Luna's Pov
I opened my eyes feeling rather groggy and achy. I yawned lazily, stretching my limbs and was rewarding with the satisfying crunch of muscles rearranging themselves. I squinted, taking a look at the room where I had spent the night with the aid of daylight that was streaking in through the window. I nearly fell off my perch as I realized that this was not my room. Looking around, I noticed Indrik still on the bed, snoring softly as he slept. His hair spread all over. The bed, his eyes, his mouth. I smiled as I brushed the hair away from his face. I did a doubletake as my eyes fell on his face. Like I had done so many times while he was unconscious, I slipped into the stool on which I had spent the night and propping my cheeks on my hands, admired his face. Despite the numerous wounds, he always managed to look so spectacular when he was asleep. With his sad eyes closed and his facial muscles robbed by sleep of their crankiness, he looked like an angel in his sleep. I remained like that for a while, losing all sense of time until he mumbled something in his sleep, turning from lying on his back to his right side so his face was directly in mine. I jumped, afraid that he would catch me staring. That, would be very embarrassing and I preferred to avoid embarrassing. He continued to sleep, luckily. Sparing him one last glance, I turned away from him and left the room. In my room, I took a hurried bath and slipped into a simple white dress. Satisfied, I picked up a basket in the corner of the room and tucked it under my arm with the aim of finishing the errand before my master would wake up and start calling for me. Outside, I realized that the morning was still very early with the sun still struggling with the clouds. Birds twittered as they danced, enjoying the beauty of a new day. Most of the wolves seemed to still be asleep though as I did not run into anyone except the guards at the gate as I made my way out. The journey to the pack's doctor who was situated in the center of the pack to ensure easy access to everyone was as always very tiring. I thought about Lea and found it regrettable that I had not gotten to ride her last night. This reminded me of Jamil who I had not seen since we had left him with Leon and his dogs. I wondered if he was okay. I was just in time to catch the doctor opening the door to the medicine store. "Good morning, elder Matthew!" I greeted. He turned exposing his brilliant white teeth in a smile. Over the past few days, I had seen him more than I had seen most other people with him coming to check on Indrik and myself coming to get his drugs. He smiled back at me. He was about the only other person who showed me an ounce of kindness in this place. As usual, he was wearing his white robe and shoes which I considered strange considering that he always had to work with things that could destroy white in no time. Things like blood, vomit, sweat, and a crowd of other things that I preferred not to think about. He wasn't exactly tall but he was the kind of person who commanded respect without even trying which probably had something to do with his warm brown eyes that seemed to say, "you can trust me. I won't hurt you except for, well, injections. And those won't even hurt." He pulled the iron doors open and hobbled in. As always, I was hit in the face by the strong scent of herbs, dried, drying and fresh. Then there were the liquid ones with scents that was not as easy to place. Like the first time I had come here, the sour-sweet mixture of smells made me feel giddy. I wondered how the doctor managed to survive spending every day here. I followed the doctor to his table at the far end of the room while taking in the rows of vials that lined the stalls. Once the doctor had settled in, he started to get me the drugs I had come for. "How is your master doing?" The doctor questioned as he browsed through the stalls. "He was doing well until yesterday when a fight found him." The doctor paused as he spared me a glance. "Didn't I mention that he get a lot of rest?" I sighed, not knowing how to tell him that it was Indrik's own brother that had almost beaten him to death. I turned away as something caught my eyes two rows away. Walking toward it, I soon realized why it was so strange. In a place where all the vials contained either brown or blue liquid, this one contained a green one. Looking at it, I could tell that it had been left there for a while. So long that dust had thickly coated it but somehow, it still seemed to be boiling. Picking it up, I approached the doctor and asked him about it. His eyes widened, confirming my suspicion that it was indeed strange. "Where did you find that? I thought I had disposed of it. That is an extract of Voldemort root. It is a poison that kills a human within an hour so, I would advise that you return it. I wouldn't want to be the reason why your master loses a maid." I smiled faintly as I returned to the stall. By the time I returned, the doctor had finished packing and handed the basket to me. "Will the lad require a check up?" He asked referring to the scrape I had mentioned. I shook my head. He won't be needing any more check-ups. Not right now at least.Indrik's PovI woke up to my head feeling like it was being hit over and over with a heavy hammer. Groaning, I tried to get up but my arm collapsed under the strain, sending me sprawling once more. I tried to open my eyes but all I could see were tiny yellow dots dancing on a frenzy. "Luna?" I called weakly but no one answered. "Luna!" I called again, a little louder only to be met with the same silence. I felt around the bed to see if she was still sleeping somewhere there but felt nothing. I groaned in exasperation wishing I could fire her with the way she got me feeling like I was the maid and she the master sometimes. Knowing that no one was coming, I attempted to open my eyes again. This time, my vision was a little bit clearer but my headache wasn't getting any better. I raised my hand to my face and felt bumps that weren't there yesterday. My eyes clouded with tears of humiliation as I recalled what had happened the other day. Leaving my room with the intention of getting som
