Chapter 4: Shut up!
~Ragel's POV~
I walk into my room, and the doors close behind me with a loud sound. The room is dark with only a few burning sticks making shadows on the stone walls.
I don't really notice any of it. My mind is stuck in memories that won't go away, no matter how hard I try to forget.
Thoughts of Alvira filled my mind. She was everything to me. They took her from me. Took her and my baby that was never born from me. Took the life that we have prayed and imagined for.
After endless cycles of moon without a child, we finally got an opportunity to have one and they took that from us. Took Alvira from me!
I will make them hurt and wish they were never born. They will learn people fear the beasts of the underworld.
I can still smell burning bodies, hear the screams of my people, and see Alvira's mutilated body. They had given her a painful death.
My hands make fists as the past slammed through me. It was all my fault. I had been too late. Too weak.
I should never have trusted that man that Alvira brought in. He knew our weak spots, and that's how they carried out their plans.
Anger burns under my skin. It's been my friend for the past two years now.
I take a slow, deep breath and call my helper using our mind-reader. I need to start my backup plan.
'Come to my room. Now.'
I hear quick footsteps outside my door. My helper, a tiny older man with kind but observant eyes, comes in. He looks worried but careful. He knows better than to ask me questions.
"You called, my king."
I don't turn to look at him right away. I stare at the fire in the fireplace, and my mind putting my plans in place.
"Send a letter to Alpha Lewis."
Theo stiffens at my request, but his face stays calm. He knows what I'm really like. This isn't really a letter asking him to visit. It's an order, he can not afford to refuse.
"As you command," Theo says, with a small bow. "Should I get ready for him to come?"
I finally turn around, and my dark eyes look dangerous from the light in the room. "Make it big and fancy. I want him to think he's welcome."
Theo nods, now understanding my plan. "And what about the girl?"
A slow smile comes to my lips. "Give her maids and guards. Clean her up. I want her sitting in the dinner room when our guest comes."
Theo only waits for a second before bowing and leaving to do what I asked.
I walk to the big mirror on the wall. With a wave of my hand, the mirror shows me Lyra's room. Time to watch how she reacts to my orders.
~Lyra's POV~
I sit without moving, even though my wrists hurt. I won't let them break my pride. When the maids come in, with guards behind them, I don't even look at them.
"My lady," one of the maids starts in a shaky voice, "the king has ordered..."
"I don't care," I cut her off, my voice full of anger. I know I sound like the rich, spoiled princess that I am but I don't care.
"I will not move." I repeated.
The guards look uncomfortable. They were given a job to do, but none of them dare to force me. Not because they're scared of me, but him. They were scared of him.
They just stand there, not knowing what to do, until we hear footsteps coming. The room gets quieter as the other beast people smell the air and whispered the king is coming.
Ragel strodes in. He doesn't speak at first, just stares down at me, there wasn't any smug grin on his face now.
Then, in a voice so quiet it gives me chills, he orders, "Stand up."
I stay sitting and lift my chin to show I'm not afraid.
"Make me." The maids and guards make scared sounds. They looked scared and worried about what might happen next.
A deadening silence fills the room. The maids and guards look at each other nervously. Their eyes seem to say they have seen what happens to people who don't obey him.
Still, Ragel does nothing. Instead, he tilts his head a little. "If you don't get up and get ready, every maid helping you will die."
I narrow my eyes. In my mind, I'm thinking, who would kill their own people?
"You're lying." I said calmly. Believing he would never touch his own people.
He doesn't answer. He just moves his wrist. A guard steps forward, his sword flashes, and we hear a terrible cry. The maid closest to me falls to the floor, blood spreading around her dead body.
The other maids scream and stumble back, their eyes wide with fear.
My breath catches. I expected threats. But this? This is something else. This man is a monster. And no monster will have me, Lyra. One monster in my life was enough.
"Still don't believe me?" Ragel says softly, stepping closer.
Another guard raises his sword, this time holding it over the second maid's throat.
"I will go!" I shout before the sword can fall. I jump to my feet, my hands shaking, feeling both angry and horrified. "I will go."
Ragel stands in front of me now, closer than before, his breath warm on my cheek. A slow, satisfied smile curves his lips.
"You've made the right choice," he whispers, his tongue lightly touching the back of my ear.
I shiver, but not from fear. However, I refuse to name whatever this feeling is. No. I will not name it.
Without another word, he turns and walks away, leaving me with unspoken threats. Threats I now know, he whom carry out.
The guards lead me out of the room to a completely different place. This one is much fancier than the prison-like room I just left.
It has many different rooms all connected together. In Manhattan, we would call this a suite. But this beast world or whatever it's called seems stuck in the past.
It feels like they're still living in old times, but in a fancier way.
"My lady..." a maid says in a squeaky voice. She sounds scared and I know why.
I'm super scared too. Someone died because of my pride. I don't want to think about it too much, but I know and I hate that someone died because of me.
"What am I supposed to do?" I ask. My voice is dry and cracky.
"Nothing, my lady. We will bathe you and dress you up," another maid answers. They're still shaking and scared. I can still hear the fear in their voices.
"You all better have her ready before sunset." Ragel's command comes through the air in the room. They immediately get to work, pushing me toward the bathtub.
"What are you doing?" I scream. "Stop pushing me around!"
" You better shut up!" One maid hissed in anger.