CHAPTER EIGHT

The castle was quiet in the morning, not like the packhouse had been.

There were no shouted orders. No crashing footsteps. No Mira. Just birdsong from the open window, the slow creak of trees swaying outside, and the soft scrape of a tray being set down beside my bed.

I blinked myself awake to find a girl with short, dark curls pulling the curtains back. She was trying her very best to be quiet, probably because she didn't want me to wake up. 

Her eyes met mine for only a second before she looked away. I just hope I didn't frightened her.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t wake me,” I said, my voice rough from being quiet for a long time. “It’s fine.”

She nodded once and turned back toward the tray. “I brought breakfast. The Alpha said you might not be used to eating at dining yet. He said to make sure it was something soft, I hope you like it?.”

I sat up slowly. “Yes I do, everything looks nice. Also you don’t have to call him that around me.”

Her lips twitched. “Don’t have much of a choice, actually.”

There was a pause between us. She finished setting out the bread and fruit, then added quietly, “But if it helps, I don’t think he likes being called that either. Not by everyone.”

I nodded my head at her response. “What’s your name?” I asked. 

“Danya.” She gave a quick bow, the kind I was starting to hate. “I’m usually in the east wing. But I'm going to look after you for now. Which I don’t mind. You’re not… like the others.”

“The others?”

Danya shrugged. “The ones who think power makes them special.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. So I just said, “Thanks for breakfast.”

She smiled, just barely, and slipped out the door.

---

I ate slowly, letting my eyes wander across the room like they hadn’t already memorized every corner. The longer I stayed here, the more I started to notice things I didn't notice at first. 

The tiny gold carving on the corner of the mirror frame, a pair of wolves curled into each other. The worn dip in the chair cushion near the fire, like someone had spent hours sitting there. Someone had probably used the room before me, not that I cared but I wonder who the person might have been.

But everything seemed so royal for a girl who had spent years at a tattered slave quarters. 

The morning passed by slowly, I was bored and tired of having nothing to do. I walked around the halls alone, half expecting to get scolded for leaving my room, but no one stopped me. A few guards nodded. One servant even smiled. I passed the hallway that looked centuries old and doors that didn’t open no matter how hard I tried.

I found myself in the library that smelled like books and dust, a part of the library filled with paintings of wolves and wars, and a sunroom. It looks so beautiful.

And still… it didn’t feel like mine.

Nothing had ever felt like mine.

I stepped into the garden through a side door and let the wind hit my face. It was colder here than I expected. But the sun was out, and the sky above the castle was that pale, wild blue that only ever shows up after snow.

I walked until I saw him.

He wasn’t coming into the garden.

He was coming from somewhere else.

I stopped behind a hedge and watched as he brushed his hands together like he’d been touching something, maybe dirt? then ran a hand through his hair. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his jaw set like he was trying to shake something off before he stepped back into the open.

He didn’t see me until I moved forward.

When he did, he blinked once, surprised, then gave a nod.

“You made it outside,” he said.

“You sound surprised.”

“Impressed, actually.”

“I didn’t see you come into the garden.”

“I came through the other side,” he said.

“The other side?”

He paused. “There’s… a path around the back.”

I waited for more, but he didn’t offer any. Just looked at me like the topic was already over.

“You didn’t show me that part during the tour,” I said carefully.

His mouth lifted into a small, unreadable smile. “Not everything needs a tour.”

“It’s private,” he said at last. “That’s all.”

Then he nodded once and walked through the gate, disappearing behind the hedge.

I stayed on the bench, watching the leaves rustle where he’d gone. And I couldn’t help the chill that crept into my spine.

Something about the way he said it, it wasn’t just private.

It was hidden.

---

Later that afternoon, Danya brought fresh linens to my room and found me standing at the window, staring out at the edge of the garden.

“Is everything alright my lady?” she asked while folding the sheets.

“Do people go behind the garden often?” I asked.

Her hands paused for a moment. “Not usually.”

“But they can?”

She hesitated. “The gate’s not locked. But it’s… known. That it’s not a place for guests.”

“Why?”

Another pause. She looked at me, then looked away. “It’s where the Alpha goes when he doesn’t want to be seen.”

I didn’t ask for more. And she didn’t explain.

---

That night, I sat by the window long after the whole castle was quiet, everyone had probably retired for the night, only the guards on duty awake. I told myself I’d stop thinking about it. About the path. About what he might be hiding.

But I couldn't once I saw him going through the back of the garden again.

From my window, I watched him walk across the grass, his shadow under the moon. 

He passed through the gate again.

And didn’t come back for a long, long time