Chapter 9

Tara's POV

I kept my head low, shoulders hunched under my thin shawl, letting my hands graze the wall as I followed the hallway I’d memorized by texture. My legs ached. My back throbbed. I could still feel Ethan’s voice in my ears like thunder, and yet… somehow… I wanted to hear it again.

I hated myself for that.

The air changed as I rounded the corridor near the lower east wing. Perfume.

Too sweet. Too strong.

I slowed.

And then I heard them… heels clicking,  and annoying laughter that didn’t belong in this hallway.

It was her.

Sophia.

My stomach twisted.

I didn’t have time to turn back before I heard her voice, sharp and mocking.

“Well, if it isn’t the little slave.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

My wolf stirred in the back of my mind, wary.

There were more footsteps… two others flanking her. Minions. I didn’t know their names. I never cared to.

“Out so late? I thought you’d be locked up in the tower after that little stunt during the rogue attack.” 

I didn’t answer. I just tried to edge past them, brushing the wall with my fingertips. My throat was dry, and I focused on my breathing, willing for my legs not to tremble.

“Don’t ignore me,” she snapped.

Still, I said nothing.

I was almost past them when I felt a sudden obstruction… her foot.

Too late to catch myself.

I tripped hard.

The world spun, and I collapsed forward onto the cold stone, pain shooting up my arms as I caught myself awkwardly.

Something tore.

A loud rip.

A gasp… not mine.

I realized too late what had happened. As I fell, my hand had latched onto the nearest thing… her dress. And I’d pulled.

I heard the fabric tear sharply and the sound of air rushing in where it shouldn’t have.

“You bitch!” Sophia screamed.

I flinched as she slapped me hard.

More laughter… nervous, quickly stifled. Probably from one of her so-called friends who realized just how exposed their queen bee now was.

“You tore my dress!”

“I… I didn’t mean to… ” I tried to sit up.

“You groped me!”

“No! I didn’t …  I swear… ”

“You blind little freak!”

I heard the frantic rustling of fabric as she struggled to cover herself. A muttered curse. Then a snap of fingers.

“Give me that!” she barked.

There was a moment of shuffling, then silence.

I assumed she’d snatched one of the girls’ scarves to cover herself.

My heart thundered in my chest. I tried to stand, but a sudden jerk on my hair yanked me backward.

Pain burst through my scalp.

“Get up,” she snarled.

She wasn’t asking.

Her fingers were tangled in my hair, dragging me up off the floor. I bit my lip to keep from crying out, my eyes stinging from the pull. My cane had fallen somewhere… forgotten… and I had no way to brace myself.

“You like tearing people’s clothes off, huh?” she hissed in my ear. “You want to expose me to the whole castle? Maybe make Alpha Ethan see you as the better option?”

“No! Please… I didn’t… ”

“You think you didn’t. But I know what you’re doing. All those pathetic little whimpers. Your helpless act. Your fake innocence. You think you’re better than me?”

I didn’t answer.

She pulled harder, and I staggered forward, nearly falling again.

“We’re going to have a little lesson,” she said coldly. “One you won’t forget.”

And with that, she dragged me down the hallway.

I didn’t know where we were going until I smelled the perfume again… thicker now, mixed with rose oil and candle wax.

Her chambers.

No guards stopped her. No one dared to question where she was taking me.

The door slammed behind us.

“On the floor,” she barked.

I dropped to my knees, breathing fast.

“You embarrassed me,” she said, pacing in front of me. “In front of my girls. In my castle.”

“I didn’t mean to,” I whispered.

She slapped me.

Hard.

The sting rang through my skull. I tasted blood.

“You exist,” she hissed. “That’s enough of a reason.”

I could hear it swishing through the air before the first blow landed.

Pain lanced across my back.

I choked back a cry.

Again.

Again.

“You think you’re special,” she sneered between strikes. “You think just because you’re his mate, you’re better than me?”

“I never said that… ”

CRACK.

Another blow, this one across my arm.

“You walk around with your fragile little body and your pitiful blind face, and you still get what I was promised. You think that’s fair?”

No.

But none of this was.

The pain blurred after a while. My skin went hot, then numb. My breath came in short bursts, and I felt myself swaying, ready to collapse.

She stopped suddenly.

I heard her drop the cane on the floor with a tired sigh.

“This is your last warning,” she said, crouching beside me. “If you ever touch me again… if you ever come near my place again… I’ll do worse. Much worse.”

I didn’t answer.

She stood up and walked to the door.

“Girls,” she called.

The door opened.

“Take her back to her rat hole,” she said. “And make sure she doesn’t bleed on my floors.”

Rough hands grabbed my arms and hauled me up. My legs barely worked. I was half-dragged, half-carried down the hall, each jolt of movement sending fire through my spine.

The guards dumped me on the floor without a word.

I lay there, shaking.

My body pulsed with every breath.

My lips trembled, but I didn’t cry.

Not yet.

Only when I was sure they were gone… when the room was quiet and I could finally breathe again… did I let the tears come.

Silent.

Hot.

Angry.

I didn’t cry because of the pain.

I cried because I was so tired of surviving.

Of waking up every day in a place that wanted me dead. Of loving someone who wanted me invisible. Of hoping… for what?

For change?

For mercy?

For a moment where I didn’t have to flinch every time someone entered a room?

My wolf stirred inside me.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

I clutched my chest.

“I hate this,” I told her. “I hate feeling like this.”

“I know,” she said.