ARIA."Mother?" I called out in disbelief as soon as i opened up the door that housed her chambers. My entire body shook massively as I trembled at the unforgiving sight in front of me. My mother has been murdered and was lying down in the pool of her own blood.I knelt down in front of her and with shaky hands, I reached out to her dead body as the tears burned my vision, threatening to fall. I had taken a walk to pick out some flowers from my favorite garden somewhere in the woods when i heard screams which was followed by endless wailings from afar. Scared and utterly dumbfounded, i rushed back home to find our house open. The first thought that came to my mind was that someone had broken into our house to steal but when i got in and found traces of blood everywhere, something stirred inside me causing me to panic.The entire room was filled with dead bodies that had been killed in the cruelest way possible. My heart sank at the derogatory and horrid sight in front of me.Just the
ARIA.I huddled at the far end of the cold cage. My entire body aching massively. The wounds inflicted on me stung as though my body had been bitten terribly by group of ants. I bit down hard at my lips to reel in the pain and suppress the heat that burned up my insides as the images of my mother and father being killed flashed through my head. It has been a week since my family was massacred in cold blood and I still can't get over the trauma that came with it.Taking deep breaths, I tried to find my footing but failed miserably as I crashed down to the cold, hard surface. After Ryan rejected me that day, he had brought me to the palace to serve as one of the lowest ranking slaves and everyone here bullied me, especially Keira, his sister. I wish i had just died instead rather than being alive to go through this constant pain and bitter torture."Aria..." Someone called out to me from the cage. I recognized the familiar voice of Martha, my cellmate who was also locked up in the cage
ARIA."Grab a wine from the cellar." The chief maid instructed me. "You're going to serve the alphas in place of Mary because she's sick." She added and i couldn't help the shock gasp that escaped from my lips. I am also sick and injured but no one seemed to care. To make matters worse, tonight was supposed to be the celebration of my eighteenth birthday but here am i taking orders from everyone. My entire day has been spent working and now that i was supposed to rest, i still have to serve at the banquet tonight."Did you hear me?" She repeated and i nodded my head before making my way towards the cellar. Today, the kitchen was bustling, or more accurately, the entire palace was bustling because the Alpha King was hosting a grand banquet with members of other royal families in attendance. It was known as the feast of all alphas where they came around with their slaves to discuss and make merry about their latest accomplishments.If we were still together, I'm pretty sure that Ryan w
ARIA.I was unable to speak, struggling to find the right words to say. It was then I realized that I was standing in front of the Alpha King. Fear gripped me as I realized what could happen to me if he figured out who I was. I was about to be caught and I couldn’t let that happen.Before he could realize what was going on, I turned to my heels. I didn’t stop until he held me by my wrist. “Turn around.” I obeyed and did as he said, before he started to inspect me from head to toe. “You are Ryan’s slave, aren’t you?” I nodded in the affirmative, afraid to look into his eyes. I never really looked at him for more than thirty seconds. I guess that’s why I never noticed his strong masculine features which made me feel a certain kind of way. “What are you doing out here then? Isn’t there a party?” He paused for a moment and sighed. “You were trying to run away.”Before I could even think of what I was about to do, I went on my knees and started to weep. It was the only way I could free
ARIA.The silence in the carriage had been so uncomfortable that I was avoiding eye contact with him like the plague. Sometimes during the journey, I would feel his eyes on me as though he wanted to start a conversation but he didn’t know how to. It was strange albeit exciting and scary that I was going somewhere with a handsome Alpha King of whose name I didn’t even know.His kingdom was quite close to Ryan’s so we got there that same day. That made me wonder if it seemed like they were foes. I knew when Ryan didn’t like someone. He would give them the stink eye and scowl at them as well. The crazy part is that wasn’t the look he gave me. It was the look of hatred and disgust which made me wonder how he changed so much. This Ryan wasn’t the Ryan I had fallen in love with. I think I always knew he was like that, just not to me. Ryan was always rude and wicked to slaves. I never really did anything about it and that’s why the other slaves hated me as well when I got into their shoes.
ARIA.It felt like hours and I had already started to panic, but I couldn’t even scream for help. I guess this is how one feels when death is knocking at the door, I couldn’t do anything about it. “I’m so sorry sir. She just slumped all of a sudden.” I heard Portia say as I slowly opened my eyes. The first person I saw was the Alpha King, his eyebrows were creased and he looked scared. Did he care about my well-being? “W-what happened?” I managed to ask.“You fainted. Are you okay? Portia answered my question with a question.“I’m fine. I think I hit my head on something.”“I’ll get a healer to come and check you.” The Alpha King said and proceeded to walk away.“No…uh.” I interrupted thinking of his name. Come to think of it, I didn’t actually know his name! “What’s your name?”“You didn’t know my name all this time?” He had an amused smile on his face that made me feel so embarrassed. “My name is King Aiden. Call me Aiden.” I wondered why we hadn’t spoken yet if I was actually h
ARIA.I didn’t want to go downstairs but I just really had to get some water. As I walked closer and closer, I figured out that Aiden was conversing with the person. I didn’t want to have to talk to any new person. So, I carefully walked to the kitchen. It was so weird that I hadn’t been to the kitchen since I got there. I wouldn’t have had to because I had Portia. She was nowhere to be found and I actually wanted to go around the house. The kitchen was big, but not that big compared to Ryan’s. I didn’t know why I kept comparing Ryan to Aiden in every thing, whether big or small. I actually forgot sometimes that Aiden is a King of a much smaller kingdom. I walked over to the wooden counter and picked an apple, I groaned as I took a bite. I couldn’t find any food but I hadn’t been eating well lately, and the apple tasted so nice. I also managed to find bread in one of the compartments and ate that as well, before drinking water. When I was sure I felt okay, I left the kitchen, making
ARIA.That was the kindest apology I had ever received in my life. Aiden really knew how to go all out for someone. The pie was delicious too, I had doubts that he was telling the truth about making it. I ate very fast, as though I had not eaten a proper meal for days, which is actually true. It was then I started to feel better and have more energy. What I wasn’t so sure of was the horse riding invitation. Technically, I didn’t lie. Just because I find something interesting doesn’t mean I can do it. He should have not believed me. He is aware that women don’t engage in such activities. To society, we should be interested in cooking and child birth. That’s why I’ve always been different. I loved to read and my eyes sparkled whenever I saw people riding horses. This was one of the things that made me miss my mom. If she had been here, she would have told me horse riding was for men. It wasn’t her fault, it was what the society made us believe.Ryan was the biggest supporter of such i