Chapter 6: I will pardon her.
~Ragel's POV~
I watch through the magic mirror as the maids attack Lyra with their words. Each cruel comment, each insult, each laugh hits me in a way I don't want to feel or bother to understand.
My hands slowly make fists. I tell myself I don't care. I tell myself she deserves this. After all, it was the same thing they did to my Alvira. Maybe even worse.
But deep inside me, my beast is roaring with anger. He doesn't like seeing our new mate being treated this way. He wants to go down there and tear those maids apart for daring to touch what belongs to us.
I shake my head hard and tell him. She is not ours. She can never be ours. She carries the blood of the people who killed Alvira. She is the enemy and we don't defend enemies.
But my beast doesn't care about that. All he knows is that Lyra is our second chance mate, and no one should hurt her except us.
The angry feeling in my chest gets stronger as I watch the head maid grab Lyra's arm and squeeze it hard. My beast wants to break that maid's hand for touching our mate.
Of course, I intend to do just that but I needed to tame my beast and let him know, I was in charge and I never I intend to acknowledge Lyra as my mate.
"She deserves it," I say out loud more to myself than my beast. "She deserves everything they are doing to her."
But even as I say the words, I don't really believe them. My beast certainly doesn't believe them. And him fighting me so bad proves it.
I can see Lyra trying so hard to stay calm. I can see her wolf fighting inside her, wanting to attack the maids. But she holds back. She doesn't say anything and I knew why. Probably because of the maid that died earlier.
That maid was a spy, so killing her was only made to make her feel remorseful and more docile to do my bidding.
Seeing how she was silently taking the mistreatment makes my beast even more protective of her. He likes that she is strong but also kind.
"No," I tell my beast. "She is not kind. She is weak. That's why her mate left her for her sister."
But my beast growls at me. He thinks I'm being stupid.
The pain in my chest gets worse as I watch the maids continue to hurt Lyra with their words. To make it stop, I decide to do something. I use my magic powers to speak through the air in their room.
"Is the slave ready?" I ask, making my voice sound cold and mean.
I call her a slave on purpose. I want to hurt her like she hurts me just by existing. I want to remind her that she is nothing now. And that princess haughty and high pride of hers would take her nowhere.
My beast gets angry at me for calling our mate a slave. He roars and claws at me from inside. But I ignore him.
Through the mirror, I can see the maids looking around when they hear my voice. They look scared now.
"Yes, my king," the head maid says quickly. "She is almost ready."
I can see that this is a lie. Lyra is still wearing her dirty clothes. Her hair is still messy. They haven't even started getting her ready.
"Almost ready?" I ask in a dangerous voice.
All the maids start moving very fast now. They push Lyra toward the bathtub and start pulling at her clothes.
I should look away. I should give her privacy. But I don't. I keep watching as they strip her and put her in the water. She looked beautiful. Beautiful is an understatement to describe her.
For a wolf, she was breathtaking. Even the women in my world do not come close to her beauty, that I can admit. I feel my body tightened at the thought of having her in my bed soon.
My beast purrs when he sees our mate's body. Even with the bruises and cuts from her time in the dungeon. She still looked stunning. I wanted to thread my hands through her beautiful vibrant red hair.
"She means nothing to us," I remind my beast. But he doesn't listen.
A knock on my door stops me from watching more. "Come in," I call. As I swiped through the air and the mirror vanished.
Theo walks into my room. He looks excited but also nervous.
"My king," he says with a bow. "The guests have arrived."
A slow, evil smile spreads across my face. My beast gets excited too, but for different reasons. He wants to show off our mate to everyone. I want to watch Lewis suffer when he sees what his betrayal has brought to his former wife.
"Perfect," I say. "Prepare my concubines. They will sit with me at dinner."
Theo nods but then stops. He looks like he wants to say something but is afraid to.
"What is it?" I ask.
"What about concubine Seraffim?" he asks carefully. "Is she coming as well?"
The moment he says her name, anger explodes in my chest like fire. My beast goes wild with rage, as well. We both hate Seraffim with everything we have.
Seraffim is the reason Alvira was captured. There is no concrete proof, but the other noble children saw her with the chancellor who came from the werewolf world. She was the one who told him all our secrets. She was the one who betrayed us.
And when we found Alvira's body, Seraffim was lying right next to the dismembered corpse like she had been part of the torture.
"How long has she been in the abandoned palace?" I ask Theo. My voice is deadly quiet.
Theo knows this voice. He knows I am dangerous when I speak like this. So he recoils.
"Two years now, my king," he answers.
Two years. The same amount of time since Alvira died. I have kept Seraffim locked away in the old palace as punishment. She gets barely any food, no comfort, no visitors. Just darkness and cold and her guilt.
I don't want to see her face. I don't want to be reminded of her betrayal. But today is special. Today I need all my power and glory on display for Lewis. I need him to see how strong I am, how many beautiful women including his former mate belong to me.
"For today only, I will pardon Seraffim," I say finally. "You can release her for the day."
Theo bows. "As you command, my king."
But as he turns to leave, I wonder if bringing Seraffim back is a good idea. What if seeing her makes me too angry to enjoy Lewis's suffering? What if she ruins my perfect revenge?