THE UNTHINKABLE

Kieran’s Point Of View 

We returned to the palace in the coach. The linens that were used to beautify the walls of the palace fence in the hope of welcoming the alpha’s new luna have been removed and probably dumped somewhere. 

Had I been marked by Alpha Colten, all that beauty and glamor could have been mine to behold, but now, I was rejected like a piece of shit, and now, I return in Madam Nadia’s carriage, shrunken like a mischievous kid who had just been shunned by a big aunty for peeing into public pool.

The coach stopped once we entered the courtyard, and before the coachman could make it to the door, Madam stretched her hand across and pushed it open.

“Descend.” She ordered rigidly.

I descended from the coach and waited for her to join me. She descended, held my hand, and led me towards the kitchen, but before we could get to the massive mahogany door of the kitchen chamber. The door was a magnificent piece from the outset.

It was polished brown and had the image of two mighty wolves carved into it. I have no idea what such a carving was doing on the door to the kitchen, but I liked it. I liked touching the two wolves each time I visited the kitchen, and I was about to caress them one more time when a deep, masculine voice called on us.

“Hey!”

Madam Nadia turned first. Then I did the same.

“The two of you, can I have your audience?” the voice demanded.

It was indeed a demand, not a plea. Because the voice belonged to no other but the Beta to the great Alpha Colten. He was sitting in his coach and was looking at us with stern eyes.

Madam Nadia glanced uneasily at me. Maybe, she was beginning to worry she might have made the worst mistake of her life by bringing me back to the palace when she could have given me away to the convent and at least have her peace for moon's sake.

“You mean, me?” she asked.

William didn’t repeat himself. He knew what he demanded of us, and that was what he wanted. Madam Nadia took my hand and we walked down to his coach. 

He was not alone in the coach. A white-haired lady was in the coach with him. They seemed to have just signed out of the palace building and were about to leave when they saw us.

“What is your name?” he asked Madam Nadia.

Madam Nadia hesitated a little but answered promptly. “My name is Nadia of the Lower Chamber.”

William smiled at her and turned his gaze to me. I bowed my head, with my eyes busy on the floor. The last thing I wanted to do was meet him eyeball to eyeball.

“Brave Kieran,” he said with a soft smile playing on his cheek. “I would love to borrow you from your supervisor, on behalf of my friend, Laura Maria.”

I looked at Madam Nadia, hoping she would put up a protest, but she said nothing. She was rather uneasy and unwilling to give me up, but she could do nothing. It was clear, she could do no damn thing about it.

“You don’t need her permission here,” the so-called Laura Maria said with such impunity that it startled me. 

I knew there were ranks above Madam Nadia’s, but in the lower chamber, we feared her the most. She’s from a great family and has lots of connections in and outside the pack, but for the sake of patriotism, she had to serve in the palace on behalf of her family.

She’s the number one supervisor in the lower chamber, and the last thing I expected was her getting disrespected by anyone. Not even Mirian’s supervisor would dare do what the so-called Laura Maria did.

“Yes, I don’t need to, and it seems my friend here will like not just to borrow you, but to have you for real.” 

That was how I found myself on the coach. That was how I left the lower chamber forever. That was the last time I saw Madam Nadia.

I was now stuck with Laura Maria.

The coach rode past the first courtyard. I thought it would stop in the second, but it passed the second, the third, the fourth, and stopped at the fifth courtyard.

If I were to work under a supervisor this big, then I might not be considered as wretched as I was before. The monthly allowance would triple, and I would at least send something home to my aunt and her family, though she dumped me in the palace and fled years ago and never came back to claim me.

They said she used me to pay up her debt to the palace.

We alighted from the coach, and Laura Maria nodded at me to follow her into the palace house. I followed her, doing my very best to keep my distance as she kept hers.

A blonde as neat and beautiful as her would do her very best to keep off from a sewage cleaner. That’s what they call those of us in the lower chamber, because cleaning of sewage was part of our job.

I never cleaned the sewage for even one day. In fact, I never entered the sewage for even one day. I can’t even tell what it looked like, but I can tell what the rats from the sewage when disturbed looked like.

They were large rats with thick fur and vampire-like fangs that had gone brown from feeding on feces and sewage water.

But that never meant I had anything to do with the sewage. That sick job was for the guys amongst us, and they live in a different quarter. 

Let's begin with the beauty of the floor. I walked into the new chamber. It was marbled throughout, unlike the rough floors of the lower chamber. The walls were as smooth as the shiny pebbles at the riverside. 

What about the artwork on the walls? they were the best of the best. She led me through many passages. We walked past many omegas who serve in the chamber.

Their uniforms were a lot better than ours in the lower chamber. We finally entered a massive hall in the chamber, and she nodded gently at three ladies who seemed to have been waiting for us.

They walked towards me without uttering a word to me, grabbed my hands, and led me to the pool in the hall. They took off my clothes. I didn’t protest because I knew I was clean inside, and I had worn the best of my clothes to the occasion that turned out sour last night.

But somehow, these three ladies made faces as they took off my clothes, like I was stinking so bad they found it difficult to breathe.

Done with ridding me of my clothes, they led me into the pool. The pool seemed to have been doused with sweet-scented detergent. I have no idea what it was, but the pool had bubbles.

They dipped me in the pool and raised me as I nearly passed out in it, then they delved into washing me clean as Laura Maria watched while standing, with her arms crossed over her chest.

They washed every part of me, then they settled on my hair. I love my long hair. I liked it long, but I didn’t protest when I felt scissors on it. 

Some of it was not just trimmed. They were cut with the scissors. 

Done with that, they took me out of the pool and led me to another. In the second pool, they washed me a second time, revealing the true color of my skin. I had never been so white.

I thought the stain of smoke and the rage of the sun on my skin was a permanent scar, but now, I realized it was not. The stuff doused in the pool had done the magic.

Done with the second watch, they led me into a steam room and left me there. The steam covered me up like I was a piece of meat tossed into a pressure cooker, but I didn’t stay long in it. 

They brought me out shortly, wrapped me up in a big towel, and led me out of the hall. 

Laura Maria followed us into a massive room. They made me sit on a stool in the room, and gently-gently, they smeared sweet-smelling oil on me and rubbed it down all over my body.

Done with the deal, they passed me to another room where a tall woman was waiting.

“Put her in shape.” Laura Maria ordered.

The woman nodded at her. then, nodded at me to follow her.