The Mate for His Highness

Chapter 1: Not The Day I Expected

Maisie's POV:

As I was lying there, my eyes just shot open and I immediately sat up on my bed.  It wasn't much of a bed.  It was practically a skinny pad that was lying on the floor over in the corner of my room, as my room was not much bigger than a very small broom closet.  It was located behind the garage where it would be least likely to be found.  Just then, the light turned on and the door immediately burst open.  I fumbled foolishly with the sheet that I attempted to cover up with and immediately stood up to my feet.  My mother was the one who rushed through the door.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at me as she swiftly walked over to me and, with her claws drawn out, she slapped me, causing a scratch across my face when she did.  This was something she did practically every time she spoke to me.  "You are supposed to start cleaning up before breakfast is served to the house.  Get up and get going before I come back and really have at you!"

I bowed in her presence and waited for her to leave.  I knew better than to say anything at that moment, as she would take my tone as a perceived attitude when the only attitude I had was that I was in pain.  I waited for her to leave before I stood back up and walked over to the hook on the wall where I hung up the only outfit I had, as I was supposed to wear it anytime I left my room.  I grabbed it and quickly put it on over my undergarments, then I rushed out of the room and headed toward the kitchen to start my duties.

I made my way there as quickly as I could, as I had a bit of a limp from an older injury.  Finally, I managed to reach the back door to the kitchen and I went straight for the broom closet and grabbed a bucket and a rag so that I could start to clean up the cabinets.  I am not sure who the cook is, but they certainly make a mess whenever they do something and they make no point in cleaning up after themselves.  I am not allowed in there when they are cooking, so I can not sample the food items.  I got severely punished for tasting a crumb from a biscuit that I found on the counter when I was cleaning up after a meal.  Matron walked in that day and saw me.  She made sure and told my mother.  I was severely punished for it too.  I am only allowed to eat what is left and that is only at the end of the day after I have finished all the chores that I am given.

Finally, when I was finished with the few cabinets that were dirty, I went into the dining hall to make sure that everything was in order, as it was just before breakfast by that point.  I knew my mother never wanted me to be seen, so I had to start early.  Today, she got me up before sun-up.  I guess it was a big day or something.  No one tells me anything as she does not want me around anyone.  I am the youngest in my family and I tend to the needs of my other five siblings.  I am either cleaning up or doing everyone else's laundry.

Once I had all the chairs wiped down, I walked over to the window to look out, as I wanted to admire the view.  I did not have a window in my room, so there was no view like this one, as this view looked out over the front of the castle that I cleaned.  However, I did not realize that my mother had just walked into the room.  I turned right at the time she walked up to me and slapped me across the face once again with her claws out, scratching me on the face once more.  I immediately placed my hand over my face and bowed before her as she spoke.

"You know you are not to be seen!" she yells. 

"I..., I'm sorry Mother," I said without even thinking that I was speaking at that moment, as I was truly caught off guard.

"How dare you address me in this manner!" she said in shock, and after she said that, I received yet another slap on the opposite cheek this time.  "You are to go to your room at once.  Until I had best decide what to do with you." 

I stood back up from my bowed-over position and picked up the bucket and the rag that I was carrying with me.  When I walked past her around the end of the table, she tripped me and I fell onto a chair, causing it to fall to the ground.  At the same time, I dropped the bucket which was partially filled with water and it spilled all over the floor, causing me to soak the piece of clothing that I was wearing.  However, when the chair fell to the floor, the arm railing on the chair broke.  I did not notice it was broken as I was trying to get up while slipping on the floor.

"What is all the commotion?!" asked the Alpha of our pack as he walked into the dining hall and looked directly at me, then he looked over at my mother.

"I am so sorry, Alpha," my mother spoke up, as I knew she would punish me if I said anything to him. She did not want anyone to see me, especially him.  "The servant was being clumsy and knocked over the chair, causing it to break." 

