Chapter Three

Ice’s POV

I jolt awake with a loud gasp as I am splashed by cold water. Despite having my body ache all over due to the batter I’ve received in the past few days, I open my surely swollen eyes just to glare at whoever woke me up.

The guard’s gray dull eyes lock into mine and he disgustingly spits on me, “Stand up, whore.”

“I swear to the Moon Goddess, Gil. Once I get out of these chains, I will dunk you in the river found on the outskirts of the town.” I sneer as I give him my infamous death glare.

“You better shut your mouth while I’m still playing nice. I might just end you right now.” He grunts as he moves closer to me, giving off a stale smell of sweat from his clothes covered with layer upon layer of grime. 

“Such empty words.” I scoff. He’s about to say something but suddenly changes his mind and leaves the prison room.

Smirking to myself for still having my reputation, I grab the dirty bread on the floor and put it into my mouth. I really should not trigger him, it’s not his fault that I will be executed off soon. In a little while, the door slams open and Gilbert with his other cronies’ rush in the room.

“Aww, you gang up your little friends?” I hurriedly finish my bread before tilting my head to the side and mocking the group. 

“I bet you would start begging to have your nonexistent friends with you right now.” He laughs and strides towards me before punching me on my left cheek. As the head guard, he sure can throw a punch. 

“What are you talking about?” My head starts ringing and the confusion seeps in. 

“Such empty words.” He mocks me and his cronies rush beside me and grip both my wrists in place. Horror washes over me when he starts to unbutton his jeans. I thrash on the chains, not minding the searing pain the chain does to my wrists.  

“Stop! Gil, you idiot, I will kill you!” I scream. My cries are muffled when he forces his lips to grope mine disgustingly. Angry, I bite on his lips so hard that it draws blood.

“You fucking bitch!” He punches me across my face again.

“I will fucking kill you, asshole.” I spit out our mixed blood from my lip before letting out a manic laughter.

“Not before I kill you first, you whore!” Gil shouts on top of his lungs and is about to lunge at me when a familiar voice stops him.

“Touch her one more time and I will make sure that that will be the last thing you ever do.”

Gil freezes on his spot before reluctantly stepping away. His cronies group split to allow whoever says it to glide to where I am. At first, I thought he was Master Athan because I was still dazed by Gil’s blows. But soon I realize that it’s just Felix. 

“Leave.” Flix growls at them. His wolf is definitely stronger than those rats and he isn’t scared of them. 

“You are just Master Athan’s pet.” Gil scoffs angrily before walking out of the room with his cronies.

“The rank of this pet is higher than yours, so step out.” Flix glares at him. “Now!”

“Ice, are you okay?” Flix takes out his handkerchief and starts wiping sweat and blood off of me. The kind gesture makes me smile internally because this is such a Flix thing to do. He has always been taking care of me ever since I was a young pup, even when we are roughly the same age. He would go out of his way to help me with my tasks even when he is extremely busy himself. 

“I can’t believe he’s doing this to you. I’m so sorry.” He whispers with pure worry in his eyes.

“Flix, you’re ridiculous. You have nothing to apologize for.” I mirror his smile.

“No, Ice, you don’t understand. I climb this rank to protect you, Ice.” He shakes his head.

I look at Flix with utmost respect. He is the only one in the world right now who treats me in this way. The undertone is quite clear, but somehow I don’t know how to respond to this. 

“I…” He pauses a second, “I had a discussion with Master Athan about you.” 

“Why would you do that? He could have killed you!” I gasp.

“It doesn’t matter. You should not have been here.” He brings his cloth up to my wrists and pats on my wounds gently. 

“What did the Master say?” I pluck up my courage to ask, knowing that hope is a dangerous thing for me to have. 

He looks down before retelling me something that will make me shocked till next year, “He will set you free if you complete the Impossible Mission.”

A weak smile cracks on my face when the words dawn to me. Impossible Mission means to kill an Alpha level werewolf target, which is a humongous level away from me. That is too far from my usual task where I only do quick kills or information collection.

