Chapter 5

“You're just a lowly servant!” Lady Victoria screams. “How dare you touch my Alpha? How dare you kiss him with your filthy mouth?!”

The world spins as my heart stops. I'm doomed.

She knows.

Of course she knows.

There are always eyes.

Always ears. Always someone watching.

I was a fool to think for even a second that I could have a moment of privacy with the King.

They saw the kiss. They saw a scavenger touching what Lady Victoria believes is her birthright.

I drop to my knees, my pulse pounding in my chest as the shadows crawl in… Ready to swallow me whole. To erase me completely.

And this time… I know I will not survive it.

“I’m sorry, my lady,” I plead, my voice shaking. “I… I did not intend…”

“You lying, filthy thing! Whip!” she shouts, and a servant rushes forward, passing her the heavy leather whip. “I told you to stand in my place,” she continues. “Not to touch what belongs to me.”

The first strike comes down across my shoulders, the leather biting deep into the skin that Alpha Kieran just held so gently.

The pain tears through my spine and I clutch at the floor, my knuckles turning white.

I don't cry out.

I have learned over the years that silence is the only dignity a servant is allowed.

“You think because you wore my dress that you are a lady?” Lady Victoria’s voice rises with every blow.

The whip falls again and again, rhythmic and brutal, my body jerking with every strike. “You are dirt! You are the filth I walk on!”

“No…” I shake my head, tears blurring my vision.

Another strike. And again.

Each hit steals the air from my lungs, burns my skin, and breaks something deeper. The fragile hope I carried from the garden shatters.

“Then why,” she demands, voice dripping with venom, “did you let my Alpha taste your lips?”

My throat tightens.

He is my mate.

The truth claws at my chest, desperate to be heard, but it will be my death warrant. I am a servant. I have no right to a mate… especially not a king.

“I… I could not stop,” I whisper, the truth slipping out before I can hide it.

“Could not?” she snorts. “Or would not?”

I do not answer. Because I do not know. And that is the worst part.

The whip strikes harder now. Faster. Relentless.

She lashes me until her own arm tires, and my consciousness begins to fray.

“P-please… don't kill me!” I cry out, my instinct to live overriding my pride. “Y-you need me… I’m useful… I can still serve…”

Lady Victoria laughs, sharp and cruel.

“There are many she-wolves outside the palace who can pass as me behind a mask. What made you think you weren’t replaceable?”

The whip comes down once again. Then again and again until suddenly it stops.

She hurls the whip aside with a grunt, steps closer, fist tightening in my hair, and yanks my head back, forcing me to look at her beautiful, twisted face.

I can barely feel my body. I am a heap of bruised flesh and torn silk.

“Remember your place,” she says coldly. “Or next time, I will not stop at bruises.” She throws me aside like a broken doll. “Throw her in the cell. No food, no water for three days.”

Her footsteps fade.

Hands grab me, dragging me across the floor and down stone steps before throwing me into the damp, dark cell.

The iron gate slams shut with a final, echoing clang, chains rattle, and footsteps fade away.

Soon, silence settles in; only the sound of my ragged breathing remains… and the faint scratching of rodents in the dark dungeon.

I sit up slowly, trembling, and curl against the cold wall, hugging my knees. Every inch of me aches.

Suddenly, the realization hits me.

This bond did not come to save me.

It came to destroy me.

And yet, my heart betrays me.

I squeeze my eyes shut, and I can still see Alpha Kieran's silver gaze. I can still feel the way the world stopped when he touched me. His lips on mine. How nothing existed but him.

This cannot happen again. No one must know. It must remain a secret, or it will be the end of me.

But deep down I know this is not over. Not even close.

…~...

Growl…

My stomach twists painfully. I press a hand against it. Moon goddess… water. Just a drop.

My throat is so parched I can no longer swallow. My lips are dry.

I want to cry at my misery, but even my tears refuse to come. My body is too dry, too weak.

All my wounds have healed.

That’s the only mercy I’ve ever been given. Even before I got my wolf… I have always healed too fast. Faster than I should, erasing the traces of all the abuse and torture I suffer.

It's as if my body refuses to stay broken.

Time loses meaning in the dark.

I don’t know how long I’ve been here. I strain my hearing for any sound beyond these walls.

Nothing.

I never cared about the time wherever I was brought in here, but this time, it is different.

I was whipped.

And all I can think about is him. My mate.

Strangely, thinking about him makes the pain slightly bearable until I stop, then the hunger and thirst return.

I wonder if he has already met Victoria, and questions surge.

If he has.

Was he disappointed when he couldn’t feel the bond?

Did he realize she’s not me?

Even if no one else could tell… he’s the king. He should know the difference, right? Our scents are not the same.

I’ve never understood why others don’t notice.

I’m not scentless. Once, the healer Morwenna told me my scent was… rare. One of a kind. Unforgettable.

So why does no one else see it? Why does no one notice the truth?

Since I was thrown in here, I can’t stop thinking…

He knows my scent. He knows my touch.

What if he comes to find me? What if he sees through Lady Victoria's lies? Can I finally break free from this hell?

Moon goddess, is it so wrong to hope?

I’m tired. Tired of this life. This endless hell I've known all my life.

What if… The thought is cut short by the sound of angry, frantic footsteps descending the stone stairs. I pull myself into the furthest corner, my heart racing.

I know that walk. I can tell by the pattern; it's Lady Victoria.

What would force her down here, to this rusty, rotten, smelly place? Her words.

Unless something went wrong and she is here to vent.

No, I will die at this rate. Fear grips me tighter than the hunger, clawing up my throat. My breathing turns shallow.

As my heartbeat accelerates… something strange follows it. A faint tingling spreads beneath my skin.

Unfamiliar. Unsettling. Uncomfortable.

The footsteps stop, chains rattle, and the cell door creaks open.

Footsteps approach me in the dark—slow, deliberate, like a predator closing in on its prey. I press back against the wall, wishing I could disappear into it.

Then… Her hand closes around my throat. Tight. I gasp, clawing at her hand as she lifts me slightly, cutting off my air.

Her fury is suffocating.

“What did you do?” Lady Victoria hisses, dragging me toward her. “You were supposed to be a puppet. Not a whore.”

Her grip tightens. And suddenly… I realize something is very, very wrong. “What else happened with the king?”

My vision blurs, my pulse roaring in my ears as confusion crashes through me.

What…?

What does she think I’ve done?