I looked over at her as I was shocked by her words, then immediately looked back down at the floor.  I kept my gaze on the floor as I looked over at the feet of where Alpha was standing.  I had hoped that he was not going to take part in my punishment and just let my mother take care of it.  I remember something she previously told me.  That being, he used to punish one of his servants who spilled his coffee on his desk of papers and he had her beaten so badly that she died from her injuries.  I have been beaten pretty severely but not to the brink of death.

"Get this issue taken care of before I do," he said as he growled while taking a step closer to my position and I flinched when he took his first step.  "His Highness is coming today and I do not want anything out of place." 

"Promptly Alpha," my mother responded to his words.

  "I am not dealing with this today of all days," my mother said as she walked over to me and grabbed a hand full of the hair on the back of my head, and pulled me up to my feet.  I slipped a few times, causing her to pull on my hair even harder and I could feel how when she pulled some of my hair out completely.  As she started to pull me out of the dining hall and walk down the servant's corridor, she spoke once more when she was sure that no one else was listening.  "Finally, one of your siblings will take their rightful place at His Highness's side.  Then we can forever be rid of you and your clumsiness." 

I whimpered under my breath as I did not want her to know that I made a sound as we kept walking down the corridor.  I thought she was going to take me back to my room out by the garage, but we passed the door that led outside.  She kept walking to the stairs at the end of the hall that led down.  It was then that I knew exactly where I was being taken.  Still holding on to my hair, she started to push me in front of her as we kept walking down the stairs.  When we were just a few steps from reaching the bottom platform, she shoved me forward with massive force.  I fell forward and did not have enough time to place my hands in front of me and catch myself.  With the force of being shoved and traveling down the stairs, I landed directly on my face and I could feel the delicate bones in my nose crack as my face collided with the floor.

I whimpered in pain a bit louder than before and this time, I am sure she heard me.  I rolled onto my side so that I could get off of my face and I reached up and covered my nose as my eyes were closed at that point.  I could not see due to the amount of water running away from my eyes due to the pain in my nose.  When I attempted to touch my nose as I had it covered, I felt the warm liquid rushing from my nose.  I knew that I was going to have to clean the floor as I was sure it was going to be a mess.

"Get up you clumsy girl," my mother shouted at me when she walked over to me.

"Kyle, would you be sure to take her and deal with her?" my mother said to the Master who worked on this level.  "She broke a chair in the dining hall and His Highness is coming by today." 

"Promptly, Ma'am," he said, then he walked over to me and grabbed me by my arm, pulling me up to my feet as my hands were still covering my nose.

We walk down the hall a decent distance, then he stops and turns to face a door on the side of the hall.  I can not see as my eyes are still watery and I hear the jingling of metal and then the door creaks open.  He walked me inside and left me standing in the middle of the room.  I knew better than to sit down at that point.  He walked away and after a few seconds, he came back to stand in front of me.  He grabbed one of my wrists, causing me to hit my nose and I whimpered due to the pain shooting all over my face.  He put something over my wrist and then reached for my other wrist and did the same thing with it.  I tried to blink to see what he was doing but everything was still really blurry.

He then lifted my hands up over my head and lifted me by the item that was bound to my wrists.  I whimpered as I was no longer standing but hanging up in the air.  I heard more metal jingling, then he just dropped me, and then I was caught by my wrists.  The jerk in my arms almost popped my arms right out of their proper position on my shoulders.  I gasped for air at that point.  He then tightened his grip in mid-air and pulled his arm back and hit me in the center of my chest.  I could not breathe at that point as I was gasping for air.

"This will teach you to break something you can't replace," he said as he pulled his arm back again and punched me in the stomach this time.

I tried to pull my knees up to my chest but due to the weight of my legs, I could not hold them up to try and block the hits that just kept coming.  I was already exhausted at this point, as I did not know what to do.  I whimpered with each hit and I could feel that it was getting harder and harder to catch my breath.  I tried to pull up with my wrists but that was no use as each hit knocked me back down to the same position.  That was when I was starting to see black around the edge of my vision and the black was making it harder and harder to see.  There was no point in trying to count how many times I had been hit, as I had already lost count of how many.  I was not sure what was happening, but pretty soon, black was all I could see.  It was not much longer before I sadly did not feel anything at all.