Chapter 13 : : : : : The Gilded Prison

*Ember*

I was grateful that Mary didn’t approach me. Instead, she bounded over to Rhys and hauled him up out of the road with a surprising reserve of strength. I watched as Rhys attempted to scold her as they ambled towards the village, but it was as if the Beta’s words just bounced right off of the young female’s bright demeanor.

I slowed, falling into step beside Alec, who was watching the exchange with a resigned look. “That pup is positively feral,” he said to me, rolling his eyes at her antics.

“How old is she?” I asked, assuming that she must be somewhere in her mid teens.

“Seventeen,” he replied.

My eyebrows rose in surprise at the revelation that she was so close to my own age. She seemed a lot younger than that. “Where’s her chaperone?” I asked as it struck me that she was out alone without supervision. I had never been let out of the castle, and the few daughters of other Alphas and Betas that I had met had only been allowed out with guards and maids to make sure th