Indrik's PovIn between using my medicine, eating breakfast, taking a walk out to the garden and making small talk with Luna, night arrived sooner than I expected. Through all these, I noticed that something was bothering Luna. She would suddenly stop and stare at empty air till I called her attention or stop mid-speech and frown, her brows furrowing on deep thought. Despite myself, I couldn't help worrying about her but my attempts to make her tell me what was wrong with her all ended up falling through. With night descending and her helping me to my room, I found that she was starting to shed her worried skin which for whatever reason made me feel a little relieved. "I will go get your food now." She informed once I was in my room and left before I could protest. Usually, I was supposed to eat with the rest in the palace dinning hall but due to the state of my health, I was excused till I got better. While she was away, I thought about what we had discussed earlier. "If you man
Blaire's Pov From the moment Indrik had brought that woman into our pack, I had known that nothing could come of it except bad news. This became a reality when she suddenly started to shout in the middle of the night, shattering my face relaxation routine. I would have ignored her if not for the reference she made to Indrik. As it was, I cursed as I dashed to my room. She continued to wail until I pushed the door open after which she stopped abruptly. She had been standing over Indrik in the dim glow of the oil lamp. She turned toward me with what seemed like a smirk on her lip. "You are just in time." My eyebrows arched as I noticed that she was definitely smiling. "What is going on?" I scowled, wondering what kind of craziness she was trying to work up. "I don't know! Why don't you come and see?" She turned and the color drained from my face as I saw what lay on the bed behind her. "No! No! No!" I muttered as I rushed toward the bed hoping with every fiber of my bein
Luna's PovThe palace was thrown into chaos as people milled to and fro, trying to find a solution to the problem. For a while, nobody paid me any attention as they fussed over the weakling who they would rather throw into prison to die of starvation than fulfill his life's dream. I rolled my eyes, irritated by the hypocrisy of these people. Indrik had started to foam at the mouth when they decided to take him out of the room. They gave him honey, tried other herbal mixtures that they could work up but nothing worked. I sneered as I watched all their attempts that were bound to end up in failure. Finally, Blaire seemed to remember me as she turned toward me, her eyes burning with hatred. "What have you done to him?" She growled. Silence settled in the room as everyone else turned toward me as though just realizing that the maid should know what happened to her master. "Who? Me?" I asked, feigning the best incredulous look I could manage as I placed a hand on my chest. "Young girl
Blaire's PovI watched with bated breath as the Pack’s physician ran tests on Indrik. He checked his eyes, his tongue, his lips and a host of other places. He mumbled something under his breath as he repeated the tests. By the time he looked up, his eyes were wide with terror. "That girl!" He muttered through gritted teeth. "Can he be treated?" Beta Green asked, stepping forward. His body seemed to sag and his voice was weary from all that was going on. The physician shook his head. "The girl chose her poison well. This is Voldemort's root." I stared at him blankly, not understanding what that meant but obviously, the Beta understood and so did my mother as they gasped in disbelief. "What?" My mother gasped. "But that is impossible. Where could she possibly have gotten it?"The physician bowed his head. "From me. She asked me about it this morning when she came to get his medicine. I had totally forgotten about that till now."Silence reigned for a moment before mother spoke again
Blaire's PovI wanted to scream, and cry, and curse. And maybe throw some punches as I watched Indrik, spasming and muttering gibberish, head shaking from one side to the other, green blood now pouring more and more from his mouth and his nose? My heart stopped for a moment as even in the pale light of the moon, I could see his color draining away as his life slipped out of his grasp. The world spun cruelly as I looked from the doctor to Beta Green, to my mum, to the Zeta, to some other faces that my eyes were too blurry to let me notice. I could see the sad look on all their faces but I could not shake the thought that it was all hypocritical after all, if they really did care, they would not hesitate to help him. If only I could help, I would have gladly did but I had stupidly spent all my life before mirrors and brushes and now, I couldn't even save a drunken deer without being crushed into mashed up pieces. My eyes stung as the air stung with what felt like death. I couldn't shak
Luna's PovMy eyes burned as red liquid spurted into my eyes. My head throbbed, my wrists and ankles burned as the coarse ropes bored into them, wound so tightly that they sliced into my skin, shredding it like meat in a grinder. My arms and legs were spread so far apart that my joints creaked with annoyance, each threatening to break away from my body under the strain. My back felt like a colony of fire ants had been let loose on it, each one digging its head into my skin and taking a good sized chunk out of my skin. I wondered if the guards would consider loosening one of my arms long enough for me to reach to my back and scratch the itch that was threatening to drive me crazy although something told me I wouldn't enjoy it very much. "Have you had enough?" One of the guards asked. My chest felt like I had drank a mouthful of oil and followed it up with some fire. My chest beat painfully against my thorax and my stomach felt like it had had all its contents pulled out and smoked on
Luna's PovSo far, I had been doing a pretty good job enduring the pain and getting on the nerves of my torturers but now, looking down at this blade, I wasn't sure I could keep up the front anymore. I swallowed as I breathed in deeply. "It is just a blade. It is nothing you can't take." I whispered to myself. The man laughed loudly as he turned to his comrade, "can you believe this? She is begging for mercy. Too bad. I expected her to go down with a smile but then again, no one escapes the great Baldwin without being broken." He thumped his chest so hard, I was afraid he was going to end up broken before me. I wondered if his name was a title or his parents had had some insight into his future to have given him such a fitting name. The thought was enough to brighten my mood as I started to smile and suddenly, the knife was not so scary. I thought about Indrik who was probably in his death throes, struggling with the poison that I had fed him and shook my head. What kind of master w