Chapter 5: Caged in the Light

Athena's POV

I was unconscious for half a day, then woke up with a throbbing headache. Raphael had nearly slapped a concussion into me because I dropped Isabella's luggage.

 The imprint of his hand was still there outlining just how deeply he had hit me, the worst part was that he had not even bothered to check if it was intentional or not-it was was but still- all that mattered to him was that I had made a mistake and I had to be punished.

 I looked around my surroundings, taking note of the boxes and haphazardly tossed about household items that had regarded dust and cobwebs.

There was a sad little window that was the only source of light for the room, and then a door that was the only way out.

 But it was locked and I banged on the door for as long as my malnourished body could manage before sliding off the dusty surface down to the floor.

 I remained there until I was nudged by a plate of food; if I could be so generous to call it that.

 It was a stale piece of bread, with visible black spots and a half rotten banana, under the plate was a note. It read; “You'll remain here until you learn your lesson,”

Droplets of my tears dropped on the piece of paper, I stayed in that storage room for another hour then the next I don't know how long it was until somebody finally came and open to the door, by that time I was so starved that I had eaten the food brought to me and felt like I was going to throw up.

The maid that opened the door gave me a look of disdain.

“The alpha wants to see you immediately,” she said to me with annoyance like she couldn't even be bothered with someone like me.

I dragged myself up to my feet and followed her, ground tilting with every step I managed to take until I was in the living room.

Raphael the held a platter of sliced oranges animals feeding them to Isabella like she was a fragile baby bird.

 I watched feeling the resentment grow inside of me, Raphael ignored me for a good solid 5 minutes and continued to feed Isabella.

It was Isabella seated next to him on the couch that placed a playful hand on his shoulder.

“Raphael, Athena looks like she's going to collapse anytime soon…” she said with a giggle.

He grunted.

“Don't bother with her, just focus on me, Isabella…” he cooed to her, they continued their play in front of me until he finally turned to give me a long look.

“Isabella pleaded for your sake even though you were so careless with her belongings, so you should thank her if it wasn't for her I had no intention of letting you out of that room for the next 3 days,”

A lump formed in my throat, what phase of the nightmare was this? When was I finally going to wake up?

He continued, unperturbed by the tear marks on my face.

“I invited Isabella to stay here for a while, and since she is not familiar with anyone else, I've decided to make you her personal maid so she can adjust comfortably,” He said it so flippantly, not explaining how they had established relationships who intimates that she was able to drop by to visit not me but him and stay for as long as he was willing to house her.

As if having her around was not bad enough, I would have to play the role of her personal maid.

I don't know if I was shaking because of hunger or anger, maybe it was a mix of the two.

With a bridle on my tongue, I said, “Isabella, I can recommend other maids for you that–”

“What are you saying? You aren't doing anything and all you are capable of is just lazing around all day, can't you help your sister out?” Raphael was quick to attack me, but I looked at my step sister desperately hoping that even the darkest corner of her heart could have some sort of pity for me.

She parted her lips to speak but before she could Raphael held up his hand.

“Isabella, don't pay any attention to her, she should be your personal choice whether she likes it or not,” he paused and now he was looking at me with a glare while he was still speaking to her, “remember that you are free to punish her if she does anything badly or intentionally upset you, you will face no repercussions,”

Just when I thought that the whole purpose of burying my dignity could not go any further, my own mate would pick up a shovel and prove me wrong.

As he was listing all of this out to Isabella I wondered what I had done to deserve this sort of treatment.

All I had ever done was taking care of him, if he asked me to jump I would ask him how high…and yet Isabella had found herself in the picture without even doing anything for him, without once lifting a finger for his sake.

I was completely heartbroken, but strangely relieved. It was clear what was going on between the two of them even though he had not stated it in white and black.

 Soon when he was probably going to kick me out.

Suddenly the dreariness in my mind began to fade away, if he kicked me out I could finally be free. Since he didn't want me and he was not changing his mind anytime soon then it was just for the best that I left, right?

Thinking about that gave me a huge burst of energy, and I carried out my new chores as a personal task with a smile on my face.

That smile quickly disappeared when I was called to the Alpha's bedchamber that night.