Chapter 3

I woke up before the sun did-- because fear doesn't sleep. 

The kingdom was unusually quiet today. Some whispered music, even the wind was starting to sound one as trees danced with it. The birds are singing a lovely song while for me it sounds like a warning of a tragedy that's supposed to happen. A chaos that will happen today before the banquet ends. 

Others silently squealed as they looked at the gold trimmed invitations and boasted about how well they prepared themselves for this event. But me? I'm just a maid order to attend. 

Attend, not serve but I don't know which one is worse. 

I can't do anything but to hope, the only for myself but for the whole kingdom's safety. We don't know whether we are guesting a banquet or a war tonight. No one knows...

It's still dawn but a lot was already awake. Awake but silent- silent but somehow excited. 

I looked at the dress Jessica brought me yesterday and traced it, as if trying to feel how it will embrace me through the cold breeze of the air later tonight. 

I haven't worn anything this delicate since... Since everything crumbled down... Since my parents were killed, and since I was left in a world as broken as me to keep on running rather than living. 

Now I have to face everything alone. Stripped from every luxury I have before with only me and my callused soul left. 

____

With my shaking hands, I zipped up the dress as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. 

The silk felt too clean and delicate... It does not suit someone as broken as me. 

I let my hair loose, letting them dance as the air hit them, just to cover my exposed back with my long hair. 

"We may not be able to serve the guests tonight but we should still assist some of them." Mrs. Wilma, our head servant instructed us as the doors opened to let the guests enter one by one while their names were being announced and we all nod our head as a response. 

We then entered last without the grand introductions. We came in together, feeling like we were not invited as guests but rather obliged by the Alpha's order. As if lost in a place we do not belong, a place filled with predators and us as their prey.

I avoided the eyes of the guests looking at my dress in awe but when looking at me with disgust. Their stares felt unwelcoming, cold, and, judging. As if stripping me and exposing the calluses I have in my blood. As if questioning how I was able to afford such elegant dress when I am only a mere maid in this palace. 

I kept my eyes on the ground, uncomfortable, as my confidence fell. I shouldn't be here... I don't belong here now. I just want this night to end quickly. 

My instinct was telling me to turn around but I can't, or else, I will be catching the people's attention if I go to the door to leave. They may feel happy about me leaving but I will have to suffer whatever the consequences I will be facing as a punishment for not attending tonight. So no, I can't turn back now. 

When we reached our seats, I wandered my eyes and tried looking for Jessica but I couldn't find her anywhere. Maybe she's still talking with the other guests.

Some are already dancing, some are greeting each other, and some are sitting. Just by one look, you will know which ones are part of the elites and which ones are not. 

"Presenting the arrival of Alpha Kael Malrick" The herald's voice echoed the hall as the huge double doors opened which caught my attention. 

All the guests looked at it, even the ones dancing stopped and gave way, while looking at the man at the entrance in awe as their jaws fell. Even the royalties seemed to have been stripped down from their title of how powerful that man is. 

Everyone stood up, as his presence alone can make everyone know that they should fear him.

While me... I stood there frozen in my place, not ready and not expecting to see something so mighty, so dark, so powerful. Far from being a dog- the nickname I gave him and everyone like him. 

He was tall- taller than what I have imagined that even the air shifted, trying to give way for him. His black suit was dark, unforgiving, and sharp, emphasizing the body that was seemed to have been made for fighting, not for parties like this. 

His presence was domineering everyone and every step he takes seems like a warning of how dangerous he is and the ruins he brought. It was like everyone should make way for him and whoever goes in his way will instantly vanish. 

I couldn't look away. 

This alpha... It's not just a rumor

He's a storm shaped in human form. 

Even my breathing hitched as if I'm unworthy of breathing in the same room as him.

When his eyes met mine, I froze in place. Those stares alone brought an electrifying shiver in my system. I lowered my gaze... I can't look at him, or else I might act like Jessica, willing to give my life just so I can be with him. 

I turned around and walked towards the washroom until I was called by some guests. 

"Excuse me, can you get me some wine?" A lady of my age ordered me. 

"Stop that, she's not here to serve us," a woman, which I think is her mother stopped her so I gave them an apologetic smile before I continued walking. 

"I heard the maids were obliged by the alpha to attend. The servants from the other kingdom will be the one serving us." Those are the whispers I heard as I was walking but I did not get bothered. They are not wrong, anyway. 

I looked at myself in the mirror. A lady wearing a dress with no make up on. Just bare... Me. Who am I to even meet the eyes of the Alpha? 

When I came back, I made sure to hide in the shadows, so no one would try to look at a maid. So no one would be interested in me even though I know I'm not interesting. 

The music swelled around me as the alpha walked and dance with every girl and each of them seemed to have forgot breathing once they made contact with him. Polite, yes. But distant, cold, and not a glimpse of smile was seen from him. 

I looked away before I could get caught staring. I swirled my finger on my dress, stopping myself from glancing again but then silence fell. 

The music never stopped but a deafening silence from people can be heard. I raised my head and there I saw his eyes on mine, slowly walking towards me. 

I took a stepped back and my heart seems to be getting out of my chest when I felt a wall behind me. 

Dead end. 

For a moment, the world narrowed. As if the crowd around us disappeared as our distance became even closer. 

"Dance with me," he commanded. Not asked. 

His voice seemed to have took mine away. 

He extended his arms, waiting for me to take it as the silence in the room deepened. 

And against every part of me that screamed 'run', I extended my arms and placed my palm on his, letting go of all my inhibitions and letting him take over me.