I didn't know when I slept off. I felt so tired and cold. If it wasn't for the coat Hermes had given to me, I wouldn't have even a little warmth. My thoughts drifted to my mate and my stomach turned.
He was a powerful man. A very powerful man. I had hoped for a mate but I didn't expect someone with so much power. From his stare, it was obvious that I disgusted him. And what they had said, he believed them completely.
His attitude already gave me the impression that he wouldn't be accepting me. But why then did he want me to go back with him? I was unsure about everything, but grateful that I was far away from Kaden and his evil pack. Where they would never be able to touch me again.
The coach came to an abrupt stop and I fell forward, hitting my face against the wall of the coach.
The door flew open and Hermes was standing in front of me. I caught sight of my mate, he was walking away from the coach at a very fast pace. He didn't even look back for a second to see if I was down from the coach.
My wolf whimpered and it felt like I was stabbed a thousand times in my heart. Hermes followed my eyes and chuckled.
"The travel was very stressful. Come with me. I'll take you to where you'll be staying"
Hermes helped me down from the coach and I followed him inside. The castle was the largest thing I'd ever set my eyes on. But it had a cold feeling to it. Not from the cold outside, it just felt empty.
Hermes led me down the hallway and to the door by the right. He www in front of me and I couldn't see anything except for his large back.
"What did you want?"
I peered over his shoulder to get a glance at the owner of the voice. Standing feet away from us was a large woman waiting with an impatient look on her face.
"I was asleep already"
"King's orders. Are you planning to defy him" The angry look on her face instantly dropped and she forced a smile on her face.
"Of course not. Why would I? What am I to do?"
"This is Nevaeh," he said and moved to the side, revealing me to the woman. Intimidated by her size, I covered.
She stared me up and down, scrutinizing me.
"Who is she?" There was a long pause from Hermes and the woman's frown deepened.
"Did the king bring back another whore?" She asked in a condescending tone.
Another whore? Did he bring women back frequently? The thought drove a sharp pain through my heart.
"She's not a whore"
"Then what is she? Looking at her, she doesn't look like much. Quite different from what the king brings back"
The more she spoke, the more it felt like my heart was going to tear into a thousand pieces. How could I stop this feeling? I didn't want to feel this way at all. It was obvious he didn't like me or want anything to do with me. I didn't want to feel anything towards him either.
No matter how stubborn my wolf was, I was going to act like I didn't have a mate because I was only going to end up hurt if I did.
"She is to stay with the servants"
"Servants? We don't need a new one. There's no vacancy for a new servant"
"It's the king's orders, Martha. I'm not going to argue with you. If you have an issue with her, take it up with the king"
"It'll be difficult to fix her anywhere"
"Find a fucking way" Hermes turned to me and smiled softly.
"She'll handle everything you need. Get some rest" and then he was walking away, leaving me with the frightening woman.
I kept my gaze on the floor but I could feel her eyes on me.
"Are you Hermes's whore?"
Why was she so convinced I was a whore? Hermes already told her that I wasn't.
"N-No" I answered.
"Then what are you? Why did he bring you here?"
"I don't know," I said honestly. I didn't expect that I would be sent to the servant's quarters on my arrival here.
"Fuck. I hate this. Why do I have to be the one to deal with this" she muttered and stomped away. I stood there, not knowing what to do.
"Well, aren't you going to come?" She snapped and I ran after her.
"Great. You're also dumb. I really hate this and I wish I could give the king a piece of my mind but I like the current position of my head. Don't make this any more stressful than it already is. Do you understand?"
"Yes," I muttered loud and clear and followed after her. We walked further down the first hallway and arrived at a set of double doors at the end. She opened it and walked through, and I followed her closely.
There were doors on both sides of the hallway and we walked past all of them. Finally, we arrived at the end of the hallway and there was a door on the left. She opened it and entered inside. I followed her in.
The room was stacked with a lot of things. Boxes and mattresses are stacked against each other.
"This is usually used as a store room for items not in use. There's no other place to fix you this night so you'll stay here. Tomorrow, I'll have the guards move them out of here so you can have space" Once she was done speaking, she disappeared.
I was already too exhausted and I suspected it was the early hours of the morning. I needed to sleep. The mattresses were not in good condition so I couldn't fall asleep on them.
The coat I had on was the only option for me so I laid it on the cold floor and lay down, curling into a fœtal position.
Tears came as I thought about my current condition but I angrily wiped it away.
Curse the moment goddess for bringing me into this life.
