Torture!

Luna's Pov

The 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, stop fooling around and tell us what you gave to him so we can find the antidote. Do that and I can promise that your punishment would be lessened." The Beta's voice was gruff. He tried to sound bold but I could see that he was shaken and trying his best not to quake under the pressure. It was only a matter of time now.

I was playing a dangerous game right now. A game that involved the life of a master and her maid. Right now, I was hoping that these people would care enough to do anything to save him. If they did, then he would survive and by a stroke of luck, I would too but, if anything went wrong, if my calculations were inaccurate, he would die and needless to say, I would too.

"I don't know what happened to him. He just finished eating and started to have a seizure. Perhaps, it was due to the time he spent in the dungeon? Maybe he had not fully recovered?" I asked and for a moment, a wistful look crossed the Beta's face as he considered my words.

"Liar! You gave him poison. You told me that yourself." Blaire roared and I almost cursed. Of course, I had told her that. I had been unable to resist my desire to taunt her and now, I had lost the advantage of secrecy. Now, I could only hope that the doctor had not forgotten an important detail when he told me the poison had no remedy.

The Beta turned red all over, his facial muscles bulging as he closed in on me. "You fed Indrik poison?" His eyes narrowed and his nose flared. From the way his arms trembled at his side, I could see that he was holding himself back from grabbing my neck and snapping it with his bare hands. My entire body heated up as I could feel everyone in the room glaring at me with all the hatred in the world but I could care less.

"Maybe I did!" I drawled. "Maybe the poison has no remedy. Maybe he will die within the hour if he is not treated. Maybe the only way he can be saved is if you unlock his wolf. But then again, these are all speculations." I shrugged.

The Beta staggered back, all the fight seeming to drain out of him. "Did..." He faltered. "Did Indrik put you up to this?" He asked, suspicion creeping up his features.

I raised up my head to stare at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Did he? I'm not sure. Perhaps you should go ask him?"

The oil lamp did not do a very good job of lighting up the room but it was enough to see the Beta turn red in humiliation as he realized that I had just made a fool of him. Whatever further diplomacies he had been intending to exercise with me were thrown in the trash as his eyes clouded with anger. I braced myself for the storm that was coming but a knock interrupted him.

"The doctor is outside." The newcomer informed.

Blaire was out faster than lightning. The Beta also started to leave and I was starting to think about how ridiculous these people were when he stopped at the door and pointed at me. "Take her to the dungeon and don't stop torturing her until she confesses." Great! I muttered under my breath. I just loved being tortured.

Two guards walked toward me and I thought about reminding them how much more sensible it would be for one of them to capture me. I mean, each one was twice my size and setting the two of them on me was like trying to roast a housefly in a bonfire. Something told me they would not be ready to listen to reason though.

The two men grabbed me by one arm each and dragged me along.

"I always knew that allowing a human into the pack was a mistake." One of them mumbled as he glared at me like I could poison him next.

"Serves him right though. What was he thinking? That, because he was weak, he would find someone like him and they would just get along?" The other snorted, drawing on my arm harder than he had to.

"Well, now he has seen just how well they can get along. If he is lucky, it will not be the last thing he sees. You, young lady, are so in trouble." It took me a moment to realize that his last sentence was addressed to me.

"Yeah, right!" I mumbled. Like I had thought they were taking me to see how beautiful the palace was.

One of the guards lit the hanging torches with the one he had brought along in a room we had entered. I inhaled sharply as I checked out all the beautiful instruments of torture that had been prepared… just for me.