn't tell Eolia about it, and that made me simply withdraw into a protective shell.

“You can trust me, you know, Naida,” She said, “Just like I trust you enough to reveal my true identity as a witch, just like my mother. You're not alone in this place, I'm your friend, and you can confide in me, okay?”

I stared at her for a moment, and nodded, “Thank you for telling me. I'm forever grateful to you and Nuala.”

She patted my shoulder, “You should stay in this afternoon, and get some sleep. You can't keep falling asleep in random places, so you don't get caught. I have to go help out in the kitchens, see you later.”

I returned her smile and watched her leave the room.

My shoulders deflated. I had spent so long tense, and on guard, that I couldn't even relax anymore. And I still felt so claustrophobic from my nightmare in the broom closet, that I knew I wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon.

So I decided to go do some cleaning.

After a moment of walking through the castle hallways, I turned into an oddly quiet wing I had never been in before. The large, grand painting along the walls drew my attention, so much so that I did not hear the head maid approach.

“Tell the servants to bring in more silks for the new curtains! And where are those darn maids I summoned here?!”

Her screech was all too familiar, harsh, sharp, and absolutely ruthless. Like a death knell, it drained my skin of blood and warmth. She sounded so close, close to hear her brisk footsteps, the rustle of her skirts, just around the corner, a few feet from where I stood.

My clammy hands clenched and unclenched by my sides, as my stomach roiled in absolute terror. I couldn't run down the hallway, it was too far. I was trapped.

Eolia's words of warning flashed through my mind, and I could only think, this was the end.

The headmaid's footsteps grew closer, and in the last second, I didn't think.

It was pure adrenaline that pushed my limbs into action. Abandoning my cleaning tools, I dashed for the nearest door in the hallway —thank the heavens it was not locked— and slid in, pushing the door closed as quickly and quietly as possible.

The moment it clicked shut, her voice filled the hallway, screaming at whoever was unfortunate enough to be stuck by her side, “I don't have time to waste, go tell those servants to load in the supplies from the caravans, chop, chop!— and who in the goddess' name left tools in the middle of the hallway?”

I cringed, leaning against the door stiffly.

My heart was pounding so hard, hands shaking as the adrenaline ebbed away. The door I was resting against seemed to be made of extremely dense wood, muffling her shrill voice to the minimum.

“We have the royal ritual in two days! Are they trying to ruin all of my meticulous planning?!”

She kept nagging and complaining as she moved down the hallway, and I listened intently, waiting for her to move on. After a moment, her voice faded till I couldn't hear it anymore, and I sagged in shuddering relief. I stayed there catching my breath, and finally relaxed enough to realize the kind of room I was hiding in.

That is, if it could even be called a room. Its sheer size was outstanding. So massive I could only see a small part of it, from where I stood by the door.

Although it was dimly lit because of the dark blinds drawn over the full-length windows, I could still see the utter beauty and luxury etched into every wall, pillar, and furniture. Every part of the castle was beautiful, but the beauty in his entire wing was unparalleled. My heart did a slow drop as I realized that this was definitely an important room.

That I shouldn't be in.

Unwilling to put myself in any more trouble I reached for the door knob. But something moved within the far shadows that froze me in place with fear and shock.

I could have sworn this room was empty.

A dark figure prowled out of the shadows, into the meager light. Staring straight into me, were a pair of stormy grey eyes, which were so intense that I felt all the air get sucked out of my lungs excruciatingly slow. He dwarfed me, with a body so big and tall that he blocked out the few rays of light that once existed where he now stood.

His towering frame was only made more intimidating by mile-wide shoulders, which narrowed down in a muscled, and toned chest, barely covered by the dark silk draped over him. The silk outlined the contours of his laddered abs, down to thighs that seemed to belong to a stallion.

My eyes burned from being unable to blink, as I drank in the heart-stopping sight in front of me. His midnight black hair was tousled around his shoulders, in contrast with the porcelain glow of his skin. That flawless pale tone only made the contrast of light and shadows sharper along the angles of his face.

Mother, he was gorgeous.

But then I saw the markings. Swirling black marks etched in ancient strokes, rolled around his left hand, up into his silk clothes, to reappear on the left side of his neck. Extremely rare symbols of power gifted by the goddess herself, and was only found in one bloodline, across all the realms.

And I felt the aura suddenly filling the room. It was invisible, but I could feel its tug and pull on everything around me, threatening to crush me under its sheer might. My eyes widened in absolute terror. This was real power… that could only belong to the Alpha king of Ravthorn.

Eldarien Vrathorn.

The name that struck fear into the hearts of many. And I had run from the headmaid, straight into his jaws.

Something escaped my lips, as my blood frizzled out in panic, leaving my veins empty. I could not know if it was a plea for mercy, or a prayer to the mother above for my life to be spared, because I pulled the door open —fumbling over the knob repeatedly— and ran out of the room on malfunctioning legs.

I ran blindly, disoriented and so shell-shocked, that I might as well have run straight into the arms of the headmaid.

By the time I put enough distance between myself and that crushingly powerful aura, I found myself in the maid's quarters, shivering against the wall of my room. How had I barged into the Alpha King's private chambers, and lived?