Arielle
The cold air mixed with the sound of nocturnal creatures sent a subtle chill down my spine, snapping me out of the little sleep I had managed to get.
We had taken refuge in an abandoned wooden cabin, just across the border from the kingdom. Though I felt it was still too close, Riley had insisted that it was safe.
I slowly rolled my eyes around me and noticed in the low light, how beaten down the cabin was. The nauseating scent of mildew hung in the air, but it was already something I had adapted to.
"We are out of time." The hooded figure suddenly appeared in my view, his voice deep and urgent. He had a candle in his hands and placed it on the floor.
"We have to leave now. The guards might soon catch our scent. We can't risk getting caught."
Riley, who must have been outside, walked in.
I straightened my curled-up legs and tried to get up but Riley rushed to my side, forcing me to stay down. She glanced at me and before turning her eyes to the hooded man.
"Hey, we have been holed up for two nights. Nothing has happened. Why are you in such—"
"I worry about us! Don't tell me how to do my job!" He whispered harshly and pointed a gloved finger at her.
I felt too weak to intervene. It was almost as if something had been pulled out of my bleeding heart, yet somehow, I was still alive…
My mind was almost starting to drift towards the source of my pain, but I forced myself to listen to Riley and the hooded man's bickers. Their noise was better off than my pain.
"You are being too hard on us! We need to take care—" Riley went on but she was cut off again.
"These people—" He pointed at the window. "These people will do anything to get your friend! You never told me she was that important until now! If I knew, I wouldn't have helped you."
He raised his hand over his hood and for a second I thought he was going to take it off. But he pulled his hand away at the last minute and began to pace around instead.
"Look, we have to stay here, alright?" Riley said, in a calmer tone this time. "The wind is blowing our scent away. I knew why I chose this cabin. They will never find us here."
Rather than reply to her, he hissed and drew down a black curtain over the window and glared at her, but she was quick to defend her point again.
"Besides even if they found us here, the alpha will never allow them to kill her…"
I felt something stir within me with the mention of that title, but I stayed calm.
The hooded man let out a scoff, so deep, even I could feel the disgust he threw at her. "The alpha you say—Everyone that works in the manor knows he's ruthless. He's no different from his father. He is a monster!"
"No! You are wrong, the alpha loves Arielle! He's just being coerced by his father to behave like that!" Riley defended him and this time, the title and her words felt like knives I couldn't ignore.
"What did you say?" My voice cracked and my arms trembled at my side. "Riley, you think Damien's a nice person?"
Silence settled as all eyes peered towards me.
"Arielle, calm down. You are still very weak from the journey. You don't need to over-exert yourself." Riley slowly tried to wrap her arms around me, but I pushed her away as my pain slowly turned into anger.
"You are wrong!" I cried out. The pain was still raw in my chest.
"Damien doesn't love me! He will probably be leading the search against me. I'm just a threat to his position on the throne… A plaything that can be disposed of when he doesn't need me anymore."
I grabbed my chest as my breath quickened. A stinging sensation at the back of my throat developed as I held back my tears. The memories were still too fresh for me to forget…
Even as Riley tried to calm me once again, I shook my head and moved away from her. "He is truly a monster, Riley… you need to stop hoping that things will change… He isn't the saviour you prayed for… He is the devil!"
"Listen to her, she's not wrong," the hooded figure commented but Riley rolled her eyes at him and came towards me once more.
"Arielle, please you need to understand that this is—more than you think. Damien is only trying to protect you. He cares for you. He wouldn't lead an attack against you. That's absurd!s"
"Protect me? Care for me. Those words are not in his dictionary." I shook my head, the memory of my whippings replaying in my head.
I closed my eyes and took deep breaths. "That man is evil, he wouldn't even care if I died today… everything is just a game to him, and I was stupid to play right into it."
"Arielle, don't speak like that. He saved you from Bailey a bunch of times, and Raymond too," Riley continued. "This is definitely his father's plan. Lord George is the mastermind—"
"Doesn't matter." The hooded figure interrupted.
"And what do you think matters?" Riley hissed, obviously irritated by his comments.
He slowly moved away from the window he stood and picked out an apple from his bag. "Father, son, they are all fucking the same. A bunch of power-hungry werewolves that were lucky enough to lay their hands on power. Outside the capital, the land is dead. Everything's drying up and yet they only care about the capital…"
As he spoke, my eyes took in the movements of his hands over the apple and I realised that despite everything, he never revealed his face to us.
"Look Arielle, I don't really know what happened yesterday, but I think there's a misunderstanding. He is only faking to push you away to protect you, Arielle," Riley suddenly said, pulling my mind back into the conversation.
I raised my head up and stared into her eyes. "Huh?"
"He's sacrificing everything for you, Arielle, can't you see it?"
I furrowed my brows and looked away. Damien's behaviour has never been clear to me. Even that night, he looked... sad when he rejected me… It was almost like he was being forced to do it.
Or maybe I was just being optimistic… or stupid again—
"You make me laugh, you are all so naive and positive minded," the hooded man scoffed, ending my thoughts. "A man that loves a woman will never break up with her and marry another woman the next day."
Riley and I turned at him as my already shattered heart shook. "What do you mean?" We chorused.
"Oh, you don't know?"
Riley and I looked confused. Did we miss something on the way? Something he saw that we didn't. We looked at one another but our eyes had the same blankness.
"Well, I was gathering Intel," he finally let out, pointing his half-cut apple at me. "Turns out, your alpha boy picked a new bride this evening."
A massive knot formed in my chest, and I was suddenly conscious of the amount of air I was breathing.
"Who's the bride?" I managed to ask.
"Some girl named Cecilia."