Chapter 13

Elvanya's Pov

I stood still in the corridor. Thorne, the Beta, was looming over me like a mountain of stone and muscle. He had just finished threatening me, and he was laughing with a mean, cold sound. I kept my head down and didn’t move a single muscle. I was terrified he would touch me again or find the glowing mark hidden on my back.

After a moment, he stepped back one pace. I could breathe a tiny bit better, but his presence was still suffocating and heavy. It was like standing too close to a roaring fire and unable to step away from the heat.

“Did you hear me, human?” Thorne demanded. His voice was rough, like sharp, broken stone. “I asked if you understood the rules here in the palace and the hierarchy.”

“Yes, Your Excellency,” I whispered. I tried to make my voice sound meek and unimportant. “I understand that I am a servant, and I am beneath all the Lycans, and that is the law.”

“Good. Say it again, say exactly what you are to me right now.”

I swallowed hard, and the dryness in my throat hurt. “I am a disposable human, and I am here only to serve. I am beneath you and beneath the Alpha.”

He laughed louder this time, and the sound was nasty and arrogant. It echoed in the empty corridor and made me shiver with fear. “You learn fast, that is useful. Humans who learn fast last longer than the stupid ones who cause trouble but do not confuse your small usefulness with importance, Elvanya. The King is amused by shiny new things, but shiny new things break very easily in this place and are quickly forgotten.”

He took another step closer, lowered his head, and his breath was hot and sour on my neck. “Let me tell you something truly important. Something that will keep you alive maybe for another week until the King loses interest. The hierarchy here never changes. Humans like you come and go like the short lives of the pets for the other kings. But the power stays with us. The Alpha is the Alpha, i am the Beta, you are nothing. That is the rule of the pack, and that’s the only rule you need to know to survive here.”

I kept my eyes fixed on his shiny black boot. I didn’t move and didn’t dare to look at his face. “I understand the hierarchy, Sir. I will not forget my place.”

“Do you understand the consequences of disruption? Do you know what happens to a servant who interferes with the pack’s rigid structure? Do you know what happens if you try to make yourself important to the King or try to gain his favor?” He paused long, and the silence was full of menace. I could hear my heart beating fast and loud inside my chest.

I shook my head slightly. “No, Sir. I don’t know the consequences.”

“Then let me explain it clearly. The King has many problems and many beasts who want his throne. He doesn’t need a small human servant causing trouble and making other Lycans talk nonsense and distractions. The attention you are getting is a big problem for the King and an even bigger problem for me. It’s a weakness I cannot tolerate near the Alpha or the throne.”

He shifted slightly. I heard a scraping sound like metal. I knew what it was, his claws were coming out.

“If you become a problem, Elvanya, if you make the King look at you one more time with curiosity or interest, I will handle you myself. I won’t wait for the King’s permission or for him to tire of you first. I will end the problem quickly and silently. I will make you disappear entirely from this castle. You will become less than dust, and no one will ask where you went.”

Fear flooded my body. I wanted to run, but my feet felt stuck to the stone floor. I knew I couldn’t outrun the Beta. I had to stay still and take whatever punishment he gave.

He didn’t touch my face or my neck where death would be fast and merciful. Instead, his hand wrapped around my arm where the cheap dark cloth of my dress was thin and worn.

I flinched hard but didn’t cry out. I stayed silent and obedient.

He didn’t squeeze or crush the bone in my arm. He just held me still so I couldn’t move away. Then I felt a sharp, sudden pain on my arm’s skin. It was like a deep cut, but cold. It was quick and very painful, but over in less than a second.

He pulled his hand away fast. I heard a faint snick as his long claws slid back into his fingers and retracted.

“That’s a reminder, human,” Thorne said. His voice was almost a snarl now, full of satisfaction. “That’s how easily I can break your little body and tear your soft flesh. That’s how fast I can end your life and your ambitions. Remember that feeling every time you think about talking to the King or doing anything to get noticed in this palace.”

He laughed loudly, a sound full of absolute power and cruelty. He stepped back, turned quickly, and walked away. His heavy black boots thudded on the stone floor. The sound faded down the long hall and was gone.

I stood there for a long time. I didn’t move until I was sure I couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore, and I trembled all over. I was breathing in short shallow breaths and tried not to cry out from the pain.

I slowly lifted my arm and looked down at where he touched me and left the cuts. The dark fabric of my dress ripped in three small, clean lines just above my elbow.

I pulled the ripped fabric away from my skin. The injury was right on my forearm, it was three perfect thin cuts. They were very deep and clean. The skin was wide open, and the cuts were shining wet.

Blood poured out immediately and heavily. It was bright red against my pale skin, the blood ran down my arm quickly and dripped onto the stone floor with soft wet sounds. I watched the drops fall and spread out.

It wasn’t a killing wound. It was a warning and a painful lesson. It was meant to hurt and be seen, he wanted me to remember his sharp claws and the easy violence of his power.

I pressed my other hand hard on the cuts to stop the bleeding. I looked around, no one was there. I was completely alone with the blood and the proof of the attack. I had to get back to the kitchen before anyone saw the blood or wound. If Cordelia saw this mess, she’d be angry at my weakness.

I kept pressing hard. Blood still flowed through my fingers, soaking my hand, the warm blood felt slick. I started feeling dizzy from shock and pain.

Then I saw something strange and impossible.

The bleeding slowed down very fast, too fast for a human wound.

I pulled my hand away a bit to look. The blood wasn’t rushing out anymore. It was just oozing slowly.

I watched the cuts closely. They were deep and should need stitching and bleed a long time.

But the skin edges started moving. The deep cuts were pulling together slowly but steadily.

It wasn’t normal. Human cuts bleed for a long time and take days to heal, they leave scars.

But these cuts closed fast. The skin was knitting itself back together. It was happening right in front of me and it was scary. The cuts grew smaller, tighter, and shallower.

In less than a minute, the bleeding stopped completely. The raw red flesh was gone. The cuts were only thin, red lines now, fading fast even as I watched. They were almost invisible.

I rubbed my arm where the deep cuts had been seconds ago. The skin felt smooth and whole, no open cuts, no stitches needed. Just three thin white lines, fading and disappearing into my pale skin.

The pain was almost gone too. It had been sharp and stinging, now just a dull ache quickly fading.

I looked down at the blood on the floor. A large puddle of red proof. I looked at the torn fabric of my dress, then back at my arm.

The deep cuts were gone. They healed faster than any human injury should, faster than anything I’d seen heal.

I felt the burning on my back again. The faint heat of the Moon Mark was there, i knew the answer. The mark was doing this, the prophecy was real. I wasn’t just a human slave anymore, i was something else. Something magical and dangerous, I was healing like a beast or something even stronger.

I was scared of what I was becoming, scared the King would find out I had this power too. He knew the mark was powerful, but he didn’t know it could do this. I was scared to be alive.