Having spent most of her night with Azriel and still not getting enough sleep due to the excitement of finding her mate, Dahlia was dozing off at one of the sheds behind the stables. She had found that place to be a nice nap spot due to the haystacks she could sleep comfortably on and the fact that few people frequented there but alas that day, it seemed like she wasn't the only one who enjoyed the seclusion of the place.
The sound of a metal bucket crashing onto the hard floor and making a ringing sound woke Dahlia up from her sleep.
"Looks like that's enough sleep for me." Dahlia yawned as she rubbed her face to get rid of the sleepiness before anyone caught her sleeping on the job.
As she dusted the strings of hay off her dress and opened the door to the shed, all color drained from her face at the ungodly sight she met.
She found none other than Jacinda and one of the old duke's she frequently ran into at a rather compromising position in the shed. Catching them right in the act of an activity she never wished to witness others partaking in making her want to scrub off the image from her memory.
"Aaaa!!" Jacinda screamed bloody murder as she quickly lept off the duke's laps and covered herself with her dress- or what was left of it.
'Did a beast rip off the dress form her body or what.' Dahlia wondered as she saw the dress in Jacinda's arms that was now reduced to rags.
The duke angrily raised his trousers to cover his skinny, wrinkled, and hairy legs and the itsy bitsy- what shall not be named dangling around. "You bitch!" He barked at her, exposing his rotting teeth hidden behind his cracking thin lips.
"Sorry- Sorry." Dahlia quickly apologized and covered her eyes before running out of there as fast as she could before one of them skinned her alive.
"I just wanted to nap in peace." She complained once she was far from the shed and the bad juju radiating from the angry Jacinda.
Although she was shocked by what she saw, it wasn't exactly a surprise that Jacinda would stoop so low that she settled for sleeping with an old duke simply for the benefits she was getting.
It now made sense why the duke often frequented the servants quaters and the stables for no good reason and why Jacinda seemed to have some sort of pride around her as she conducted herself.
"What exactly does she see in that old fart?" Dahlia scrunched her nose as she tried to find any good qualities about the duke that could make Jacinda drawn to him. He was old, beyond unattractive, and had poor hygiene.
Dahlia wasn't one to judge a person based on their outer appearance but even his personality was as sour as vinegar and as stale as a month's old bread. Nothing was pleasing about him, especially his small–-
"Eeeww!" Dahlia screeched as she pushed the image to the deep dark corners of her mind hoping it would never come out. "My life was better before witnessing that."
She tried busying herself to try and avoid thinking of what she saw while simultaneously avoiding Jacinda but it seemed like the latter wasn't willing to let go of the fact that Dahlia caught her at such a vulnerable moment.
Jacinda would shoot daggers at Dahlia at every given opportunity, she kept eyeing Dahlia until she could no longer take it and ended up cornering her by the tanks. "I'm watching you so if you think you can tell a soul about what you saw, you have something coming for you." She threatened her.
"What you do in your personal time is none of my business and I certainly don't care about you enough to spill your beans to anyone." Dahlia pushed Jacinda's arm away from her neck, "You're not worth discussing anyway." She crossed her arms above her chest as she spoke.
"I wonder if you'll be this proud in a few more minutes." Jacinda had an unsettling smirk on her face as she said those words.
"What are you talking about?" Dahlia asked as she tried to remain calm.
"You'll find out soon enough." Jacinda tapped Dahlia's shoulder and walked off without saying anything else.
Dahlia was left standing there wondering what Jacinda could be talking about. In as much as she didn't think she'd go as far as to plot something against her, Dahlia wouldn't put it past Jacinda, especially since she clearly habored deep hatred for her.
She decided to ignore the chills she felt earlier and focus on her work. "There's no need to stress myself out because of Jacinda."