The next morning I stayed in bed with my dress still on. It was scrunched up my thighs by the time I got up to use the bathroom. I pulled the dress completely off and turn on the faucet to the tub. Once I finished bathing, I dried myself off and slipped on some underwear with tan shorts and a black tank top.
I laid in bed looking up at the ceiling. I thought about last night and how much it may have opened up a can of worms.
After what happened with Noah last night, I had time to think about me, him and even Myles. I loved Noah and even though I didn’t know that before, I know it now. However, I cannot lie and say that I am not developing feeling for Myles either. He’s been the best mate I could hope for, but then I had to think about what Henry told me. What if Myles sends me back because I will not mate with him? Or what if I do mate with him and Noah hates me forever?
I didn’t want either of them to be mad at me, but it was hard. I don’t even know if I’m stable enough to be in a relationship with either of them. They deserve better.
I covered my face with the pillow and screamed into it. It was all that I could muster up. I felt physically and mentally exhausted. Why is love so exhausting?
Knock…knock
“Hello ma’am, Mr. Myles sent me to check on you. He wants to know if you’re okay,” Heir said from behind the door.
“I’m fine,” I replied, hoping he’d just go away, but that's not what he did. The door creaked open and he had two mugs in his hands. I threw the pillow off my head and sat up.
“I thought you could use something to drink. Is it okay if I stay a little while?” he looked at me with a blank expression on his face.
“Uhm…sure,” I said. This was a little weird. He hasn’t said more than a “hello”, “ma’am”, and “are you okay” to me. This was outside our normal encounters.
“I hope hot tea is okay. Mr. Myles always enjoys my tea,” he gave me a lopsided smile. “Here you go, I made it special for you.”
“Thanks,” I replied then took a sip. I moan as the hot liquid ran down my throat warming my body. He was right, I did need this. It reminded me of home and my parents. It reminded me of cold winters and us sitting in front of the fireplace. It reminded me of everything thing that I lost, but instead of hating myself, I felt relaxed—overly relaxed in fact.
“I feel a little better now,” I said to no one in particular. Heir glance at me and nodded. “How did you become Henry’s servant?”
“I did it because of my sister,” he said. I was a little surprised by his honesty. I didn’t expect him to tell me anything. I did tie him up in a bathroom under the sink and shoved a washcloth in his mouth. It’s only natural for me to expect him to despise me—even more so than Henry.
“What do you mean?” I asked curiously.
“I took this job so I could watch over her,” he took a sip of his tea.
“Oh. Who is your sister?”
“Talia,” he frown and his eyes turned glassy for just a second before going back to their normal emptiness.
“Talia?” I almost choked on my tea. “But she didn’t act like she was your sister. “She barely even acknowledged you in Henry’s office.”
“That’s because we’re fighting right now. She never wanted me to come here, but I had to. We’re all we have left. Our parents are dead. She’s already fifteen. They would have taken her to that academy and I would never see her again.”
“So how did she end up here?” I asked. I wanted to know more now that he was actually holding a conversation with me that lasted longer than three minutes.
“Henry wanted her, so he got her. She didn’t argue when he offered to buy her before she was sent to the academy. She didn’t want to go to that place. We had already lost a cousin two years prior. That place would have broken her. My parents didn’t want that so they gave her to Henry.”
“So what happened to your parents?”
“They were killed in a bombing. Our troops were chasing some of the rebels and my parents got caught in the crossfire. We didn’t even here about it until two weeks later. We’d been at home worried about them, calling the law officials, and everything we could think of until some man told us about their deaths.”
“I’m so sorry,” I lowered my head. The room went silent and I was afraid to ask him another question.
“Ma’am, do you have any sibling?” Heir asked.
“I would have had an older brother, but no, it’s just me,” I shrugged. I didn’t know what it was like to have a sibling. I never got to meet my brother and mom was too afraid to have any more children seeing as she almost lost me due to me being premature.
I miss them…
“Is Talia your only sibling?” I asked but it came out more like gibberish. My mouth felt so relaxed. It was like I wasn’t even talking. “Or were there more?”
“My younger brother died a few years back. He was hit by a car and left for dead on the side of the road.
It was astounding how calmed he seemed. It was like nothing fazed him. His demeanor seemed too cold—emotionless. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Heir has seen and done some things in his life that he would never forget. He was like an old soul just trying to survive.
