005 || Whispers In The Dark

EMBER

Pain pulsed through every inch of me. I lay on my stomach for what felt like hours, fever burning under my skin. But the filth clinging to me made my stomach turn. I couldn't stand it anymore.

Gritting my teeth, I slid off the cot and dropped to my hands and knees. A choked cry slipped from my lips as the movement tore at the lashes across my back. Still, I crawled towards the small bathing chamber attached to the room, each inch a battle.

The door creaked open behind me.

"Oh, Luna!" A young woman's voice reached my ears, soft with shock.

Warm hands gently caught my shoulders before I could collapse. "Please, let me help you. You shouldn't be moving like this."

She was a maid, maybe twenty, with tanned skin and wide, nervous eyes. She slipped an arm around my waist and helped me to my feet, taking most of my weight.

"I... I just want to be clean," I whispered, my voice hoarse.

"Of course, Luna. I'll take care of it."

She guided me into the bathing chamber, where a large wooden tub already stood half-filled with water.

Working quickly, she scooped warm water from a nearby pot with a small bowl and poured it over my body in gentle streams. She washed my hair and skin with careful fingers, never once flinching at the ugly stripes on my back.

While the water ran down my skin, I gathered the courage to speak.

"Was Azai... always like this?" I asked weakly. "When I was Luna... how did he treat me?"

The maid's hands went still for a second on my shoulders. "He was... protective, Luna. He was fierce too. The whole pack knew you belonged to him."

"And the others? How did they treat me?"

She hesitated, pouring more water over my arms. "Some were jealous. You were human, after all. But no one dared say it aloud. Alpha made sure of that."

I frowned, hissing when water touched my wounds. "Made sure how?"

The maid's voice dropped, becoming tense. "He terrified everyone into calling you Luna. Anyone who bullied you for being human... disappeared. Or wished they had. We all learned quickly."

That explained the unease I kept sensing from her.

She helped me out of the tub, dried me carefully with a rough linen cloth, and slipped a clean, soft nightgown over my head. Then she guided me back to the cot, easing me down onto my stomach again.

"Thank you," I murmured as she tucked the sheet around me. "What's your name?"

She froze, her eyes widening. "You don't have to thank me, Luna."

"I want to know your name."

After a long pause, she whispered, "Nara, Luna."

I reached out and touched her wrist gently. "Call me Ember, Nara. Not Luna. Please."

Nara's eyes darted towards the door, but then she gave me a tiny nod. "As you wish... Ember."

She slipped out quietly, leaving me alone with the pain and the warmth she'd left behind.

...

That night, the dream came treacherously.

Azai's arms were around me, strong and warm instead of cruel. Moonlight glowed across our bed as he brushed a strand of hair from my face, his crimson eyes gentle.

“My Ember," he whispered, his voice low and tender. He pressed a slow kiss to my forehead, then my lips, his thumb tracing my cheek. "I would raze kingdoms to keep you safe."

I awoke with tears already sliding down my temples, my chest tight, the ghost of his gentle touch lingering on my skin. The tenderness in the dream felt like a knife twisting in old wounds.

I couldn't breathe.

The room pressed in, suffocating. Just then, I saw a shadow dart outside my room. I froze, noticing that the door was ajar.

I was certain it had been closed earlier.

Had someone been monitoring me? Azai?

Ignoring the screaming pain in my back, I pushed myself up and limped out into the dim corridor, one hand braced against the stone wall for support. The cool night air called to me, easing the pressure in my chest.

My bare feet carried me further than I intended. I turned a corner and found myself outside a heavy wooden door left slightly ajar. Through the narrow gap and the window beyond, I saw him.

Azai sat at a large desk in his study, his quill moving steadily across a parchment. This was the first time I was seeing him like this.

Strands of his hair fell over his face, and he mindlessly raked them away, his dark lashes fluttering.

‘Stars above, he’s beautiful. It’s unfair,’ I thought.

It was very late. Why was he still working? A trace of unwanted concern rose within me.

He should rest, I thought.

I immediately scolded myself. He wasn't human. He didn't need sleep the way I did.

But then he shivered. My eyes went wide.

Azai drew his fur coat tighter around his broad shoulders, but the tremor didn't stop. A moment later he stopped writing, curling forward with a low grunt.

I could see his breath fogging unnaturally in front of him. This was strange. Was he sick?

My heart ached against my will. He looked... vulnerable. Broken in a way that mirrored my own pain.

I had broken his heart.

He deserves to be hurt and angry, I told myself fiercely.

If he was sick on top of all that, the goddess was cruel.

Tears stung my eyes, my bottom lip trembling as I dragged my gaze away from his shivering figure.

Before I could slip away, a strong hand clamped over my mouth from behind.

I froze, my blood icing over.

“Ember," a low, velvet voice purred, the stranger’s breath hot against my ear. "That's enough faking. Will you please stop pretending to have lost your memory?"

I made a muffled sound of pure panic, shaking my head desperately against his palm. I wasn't pretending.

The gaping holes in my mind were real.

My nails dug into his forearm, trying to pry him off, but he only held me tighter.

His lips brushed the sensitive skin of my neck in a lingering, possessive kiss that sent unwanted heat racing down my spine despite the fear.

“I've missed you so much," he whispered, his voice thick with dark hunger. “It’s been driving me mad."

His free hand slid slowly up my bare thigh, his fingers grazing the edge of my thin underwear.

The touch was teasing and far too intimate. I gasped against his palm as his fingers crept up with slow strokes that made my knees buckle.

Another involuntary gasp slipped out of me.

Inside the study, Azai's head snapped up. His crimson eyes narrowed, scanning the darkness beyond the window with a predatory focus, as if he could sense the disturbance in the night air.

Oh gods... was I a cheat? Had I betrayed him like this before, having secret meetings and stolen touches in the shadows while carrying his child?

The thought made bile rise in my throat even as unwanted pleasure sparked under the stranger's fingers.

The man behind me chuckled softly, his lips still pressed to my neck. "Quiet now, Ember. Wouldn't want your precious Alpha to come investigate... or would you?"

My heart hammered wildly, pain, fear, and treacherous confusion warring inside me as Azai rose slowly from his chair, his eyes still locked on the window.

…