5

Feyre wondered if she had always been this stupid.

“You want me, your mate, to help her? It's one thing for me to act as your personal servant Grant. It's another thing for you to make me her servant too, how are you any different from Tonya? Why are you so cruel to me?”

Feyre’s voice was tired. It was filled with anger and, most of all, disappointment.

She wasn't going to hold her feelings back anymore.

Grant’s face darkened as he stared at her.

“You're still saying you aren't picking a fight?”

Feyre could barely believe what she was hearing.

She finally understood that Grant would never give her what she wanted.

“What's wrong in doing me a favor? Shouldn't mates help each other”

Feyre looked at him and realized that he was never going to publicly acknowledge her as his mate.

Feyre let out a bitter laugh.

“I once expected you to reveal I am your mate. I don't believe that anymore. I'm not stupid. I always knew this would end.”

“Feyre, you're an adult. Be realistic. As long as you behave and have patience, I will reveal you soon. In fact then you can pick any house in the pack. I'll give you a car, money, whatever you want.”

Grant stood up and stepped closer to her.

“Be there early tomorrow.”

“Just out of curiosity, what if I am tired of all this and want to leave you Grant?”

Grant stopped.

He turned around and looked at her. He gave a short laugh.

“And go where? You will die if you leave me. Have you forgotten?”

Feyre lifted her head and stared directly at him,

"Isn't death better than this humiliation?" she asked.

He shook his head, "You are throwing a tantrum again. Be there tomorrow and be early"

Feyre smiled bitterly and shook her head.

Grant really was cruel. She should be patient? How much patience after four years?

None of this would matter soon anyway

Tonight, she was meeting Ryder.

If she became Ryder's mate, everything would finally be over. Grant wouldn't be able to harass her because Ryder was also the grandson of one of the betas, and the Winchesters had more power than the Philips. And most importantly she wouldn't die.

...

The next day, Phillips Estate.

Feyre had been to Grant's main house before.

As his personal servant, she had come here to run errands for him up before. He also had her sneak in here at nights to sleep with her.

But every visit made her uncomfortable.

Maybe it was because she was an orphan.

Feyre had always been obsessed with the idea of having a home.

Grant kept her in her room, compared to the other servants, her room was very nice.

But her room didn't feel like home.

This was Grant's real home and Feyre would never belong here.

“Feyre is here.”

Anna greeted her with a smile when she walked in.

Anna stood there completely at ease. She looked every bit like the lady of the house.

Feyre had once imagined what it would feel like to be acknowledged as Grant's mate and stand here as the lady of this house.

But now, even thinking about it seemed ridiculous.

She had never belonged in a place like this.

“Anna, this is for you.”

Feyre handed her a gift.

It was a box of homemade cookies.

She used to bake those cookies for her foster siblings and mom.

Honestly, no gift she brought would mean much in Anna's world anyway. So she had made these instead.

Anna smiled as she opened the box.

Then she glanced at Grant.

“Grant, I think I saw these same cookies in your study the other day.”

Grant's expression immediately darkened.

The mood in the room changed.

Grant gave Feyre an annoyed look, he probably thought Feyre had brought the cookies on purpose to provoke Anna.

He looked angry.

But Feyre genuinely had no idea he kept the cookies in his study.

“Oh, actually, Master Phillips has been busy and has been skipping breakfast. I made extra cookies, so I left some at his room.”

Feyre explained it to Anna.

"Hmm, I see. You must care for your master a lot" Anna replied cooly.

Anna smiled sweetly at Feyre and said nothing else.

Her voice was always soft, but her words could be as sharp as a blade.

Feyre groaned inwardly.

The more she explained, the worse it sounded.

She cursed Grant silently.

She hadn't even wanted to come here in the first place.

“I don't like them,” Grant said flatly. “I probably threw them out. My housekeeper must have taken them from the dump and left them in the study.”

His housekeeper was convenient to blame.

Feyre glared at him.

Trash?

The cookies she had woken up early to bake, the same cookies that had left blisters on her hands, were nothing but trash to him.

He was making his message very clear.

Anna smiled gently and handed Feyre a pair of slippers.

“Relax, Feyre. Let me introduce you to my friends.”

Feyre took the slippers.

Everyone else in the house had proper slippers prepared for them. Only she was given this cheap one.

That meant Anna truly saw Feyre as a servant.

Grant had once told Feyre that Anna was sensitive because of her late mate.

Yet he didn't seem to care about Feyre's feelings at all.

She was an orphan, she had grown up poor and learnt how to read people and their intentions.

Reading people was one of the ways she had learned to survive.

Grant clearly noticed the difference between Feyre's slippers and everyone else's proper ones.

But he said nothing.

His silence was permission.

A silent confirmation that Feyre would only ever be a servant in this house.

“Let me introduce you. This is Grant's personal servant. Such a pretty girl.”

Anna led Feyre into the living room.

Feyre kept her head up.

She refused to cower before anyone again.

But the moment she saw the people in the room, she froze.

Six people were sitting in the living room.

Three of them were her former training center classmates.

The same people who had bullied her for years.

Tonya.

Phil Remington.

Lydia Hudson.

Feyre's entire body went still.

She looked at Grant, hoping he would say something.

Instead, he ignored her.

Maybe Anna didn't know about her past.

But Grant did.

He knew exactly who Anna had invited.

Yet he had still forced Feyre to come.

Did he even see her as a person?