4

Calista 

The bucket dropped instantly to the ground. 

“Ma'am, you have to be careful,” her slightly weird voice came as she ran towards me.

"Ma'am?" That was new. Since when did Maria sound so formal?

"You do not want to be caught tainting your body... or sneaking out of ze bed, like a naughty one, oui?” Her voice came again as she assisted me up from the ground and slowly led me to the bed. 

I grabbed the towel instantly and covered my exposed body. 

There was something off about the way she spoke. 

The Maria I knew spoke more fluently. 

I tried to call her name, but it came out as a whisper, “M-Ma…ria…”—barely more than a breath, my throat too raw to give it strength. 

"Do not strain yourself any further, your throat must 'urt very badly.” She said.

Urt? 

What's that?

And what about my throat? I had been so disoriented when I woke up I forgot my throat had been torn open just a few days back. 

I touched my neck instantly and there was a large scar on my neck. 

Three massive claw marks—healed, yet still clearly visible beneath my fingers.

How did I heal so fast? 

Was it Nyx? 

Did I actually shift into my wolf? My head spun as unanswered questions filled my mind. Then I remembered him. Armin! That monster. My heart pounded as I clenched my fist trying to contain the hatred rising within me.

"Ma'am, since you are awake, you should join ze others to have lunch.” her weird accent came again. 

Lunch? My stomach rumbled at that word. 

But so did his words. “Feed you pigs!” 

“You are number 529S. You will be fine,” she said, trying to ease the obvious panic on my face.

“S?” I asked, my voice still hardly carrying weight.

“Yes, ma’am... S. It means you are special,” she said with a small smile.

Special? 

Oh, Freya! The last time I heard someone say something about me being special I almost died. And I don't think being special in Slaver's Bay was something to be happy about. 

We had been so engrossed in the conversation, we didn't notice when the door opened. But as a large foot pounded on the floor, I felt the vibration, which made me turn. 

The huge man from earlier stepped in. 

A jolt of electricity zapped me as my breath became ragged at the sight of him. 

Even while sitting on the bed, his height was terrifying. He had to bend slightly to enter the room. He must have been over seven feet tall, with massive muscles and bulging veins.  

“124!” He yelled, grabbing at Maria’s hair. “I warned you against conversations with other slaves. It seems you don't learn, but I'll teach you properly this time.”

Maria squirmed under his massive hand. He looked like he was going to rip her hair from her head. 

My mouth moved before my mind could think, “L...Let her go,” I yelled. I quickly covered my mouth with my hands, confused at my own actions. 

I couldn't properly pronounce Maria's name earlier, so how on earth did I speak now? 

He turned towards me. His massive bulging eyes looked at me in confusion, as if surprised he actually heard a voice. 

“Did you say something, princess?” 

My body trembled immediately. 

Princess? 

He tossed Maria to the ground, and she broke her nose instantly. 

He headed straight for me as I tried recoiling towards the end of the bed. 

He barely took two steps and he was in front of me. He grabbed my legs and I could feel his rough palm against my skin. He pulled me closer and grabbed me by the neck. 

Not my neck again!

He barely squeezed, but I could feel my airway clogged. I gasped for breath but he just kept his terrifying gaze on me. 

“Know your place, princess,” he said before giving me a slap. It felt like a rock fell on the right side of my face, my ears rang instantly as blood dripped down my nose. 

Then he dropped me gently on the bed⁦like he was trying not to break me. 

“You don't talk when I talk, princess! You're lucky you have been chosen, or I would have broken your bones and stitched you back together again,” he said, smiling like a psychopath.

I didn't know what to feel, my blood boiled, but I felt paralyzed at the same time. 

“124,” he called before turning to Maria, who was bleeding profusely on the floor. 

“Prepare her, she leaves tonight.” He said before turning and walking out the door like he didn't just try to kill us both. 

I rushed down to Maria, pulling the towel off from my body and placing it on her nose. 

“Sl..ant you head,” I said, as I gently pressed the towel to stop the bleeding. 

“Are you okay, ma'am?” She said, trying to force a smile on her swollen face. 

“I’m fi..ne, Maria,” I muttered, trying to get my words to align because my throat was hurting badly. 

“Maria?” She asked, surprised. “My name is Ariel, but you should address me as 124 for your own safety.” She said finally as she tried standing to her feet pretending to be okay. 

“Ariel? W…what do you mean?” I asked, confused. 

“My twin sister's name was Maria, she died 10 years ago. I'm Ariel. But that doesn't matter now, we need to get you cleaned up before Madame Ysara gets here,” 

Wait, so this isn't Maria but Maria's twin sister she had told us was lost to slaves, and she was still alive? She had been here for 10 years. That explains the number 124 and her breath. 

I had more to say but before I could speak, she wrapped me in the bloodied towel and pulled me outside. 

“Your throat must ‘urt really badly now. Don't say a word from now on,” she said, Pulling me down the halls.

I could see tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried cleaning them without me noticing. I could only imagine the pain she must have felt for the last 10 years. 

Maria would be so glad she was alive. I couldn't wait to tell her that her sister was alive and everyone thought she had died. But her case was different from mine. Everybody wanted me dead, even the woman I called my mother. 

I could feel her hands trembling as we passed through the large halls. I tried peeping through the doors but they were all shut. I knew people were inside but they were all so quiet. 

After a while, we got to a large bathroom space that was oddly clean. A few girls walked past us, their gaze lowered. I could see the numbers written on their large tops. 390, 422, and 321. Everybody had a tag. 

“Unlucky soul,” one of the girls whispered as she passed. 

Ariel stripped the towel from me and washed my body slowly. Her nose had stopped bleeding, but it looked deformed. My heart ached at the sight of it. 

She looked at me, then forced a smile.

“Don’t feel pity for me, ma’am. If you think this is bad, wait until you meet Madame Ysara.”

“Who is Madame Y…sara?” I asked, confused by the name.

“Madame Ysara is ze head maid to ze Alpha twins of Warhaven. She collects elegant and beautiful ladies from Slaver’s Bay to work for ze Alphas,” she said, eyes dimming.

“And how is that worse?” I asked.

“Because in Slaver’s Bay, death comes from disobedience. But ze Alpha twins…” She paused, her hands trembling. “They’re far worse.”

“The Alpha twins?” I asked, cautiously.

Ariel nodded. “Oui. Asher and Azazel. Asher is calm. Ze other… not so much, he is known as the Mad King. Something broke in him long ago, and no one dared to fix it. Why do you think Madame Ysara keeps coming back for more slaves?”

She looked me dead in the eye.

“Because they all go missing.”