Dark Alpha: A Fated Mates Novel

12: A RELUCTANT COMPANION

~VANNIE~
She settled into a rather quiet routine in the Inlands.

She had visitors in the afternoons, but they never entered her chambers. They only stayed in the doorway, revering smiles on their faces, and knelt to her. Telling her how lucky they were that she was the chosen. How they'd longed for her.

Maeve was always at her side during these exchanges, ordering for breakfast and lunch at specific times as an excuse to chase the people away.

A bunch of Omega women were to wait on her hand and foot (even though she said she didn't need them). She was to take naps, eat snacks at intervals, and have steady baths so that she 'could get well quicker.'

Every evening, Sin would come to her room with her dinner and a gift. Yesterday, it was a glass of lemongrass cream — a fae delicacy. The day before, it was The Most Accurate Book of Runes and Spells, a rare document that could only be found in fae kingdoms that taught magïck.

Last week, it was a moulded plate of her matriarchal crest. That one had stunned her the most. The small, transparent faerie wings caught in the middle of a white and green flag brought tears to her eyes. How did he know. . . how did he find this out?

He always dropped his offerings on the table at the far end of the room, never coming too close. His respect for her personal space was alarming, to say the least. Wasn't this the Alpha that used brute force to eradicate an entire territory in the Realms?

The Alpha who repeatedly went on quests into the evil forests and came out alive, because the evil in him was greater than the one he found in the forests? And now, here he was, being gentle with her?

But she refused to let it mean anything. He knew her wolf was dormant, and was trying to appeal to her fae side, apparently. That's all this was. The King's sudden selflessness was selfish, in the grand scheme of things.
Moreover, she'd appreciate his efforts more if he wasn't the reason the wolf had disappeared in the first place.

Now, she shuffled in her seat on the bed. She still thought everyone in the Inlands were the enemy, but if she absolutely had to communicate with anyone, she'd rather they be fae.

"When is Zara coming to visit?" She asked Maeve, sounding both grouchy and eager even to herself. "Here is dreadfully boring."
Despite the obeisance Inlanders came to pay, a part of her still believed this was a trick. That one day, they'd all gather around her, laughter in their sadistic eyes. And then, they'd drag her back to the dungeons. 'You thought you escaped, didn't you?'

So even asking Maeve for something was a test. How far were these people willing to go for someone they thought was their Luna? Would the Beth race to do the Queen's bidding, even though the Queen was once a prisoner from a family that committed treason?

Maeve nodded. "As you please, Your Majesty."

She expected that Maeve would leave then, but the Beth stood as immovable as granite.
Vannie would never been able to stay as still as that. That's why she was never a warrior like her brother, Enoch. Instead, her Mam had thought her how to channel all that restlessness into making magïck.

Vannie wondered for a moment what a fight with this woman would feel like. She had this calm intensity in her that Vannie herself lacked.

"Aren't you going to call her?" Vannie couldn't stop herself from asking after few minutes of Maeve remaining still.

"I've sent a message to her wolf assistant." Maeve replied, tapping at her skull.

Vannie stiffened in disbelief. Had it really been that long that she'd forgotten wolves in a pack could communicate mentally? That she'd forgotten how she herself had been able to send messages and images to her pack members only by thinking and channeling it?

Of course, she'd lost her pack and wolf. Of course she had completely forgotten about it. If Alpha Sin had not completely broken every inch of sentimentality in her, she might have burst into tears at the realization.

But she brushed off the wave of self-pity. She wasn't that girl anymore. She didn't cry at the drop of the hat. She didn't.

And just as she made that resolve, the chamber doors came open to reveal the Seer. Once again, Vannie was struck by how young Zara looked for someone who was apparently very old.

Maeve left the room immediately to give them privacy.

"I never thought you'd willingly seek out my company, my Queen. We got off on the wrong foot the last time."

Vannie pretended to consider. "Well, I'm still appalled you let a corrupt territory like the Inlands buy your services."

Zara smiled, a little tilt of her mouth. "Just because you dislike the King does not mean the system is corrupt."

"It's a dictatorship. How else would you describe this if not corrupt?"

To her credit, the Seer took a moment to think about this seriously. "Well, the King made the Inlands the seat of power in the Realms. We cherish him for his strength. Even if he seems high-handed to you, we know it's what the Inlands need to survive. We'd be swallowed whole without Alpha Sinclair." That smile widened. "How often do you get to see a reincarnated god, my Queen?"

Vannie sighed, speechless at the answer. Because although grudgingly, Vannie knew it was the truth. The Inlands wouldn't have gotten half the power they had now without Sinclair. "Call me Vannie."

"Vannie," Zara said, rolling the name from her tongue like she was sampling lemongrass cream. "I've never heard that name before. Is it short-form for something?"

This was the first time anyone ever asked her that since she got into the Inlands, although she was certain the King knew her full names.

She sighed dramatically. "It is. My name is Vanylla Alba."

The woman jolted. "Vanylla? Like the flowers?"

"Yes," Vannie replied, deadpan. "Fucking stupid, isn't it?"

And when her companion burst into hacking laughter, it almost seemed worth it to hear that sound again. Although, most days, she didn't feel the loss, on other days, she was reminded that it had been a while since she shared laughter with a fellow being.