Hope
I felt like crying.
Why did Darius hate me so much? Why did he hate Light so much? It was like he had a personal vendetta against all humans but the one against the Vitalis’ seemed doubled.
I sat on my bed, hugging my knees. I didn’t know if I could last in such a place for so long. He said they hadn’t found any traces of Light yet. Did that mean that I would have to be married to him for long? And worse, none of my parents had contacted me since the wedding.
How quick they were to just discard me to the den of monsters.
A stray tear streamed down my eyes as that train of thought crossed my head. I was quick to wipe it away but that didn’t stop it from falling. Gods, I hated crying so why did I do it all the time?
Right on cue, the door to my room flew open, and that rude blond lycan stepped in. He vacuumed all the air his way with a small frown on his face. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, I wiped my tears away and stood up to my feet.
Thankfully, I was still wearing the attire from earlier so I didn’t look inappropriate. The Lycan raked his eyes across me, from my head down to my toes in an unimpressed manner.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” I forced the question out of my mouth.
The side of his lips tugged up in irritation at the end of my words. “I don’t think we’ve ever been formally introduced,” he said, more to himself than me. I wanted to scoff bitterly.
The reason why we hadn’t been formally introduced yet was because whenever the both of us were in a room together, the only thing he did was sneer and indirectly insult me. It was like a knee-jerk reaction that all the Lycans had towards me. They always had something horrible to say about me in not-so-hushed whispers.
“I am Orion Daggers, right hand of the king, husband to the commander of the Lycan army.” He introduced himself with a hint of pride in his tone.
Wait a second… that meant he was married to the commander. So he was the husband she went on about the other day. Staring at him, it seemed so obvious that he and the commander were married.
They had such similar mannerisms. He also mentioned being the right hand of the king. That was also an impressive position.
If ever something sudden were to happen to the King resulting in the end of his life, Orion would be the next in line for the throne. Something told me that he had no care for that and only wanted to serve Darius for however long he could.
“Okay,” I responded in a much more disappointed tone than he expected. Could a person blame me? I had no use for his titles.
All I had was a name I could put down to note whenever he did atrocious acts to me. Like he expected my reply, he scoffed bitterly.
“I have no idea what you did to Darius tonight but never do it again. Every second you spend in this palace is by his grace. The day his grace runs out on you, do not blame anyone for the circumstances you will be forced to endure.”
With that, he turned on his heels and left the room, but not forgetting to lock my room door from the outside with a loud clang.
In his absence, I fell back down to the bed and huffed. He and the commander kept on saying things like that even though I found it hard to understand the message they were truly trying to relay.
What else did they expect from me? I married their king, I obeyed all his orders, and I kept away from the rest of the occupants of the palace. Where had I been gone wrong that they always had something negative to attach to me?
I didn’t know but thinking about it always gave me a headache so I decided to sleep before that happened.
*****
I woke up feeling tired. I wasn’t sure why. Strangely, neither the commander nor her husband came to snap at me while I was getting ready for the day. After I put on a purple tunic with a pair of brown trousers, I suspected that no one was going to come for me.
So they were going to leave me to starve? I was incredibly hungry since I hadn’t eaten anything of substance last night. I was in such a rush to leave Darius that I forgot to actually eat something. What a foolish decision.
I braided the ends of my hair and knotted it before I walked over to the door to see that it was open. Orion or someone else might’ve taken it upon themselves to unlock it while I was asleep or in the washroom. At least they hadn’t forgotten about me.
I trudged out of the room and decided to head downstairs to the dining area so that I could get something to eat since no one was coming up to feed me. The Lycan workers lurking around the hallway conversed in hushed whispers as I passed them.
They didn’t even acknowledge me. They always had something to say about me, but never something to say to me. I hated that. But there was nothing I could do about it so I let it slide.
When I eventually got downstairs and made my way closer to the dining area, I started to hear sounds. More like chatter and laughter coming out from the dining room. Was the king and his other mates having breakfast? If that was so, then it would be good for me to return to my chambers and starve because I wouldn’t be able to bear being put in the middle of vicious Lycans once more.
Oddly enough, the voices I heard sounded nothing like those of the people in the army. Instead, it was only one voice who did all the talking and laughing. And it was a feminine one.
My brows furrowed and I decided to see who was in the dining area for myself. Once I stepped into the room, I saw Darius with a strange woman. The woman looked too beautiful to be considered real.
From afar, her blue eyes sparkled and she had the fiercest color of red hair I had ever seen in my life. Her lips were almost the same color as her hair. She had pale smooth skin that made her seem luminescent. Or maybe she was glowing, I couldn’t tell. Though she was sitting down, I could tell she was tall. Almost as tall as the king himself.
Who was she?
I took a step closer, but unfortunately, I was not too careful and I missed the step. I held onto the nearest pillar to keep my posture upright. The sounds I made trying to balance myself must’ve alerted the two in the dining room because once I glanced back at Darius and the woman, I saw that both their attentions were on me.
The woman’s lips curled into a slow smile as she took me in. I suddenly felt self-conscious under her gaze. More like inferior. Her beauty made me so nervous. I cleared my throat awkwardly and said, “Your Majesty, my lady.”
I added a courtesy as I acknowledged them. The act seemed stupid to me after it was done but thankfully the two didn’t pay much mind to my greeting. I met Darius’ gaze to see that he was frowning brazenly at me.
Why did he always have to frown whenever he looked at me? Couldn’t he just feign a polite look or keep his expression blank? He always made his hate for me obvious.
“What are you doing here?” he asked with a displeased tone.
“I came down from breakfast since no one came up to me.”
That sounded bratty out loud than it did in my head. My choice of words seemed to have offended both Darius and the beautiful woman.
“Respectfully,” I added, hoping that it neutralized the haughtiness of my earlier words. It didn’t.
A small grimace formed on my face due to embarrassment. I contorted my features to a blank one quickly but it seemed the beautiful woman caught it because she cackled out loud.
“Have a seat.” Darius’ voice boomed and it took me a moment to realize that I was the one he spoke to. Once I did, I nodded fervently and walked over to the table. I sat on the furthest chair from him for obvious reasons.
Maids came in to fill my plate with breakfast almost immediately and a small appreciative smile formed on my lips. It didn’t last for long though.
“Hope, is it?” The beautiful woman spoke up, and I turned my attention to her, putting on a passive face.
“Yes, lady…”
“Annalise Grayson.” She completed for me with a sly tone.
Annalise Grayson… I’ve never heard of that name before. Was she a noble of the Lycans? I doubted. If she was she would’ve been present at the wedding. Who then was she?
As though she singled my thoughts out, she spoke up. “I’m guessing that you want to know who I am?”
I nodded unconsciously. My eyes darted towards Darius to check what he thought of this exchange but his attention was fully on his meal. Oh, well. I turned my attention back to Annalise and she smiled brightly, showing her sparkling white teeth.
“I am your husband’s mistress.”