Maisie

The Lycan Queen left me over an hour ago.

But not before assigning six guards to the bedroom I was being confined to.

"Do not get it into your head that you can escape from here, wolf. My pavilions are the most heavily guarded within the castle. Even if you did make it out of this room, you wouldn’t step five feet out of here before you were dragged back. But you may very well try. It’s been a long time yet since I have been entertained."

I had done precisely that.

In the last hour, I had tried to run, jump out the damned window, break off the bathroom window, brought down a vase against the guard’s head.

My attempts at trying to flee only got me exactly four feet outside the bedroom before I was brought back inside, and a chain was clamped around my ankle.

Like I was some kind of animal.

I paced the length of the bedroom, pulling out my hair in frustration, rage and absolute despair as I drowned in panic, reality finally sinking in.

I can’t get out. Can’t get out... can’t leave... can’t runaway... I’m going to be...

The word made me so sick, I rushed over to the bathroom and puked into the sink, tears spilling down my cheeks as the chain around my ankle jingled.

I had eaten nothing all day, so it was only a dry heave. I slid down onto the bathroom floor and began trying to pry off the chain. But the lock was really a clasp and it was made of ash and silver.

And when my fingers made contact with it, it burned my skin like acid.

A wrecked sob escaped me as the Queen’s words echoed in my mind. "I can smell the transition on you. It is close. Two days, give or take. But I will need you to be at full strength tonight, lest you died half-way through the night. Consider this my gift to you. I will induce your transition, to make it easier to take the knots. Do not look so glum. Many ordinary women would trade places with you in a heart beat to take part in the Orgia. If it is the Princes you prefer, I will ensure they get their turn. After everyone else has."

She was asking me to be glad that I was going to be gang-raped.

I lurched again for the sink, trembling so hard, I could barely remain on my feet. Cold sweat broke all over my skin and my skin clattered.

I began to pray. I didn’t know how to, but I crawled back to the bedroom, held my fists together and began to pray to whichever god was listening, because I was sure the Moon Goddess had to have despised me.

The door opened.

A woman in a light blue dress stepped inside. She was a slight human with big grey eyes and her hair knotted above her head. Her gaze coasted over to where I knelt and there was such emptiness in her eyes, it chilled me to the bone.

"Draw the bath," she said to no one in particular, but four beautiful, tall women appeared from behind her, heads hung low, all dressed in similar maid fashion. "Pour in the saffron."

Her voice sounded familiar and when she spoke again, I realize she was the one who had been in the room with the Queen when I woke up.

Two maids stood behind her, one holding a box of vials, another with a set of instruments I didn’t recognize.

The woman in blue, Memah, turned around and pulled out a vial from the box that was filled up with a strange blue liquid.

"Drink this," she said to me coldly.

It had to be the fertility draught.

"No," I said.

She tilted her head. Blinked once, sizing me up. "Fighting never helps. You will either take it yourself or it will be forced down your throat. I vote for the former. I do not have much flair for violence."

I bared my teeth. "Go fuck yourself. I would rather die."

It wasn’t exactly what I would’ve said to anyone else, but something fundamental in me had reached its breaking point.

She blinked slowly. "Drystan," she called. "A little help with the prisoner."

A guard stepped inside. It was the same dark haired guard from earlier. I scrambled back as he made a beeline for me, but he merely yanked on the chain, dragging me forward by it.

Then he kicked my feet out from underneath me, causing me to land on my knees.

"Not so hard. I do not have enough healing tonics to take her through the entire night," the woman snapped, pulling the stopper.

My head was wrenched back, the guard’s fingers pushing hard into my jaw until it parted enough for the woman to shove the contents of the vial down my throat.

Then Drystan clamped a hand over my nose as I began to retch the unbearably sweet liquid, until I had no choice but to swallow.

He let go of me after a full minute when ’Memah’ gave a nod and I watched him step outside like a heartless machine.

I thought that if I ever came into power, he would be the first person I killed.

I convulsed, trying to force myself into vomitting, but it made no difference.

"Another dose will be administered in four hours," she stated, eyes glossing over the box once more. "There will be side effects, but they will be effected by the second dose. Expect breast swelling and soreness. A light headache. Mood swings. A swelling in your lower abdomen. Wetness between your legs. And heat."

My breaths came out in loud puffs. I was hyperventilating again. I was going to die.

I started forward. "Please help me. I just need to get a message out—"

"No one will help you," she cut in coldly. "Not here. Do not ask it. Not if you want our blood on your hands. Not even the Prince can get you out of this." She jerked her chin toward the women behind her. "Strip her."

She was right. Fighting didn’t help.

I was forced into the bathroom and thrown into the steaming bathtub. My clothes were hacked away with surgical scissors. I couldn’t tell if they were washing me or trying to murder me.

It was like the harder I fought, the harsher they were, yanking at my hair hard enough to wrench it from my scalp, plucking every strand of hair from my skin, and forcing my legs wider so they could do the same between my thighs.

I was so mad, my sobs worsened. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

I thought I had been through dehumanizing experiences, but clearly, I didn’t even know where the bar was. A floss was pushed into my teeth. The under of my feet were scrapped raw until they were smooth and sensitive.

This went on for hours.

And when the woman named Memah was satisfied, I was wrenched out of the tub and brought into the room. After which she walked around me in circles, examining me.

Then she stopped in front of me and nodded. "I suppose this will be adequate enough."

Hatred was all I felt. A deeply seated hatred for everything and everyone.

If she noticed the murder in my gaze, she didn’t show, instead choosing to delve into a lecture about tonight. "Usually, when the rite is to be commenced, the chosen females are bound and blindfolded before being brought to the fire naked. You will be expected to be compliant and kneel until you feel the tap against your shoulder which notifies you that the first male has won the rights to be your first."

Revulsion churned deep in my stomach and I didn’t bother hiding it.