In simpler terms: I am strong, but I am not that strong.

Another realization makes me slump down when I comprehend what is currently happening. Regardless of whether I take my chances in succeeding the Impossible Mission or not, I am still doomed. Defying Master Athan will lead to my impending doom.

I don’t know why he rejected me, and I’m unsure if he just wants me dead, or he probably believes in my skills to assign me the Impossible Mission. Either way, I cannot speculate Master Athan’s intentions. I must obey his order.

“It’s not like I have a choice. I will respect my unconditional vows of pledging loyalty to the Master.” I let out a shaky breath.

“Do you know who the target is?” I ask him.

“I don’t know the details yet, but the Rogue King has a huge bounty on his head as his men have been roaming around the Crescent Valley. I assume killing him is worth deeming as an Impossible Mission.” Flix gives me a sad look.  

“Who will take my place teaching?” I ask half-jokingly. Flix stays silent. Of course, he will. That’s classified information.

“Time is up. Go, now!” Gilbert calls out from behind Flix. 

“Hang on there, okay?” Flix sighs as he places his handkerchief back on his pocket. He looks up at me and says, I give him a short nod and a reassuring smile. I can’t have him worry about me.

“Don’t hate me for this. But this is for your own good.” He mutters. 

I am about to ask him what he is talking about when he firmly presses on a pressure point on my collarbone which immediately makes me pass out.

When my consciousness comes back a little bit, I silently thank Flix because I would hate to have to deal with Gil after his stupid shenanigans. Opening my eyes, I am shocked to see the familiar pinky interior of the room. Turning on my right, I see my yellow lampshade with crystals dangling on it. Looking around the surroundings, pictures of me with Master Athan with old friends are scattered on the walls. Master Athan allows Flix to take me back? 

A knock jolts me back to reality. I walk to my door and open it. Dazzling blue eyes meet mine and I immediately want to shut the door again. Miranda, Master Athan’s new maid, was born in this world to infuriate me. She’s mean and acts as if she knows my mate better than me. I bet she has a crush on Master Athan too. 

“Miss ice, congratulations on being discharged from the prison. Master Athan wishes to see you at 8 pm in the main banquet hall.” She says coldly, handing me over a pile of colourful gowns. 

“Master Athan wants me to dress up and meet him again?” Hope blooms in my heart and I excitedly grab them from her and close the door shut. Not wanting to be rude, I open the door again, say my thanks coldly, before hurrying towards my bed. Putting the gowns down, I need to examine each of the garments.

However, my grin disappears when I see how childish the gowns are. One dress is in light blue with golden frills sown at the bottom. The silver one is printed with pink floral patterns with white ribbons on both shoulders. The lavender colored off shoulder dress caught my attention, but it is still too hideous for me because of the exaggeratedly big puff sleeves.

Does he send me these childish dresses on purpose to imply that I am just a little girl in his heart? Suddenly the old memories of the past flood my brain. Oh I remembered that. 

He chose this pinky room for me when I was young. He tucked me in and told me my favourite bedtime stories. I won every training battle and he looked at me with pride sparkling in his eyes.

Immediately, the thing “My little princess” he used to call me turns sour when the realization dawns on me: his actions were not of a lover, but as a father. He loved me not as his lover, but as his daughter. 

I am not his daughter, I am his mate. Disgust fills my veins and I angrily stomp over my bathroom to prove him wrong. The spots of blue and black bruises that are all over my body are now covered with full coverage foundation. I fix the spaghetti straps of my black mini dress while smoothing my perfectly curled shoulder length hair. I braid the sides of it and pin it to the back to emphasise my sharp sexy jawline. After putting on velvet red lipstick, I wear my silver high stilettos before going down the one last step. 

Grabbing the eyeliner which I have never used before, I put on sharp cat-like eyeliner. My master used to compliment me for having a pair of doe eyes, but now it’s all gone. 

Let’s see if he still sees me as his little princess after tonight.