I tried to ask him another question but my vision was starting to falter on me. It was like one minute I could see Heir perfectly fine then the next his face was indistinguishable.
My vision was getting worse so I shook my head from left to right to wake myself up.
“Is everything okay ma’am,” Heir took a sip of his drink. “You don’t look so good.” He said as he took another sip. I blinked twice but nothing stopped the blurriness. My body wobbled and I lean off the bed. I almost fell into the floor when I caught myself.
“Heir, I don’t feel so good,” I said. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Oh,” he took another sip of his drink. “That’s probably the poison. It’ll take a while before it take over your entire body. It’s fairly painless compared to other poisons, but it does take a while to get the job done.”
“Job?” I said sluggishly.
Suddenly the room started spinning and everything Heir said seemed to be getting higher and lower at the same time. I dropped the cup and the hot liquid scorched my legs. I yelp in pain and fell to the floor on my stomach. When I tried to get up, I felt like there was a weight over me, preventing me from getting up. I turned my head a little and Heir was standing over me. Then out of nowhere he swung his mug and it connected with the side of my head.
I cursed while clutching my head in fetal position. There was intense stinging after the second and third hits. Then I could smell blood—my blood.
I lifted my hands or hand, I was seeing triples. Heir had pushed me on my back and sat on top of me. His small hands wrapped around my throat and squeeze. I failed my arms and leg trying to get him off of me. He didn’t budge. For someone so small he was strong. It made me think about when I tied him up in the bathroom. Maybe he wasn’t weak. Maybe he wasn't even putting up a fight.
I started seeing black spots in the corner of my eyes. I couldn’t breathe. My wolf was awakening and was ready to kill. I didn’t want her to take over because of what happened last time. I almost killed three people.
Then he pulled out a dagger. It was in impeccable condition. It looked expensive—too expensive. Any weapons now-a-days, cost an arm and leg—literally. The Council was too afraid that more rebellions would spring up so they made it almost impossible to have any type of weapon.
He swiped the dagger across my face, leaving behind a long, bleeding scar. “Ahhh!” I screamed and tried to push him off of me. He grabbed my neck again to hold me down while the dagger hovered above my head. I didn’t understand why he was doing this.
I scratched at the hand that was tightly clasped around my neck. I knew I was scratching deep enough because his skin was peeling off, but he showed no emotions. It was like he was a robot.
I couldn’t take it anymore and that's when I snapped. My wolf took completely over in seconds. One minute I was on the ground gasping for air with a bleeding cheek, the next Heir’s body was flung across the room and hit against the wall.
My bones were already steadily cracking. My nails jutted out and my teeth grew and sharpened. I was ready to kill him. I was ready to see his blood spill through my hands, but I stopped myself. I didn't want this. I didn't want to be a killer. I didn't want to ruin this boy's life more than it already was.
I was having an inner battle with my wolf for control. She wanted to kill him while I was confused. He did try to kill me. Why wouldn't I kill him?
After a minute of fighting with myself I look at Heir slumped against the wall, staring at me.
He quickly stood up and fumbled with something in his back pocket. I held my hand out defensively as he came closer. He pulled out a dagger and swung it at me.
“Heir, what are you doing?!” I jumped back just as the blade came down on the mattress and pierced the fabric. He didn’t answer. He raised the dagger again and charged forward. I jumped back before he could get me in the stomach. “Stop!”
He wasn’t listening.
I roared intensely at him. My wolf was threatening to break free again. He dropped the dagger and took a step back. I roared again and started snapping my jaws at his ankle. Once I latched on I dragged him down. He went down screaming in pain. I almost thought he was done for but then my body went numb and limp. I couldn’t move anymore. I fell flat on my face. I could only see Heir's scuffed shoes.
My heart was beating ten ties it's normal. Instead of my vision being blurry it went black. I began to panic. I wanted to scream but nothing came out. I couldn't do anything. My hearing was slowly deteriorating also.
Sleep threatened to come over me. I kept chanting in my head, “stay awake, stay awake, stay awake!” My breathing grew so heavily that I could hear it in my ear. Then nothing. I couldn't hear or speak and I just drifted.
“Mason,” I thought I heard Myles’s voice before I fell unconscious. “Mason!"