I didn't get much sleep throughout the night. I was turning and tossing all through the night. My situation seemed bleak to me and I couldn't get the look on his face out of my mind. The looks on all their faces. I had been assaulted constantly in that pack. And even tonight…the way they had seen us. They knew…Eunice knew that it wasn't consensual but she acted like that to save face. I couldn't even defend myself in front of all those people. I sighed deeply. It was already too late to think much about it. They had all made their conclusions about me. There was nothing I could do to change how they thought about me. Again…my mate. If I'm being honest, I'm still bewildered that I had gotten one. 'He's not so much to us' my wolf reminded me and I sighed again. I forced my eyes shut but the sleep didn't come still. By the time the rooster crowed, I figured I had to get up. Since I was still in the tattered clothes from yesterday, I grabbed the cloak Hermes had given me and put it on ag
I never got the chance to see that girl again or ask her to explain her words from that day. Roughly a thousand servants were working at the castle. That was almost ten times the size of Kaden's pack. I would never meet all of them one-on-one and the chances that I would meet that girl again was very slim. There was no one else that I could ask about what she had said so I let it go. That day, it took me six hours to scrub the laundry room clean on my knees. By the time I was done scrubbing and washing, my knees felt sore and my arms were trembling. My stomach had been cramping because of the lack of food and I remember feeling very dizzy as I tried to find my way to the kitchen after my tedious work. A meal was waiting for me and I gobbled it up. One of the women was nice enough to inform me that I could ask for my meals whenever I wanted it. The days went by and I healed completely from the attack of that night. I didn't run into Martha and only received the list of my duties at t
As expected, the issue from dinner didn't end there. I knew there was no way I would get out of a punishment after my reaction. And even though I shouldn't feel disappointed or let down by my mate's reaction, I still was. It was so disgusting to hear. That it was okay to be touched against my will because I was wearing clothes that were too tight or too short. And it wasn't even my fault in the first place. I had nothing to wear. I had been taken from my pack with no belongings. The only thing I had on me was the tattered clothes and the coat beta Hermes had given to me. Martha didn't want me to wear that and gave me little clothes. Maybe it was my fault for not speaking out and requesting for new and better clothes, that could size me perfectly. But who could I have possibly asked? Anyway, I was given the tiniest brush ever to scrub the whole of the ballroom. So on my hands and knees, I scrubbed the massive ballroom. I didn't get anything to eat because I was upset at everything an
KING THANE’s POV Hermes couldn't stay at a place. He kept pacing the office and muttering something. His agitation was upsetting my wolf and my wolf couldn't be calm. "My lord we need your approval on this" One of the men in the office handed a paper over to me and I glanced through it. "Why do they need my approval to hunt?" "It's crossing into another's pack territory" "And they can't discuss it with the alpha of that territory?" I snapped at him. "I'm not giving permission to intrude on another alpha's land. He can if he discusses with the alpha of that territory" "What next?" Hermes chose that as the perfect time to say something. "I don't get how mates act crazy" There was a long pause as we all stared at him. He probably didn't realize that he blurted that out loud. "Out everybody" I commanded and they grabbed their things, fleeing from the office. "What was it that you were saying about mates?" "It didn't use to be like this in the past. Everyone loved the mates
The days were running by quickly and so were the tasks that I had to handle. In just a couple of days, I'll be done with the punishment I'd been given. I stayed out of everyone's way and nobody showed up in front of me, except for Helios. Since that first day we met, he made it a mission to see me every day. I was unsure about him because no matter how nice and kind he acted, I was convinced that there was something about him. My wolf agreed too. Often times when he would drop by and try to help me in any way that he could, I would start to think again that he was a nice person and I was just overthinking it. But I'll dismiss that thought as fast as it came. It was better to trust your instincts. I tried to get him to stop coming but he was insistent. It was simply like he was redoubling his effort to be around me each time I tried to get him to leave. He was too forward to completely ignore his existence so I just had to endure for a while, make up a silly excuse, and be on my way.
She didn't stop pulling me along until we were far from the supplies room. We went into the kitchen and she let go of my hand, holding the counter and breathing rapidly. "Fuck. If he finds out I lied, he'll be fucking furious and he'll try to find me. I just risked my neck for your sake" "Thank you," I said sincerely. If she hadn't come, I wouldn't have been able to get away from that man and I'll probably still be pressed against the wall praying to the damned goddess to get me away from there. "What's your issue with him anyway? Everybody knows that Helios is bad news...most of the men in the king's circle are. We try to stay away from them" "I was doing just that but somehow, he found me. I don't even know how he did" Nobody knew that I was going to the library today or did he see me while I was going to the supplies room? "It's bad news if he has his eyes on you. You have to report" "Who could I report to?" "Martha" I couldn't stop the scoff that left my mouth. She looked
My discussion with Amaris cleared my questions about the different species but the other part.....I shouldn't be upset about it. Fuck! How many times have I told myself that whatever he did was none of my fucking business? I didn't care about him or what he did because I didn't want him. Countless times I said this to myself but I couldn't help but wonder. He had fallen in love without waiting for his mate.....No. He had no respect and absolutely detested women for what his previous lover had done to him. He...."No. No" I said to myself. "It's none of my business""It is your business" my wolf screamed in my head. "It is our fucking business. He should have waited for us. We are his mate and we would have never cheated on him" I said nothing but she remained restless. She was getting impatient as the days went by. She wanted us to see our mate ignoring the fact that he saw us as loose and hated our existence. "He only thinks that way of us because we were falsely accused. If you
I packed the shards of glass, cleaned up the mess, and returned to the kitchen. Dinner was already underway and I doubt they had any need for me. I was nervous as I waited, wringing my hands nervously. The servants serving the appetizers returned to the kitchen with dirty dishes and retired for the night. Same for the girls serving the main dish and then dessert. Amaris was shocked to see me waiting in the kitchen and she approached me. "Why are you still here?""I messed up. Martha may need to see me before I can retire for the night""She's busy and won't have anything to say to you. Go to bed. If there is anything that needs to be said, it will be addressed tomorrow. But you have no reason to fear. They let it go at the moment it happened so nobody will be remembering it" Amaris words were supposed to be comforting but they did nothing to comfort me. Knowing my luck, they won't forget it and I'll get punished again. But I listened to Amaris and returned to my room. I wasn't able t