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2

Kaya’s POV.

The smell of their fresh blood in mud...the sound of their screams...the look of shock in their eyes...the unbearable pain of a dagger piercing their heart...the welcoming of death!

“No!” I recall my own scream of shock, and right before the guards take me away.

Wait, the guards took me!

My eyes snap open, and my eyes shift around the dark space that I’m in. I can sense I’m sitting on metal space, which gave me the hint that I’m in a cage of some sort and my hands are tied with a rope.

My heart is spiking heavily as I think of what is to happen to me. I’ve never been so sure in my life that I can’t die. I have to avenge the deaths of my father and brother.

Out of the blue, the noisy movement stopped, and one of the guards opened the back, sending in rays of heavy beams of light.

It hurts my eyes that I snapped it close for a minute.

I am inside a carriage, but before my brain can decipher the other things happening, the guards pick me up and throw me to the ground.

“Argh...” My throat released a grunt from scraping my knees. They don’t care, but they hold me back on my feet and begin to force me to move.

“No, where are you taking me? Tell me!” My voice is high-pitched, and their leader suddenly grabs me by my hair and pushes it downwards so that I can look into his eyes.

“You’re lucky that you aren’t dead like that wretched father of yours, and that’s because we’ve got orders. So, shut up, or that beautiful face of yours won’t save you anymore.” His eyes shift away from me to look at the two other guards behind us, and he adds. “There’s a festival held for Queen Mother Emilie in the kingdom. Take this cheap whore to the maids’ quarters. They’d find a job for her there.”

After nodding at their boss’s order, they manhandle me and take me away. My mind is reeling from different thoughts. I want to understand what that guard meant, but everything seems coarse to me.

The adrenaline pumping into my blood is even blocking any sense that comes in.

After a while of walking through rooms, the guards finally stop in front of one, and one of them opens it before they walk me inside and remove the rope used to pin my hands together.

“Hey, you.” They call a woman who looks to be in her forties, and from the way she’s dressed, I can tell she’s a maid.

“I have a name. It’s Melissa, and I am the head of all the maids in the kingdom. I deserve respect.” The woman fights as she crosses her arms over her chest, but the guards only find it sarcastic.

“Yeah. Yeah. Get a job for this new maid. She’s a slave now.” After the guards say, they walk away, leaving me alone in the room with the woman.

Her orbs keep gawking at me for a minute before she yells at the top of her lungs. “Well, go and get clean and dressed up. There’s a bathroom down the room, and you’d find the maids’ clothes in the dresser. I need a helping hand anyway. We’d know if you can do it.”

My forehead wrinkles at all the events that have unfolded right in front of me without my having a say. I am a being who has rights, not a toy.

“No, I must get back home. My father and brother were just killed by those monsters. I must find their bodies and bury them. I’m not a maid.” My voice is brisky as I glare at the maid, but her lips twitch to the side, and before I know it, her hand is in my throat, grasping tight.

“I don’t know who the hell you are, but you do, as told here. Everybody does so. The only people here who control us are Queen Mother Emilie, Lord Jared, and the Triplets. Go and get ready, or you’d be finding them in your afterlife.” The woman tells, leaving fear in me, and I hurry to do as told.

Melissa asks one of the maids to stay with me throughout the time I use to get dressed up. When I finish, I change into a gown that’s got an apron stripped to it and stroking down my body.

Afterwards, the maid and I move to the kitchen, where Melissa says she needs me, and just as I get there and she sees me, she asks that I place a tray of food and follow her.

“Where are we going?” I ask when we reach a hallway. At the end of it, my senses pick up the sound of the crowds, but I don’t pay attention to it.

“There’s much you must learn. But if you want to live longer here, don’t ask questions. Just...”

Before she can finish the sentences, I do. “do as told.” I complete, and she nods her head.

“Smart of you.”

And right after, the doormen let us inside a ballroom filled with...

My goodness.

My eyes widen at the sight before me. The enormous space of the ballroom is one that I have never seen but read about in books before. I am left stunned and with my jaw on the ground.

“This is beautiful.” I catch sight of the decor laced with sandalwood and striped with gold materials.

“Don’t gawk too much. Focus on your duty.” Informs Melissa, and that’s when it all died down inside me.

I’m in a room filled with werewolves, and they’re all chattering and laughing like they didn’t just cause the death of my family.

My jaw twitches, but not a second later, Melissa points to a distance and says, “There. That’s where you’re taking the food. Be at your best. Trust me, that’s an advice you want to hold dear.” And she leaves afterward.

My eyes scan each axis of the room, darting for any incoming danger as, wobbly, my legs take me further inside.

Melissa had pointed to the end of the room, where I saw a few young men chattering with heavy bags under their eyelids. I can tell they’re drunk and feeling at the top.

I arrive there and bend my head in a bow. Maybe that would save me.

“Um, your order, sirs.” My voice is like a whisper as I drop the tray and turn to leave when one of them grabs me by the elbow and pushes me back.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” He asks as his eyes bore into mine.

Batting my lashes at him, I make a hm-mh sound and shrug my shoulders. Is he a royal?

“Wow. I never knew it’d be rejuvenating to know someone doesn’t fear me because they don’t know me. You’re a new maid, aren’t you? And I’m sure you haven’t gone through any training.” It feels more like he’s having fun.

Apart from my heart thumping at my throat, I find the man very handsome. He’s got the youngster face, his black hair gelled to the back, beautiful hazel eyes that sparkle like the sunlight, and his milky, lightly tanned skin, mesmerizing to my sight.

His presence causes a different emotion inside me that isn’t one of fear.

“Leave me alone!” My body suddenly feels threatened as I yank my elbow off of his clasping, and he chuckles.

Of course, he thinks I’m as weak as everybody else here thinks.

“There’s no way I can do that, beautiful. My eyes are now on you.” That is the last thing he tells me as I run away.

I have to get out of here.

Melissa isn’t around, so scanning the room, I see that everyone is busy, so I hurry to the door, and when that is successful, I make my way down the hallway till there is no one around anymore.

My legs speed up the pace when I see a garden ahead, but then, just as I get to the end, my shoulder hits a figure that entered the hallway from the outside out of the blue. The person doesn’t look back, so I couldn’t see his face.

And then, getting to the end of the hallway, another figure appears to my left. Now, my mind isn’t settled anymore. Something is off, but I can’t tell what it is.

Then, to my right, as my face shifted there, I saw the man from the table earlier.

“My eyes are now on you.”

His words hit me at the back of my head.

He gets closer. They all get closer. Are they going to kill me?

Ahead of me is the wall of the garden, where I could have escaped.

“Who are you?” I ask the question that’s been bothering my mind ever since I met this young, mysterious man. The others freak me out as well.

In a flash, the one coming from my left drafts me to the wall of the hallway, where he has me pinned with his hand on my neck.

“I can’t...breathe...stop!” His face is tainted with fury, and anger is boiling inside him.

“That’s not the question. The question is, who are you? A witch?”

Oh, no! These are the triplets. I see their faces now. And if they know that I’m a witch, this is my end.