There was a yearning in my heart. I wanted to get Freya out of there. I didn’t know her personally, but I didn’t want her to suffer. I guessed that was empathy ... something Lucian lacked.
Speaking of Lucian, he had asked me to come to his chambers and not be late.
What else did he want, besides fucking me?...
I got myself ready. Not that there was much to prepare. I’d been wearing the same cloth since I came to Winterwood. They hadn’t let me take any of my belongings back at Bloodmoon. Fuck it. I didn’t need any of it anyway. I was going to start a new life ... or so I’d thought.
It was a new life now, but a surprisingly and exhaustingly new one.
I put on the blue dress I’d come to Winterwood wearing. I washed it every day.
I got to his chambers at 9:58. Standing in front of his door, I hesitated before entering. I finally knocked. No answer came, so I let myself in and found a wolf dressed in his regalia. I wasn’t sure he was ready for anything serious.
"You’re late," he said.
I checked the wall clock. 9:59. "I’m early," I replied.
He chuckled. "Early, to me, is fifteen minutes before."
"It shows you’re eagerly anticipating what I’m here to give," he added.
"Can I make a request?" I asked.
I wanted to ask him ... if I gave him the night of his life, would he free Freya? But I couldn’t. He might just throw me in with her.
"What is it, Selene?" he asked, lounging on his couch with unbothered swagger.
"Don’t worry, sir," I said.
"First ... when did you start calling me sir? Second ... I don’t like people playing games with me. Ask your question."
"I wanted to ask you to go easy on me tonight."
He laughed. "What did you think you were here for?"
I froze, confused, but I didn’t want to say the thing he wasn’t saying, so I only answered, "I’m here to please you, of course."
"Exactly," he said, smiling.
He was in a good mood that night ... the kind of joy that felt almost surreal. I decided it was because he was a king, an alpha who could have whatever he wanted. There was no reason for him to be anything but pleased with himself.
"Do you know how to dance?" he asked.
My mind sparked. Dance?... I didn’t know the first thing about moving my body with any grace. I only knew how to research and stack books.
"I’ve never danced before," I admitted.
He kept smiling. "You don’t know how? You don’t tell a king you don’t know how to do something. If he asks you to do it, you do it."
I straightened my spine. I had no choice. Dancing was just moving the body, wasn’t it? I could manage that. That’s what I told myself.
So there I was, dancing to no music, told to move to the rhythm in my head.
"The aim is to entertain me," he said.
I began dancing, unsure if I was doing it right, mostly just bouncing and swaying, trying to make it look like the ballet performances I’d seen on television.
Lucian didn’t react strangely. He simply watched.
But as I danced, I felt something loosen in my chest ... like a weight had lifted off my shoulders, if only for a moment. My sadness had been my constant companion since I arrived. For a few minutes, it let go of me.
At one point, while I moved my waist, Lucian smiled and took a drink of liquor. It was the first time I’d seen him drink like that.
"Stop," he said.
"I must say, you’re not a bad dancer," Lucian said, rising from the couch. He already looked intoxicated. I’d danced for about forty minutes ... I’d checked the time.
He walked toward me. "You’re not the best dancer I’ve ever seen, but your moves give me a joy and pleasure I can’t quite explain." His voice had begun to slur.
"I’m glad I could please you, my king," I said.
"Of... course. That’s what you’re here for. To... please... me." He was stumbling over his own words now.
The king isn’t much of a drinker,... I thought. I’d never seen him even remotely vulnerable before. Maybe the liquor was meant to help him forget something.
Within seconds he started swaying on his feet. I reached out to steady him. "Do you need anything, my king?"
"You’ve done enough," he murmured, and let his head fall against my shoulder as we stood there together.
Suddenly, the chamber doors burst open, as if rogues had stormed the room. It was the woman I’d seen the day before ... Tessa. She barged in and stopped short at the sight of Lucian leaning against me. The moment was strange, awkward. She looked at me the way one looks at a mortal enemy, someone she’d already decided to destroy. No one had ever looked at me like that before ... not even my captors.
I kept holding Lucian up. If I let go, he would fall.
"Alpha. The prisoner girl has escaped," Tessa said.
"What?" Lucian said, faintly.
"What do you mean she’s escaped?" he demanded, some of his sharpness returning.
"Some people broke her out. That’s what they’re claiming."
"Who claims...? Get me Kael. Now."
"Kael’s already gone to search for her, sir."
He pulled away from me and crossed to her. "How could she have escaped? That’s your department, Tessa. Who dares defy me in my own territory?" His rage was unmistakable, a low burn beneath every word.
"How long has she been gone?" he asked.
"About ten minutes."
"She can’t have gone far. Tell Kael to move faster. Call him now."
Kael, I gathered, was the Beta of the Winterwood pack ... summoned constantly whenever the king needed answers.
Tessa stepped out to make the call.
"Whoever did this will pay dearly," Lucian said, more to himself than to me. He meant whoever had helped Freya escape ... because she couldn’t have done it alone.
He said he would make that person suffer.
I wondered what his reaction would be when he discovered that person was me.