I pass the needle through the linen with shaky hands. Sewing should be calming, but I’m not a bit calm.
I was sitting with sharks.
"Mother, is it true Eloise is to wed a Lycan?" My step-sister Fiona cut through the silence.
"Yes, my dearest. That’s if she survives long enough to be wed," my stepmother replied, delight clinging to her tone.
Most certainly, they enjoyed this far better than I did. They couldn’t wait to rub it in my face.
Fiona giggled maliciously. "How are your lessons? I heard you’ve been learning about your soon-to-be family. Tell , Is it true Lycan’s fuck in their beast form?"
The needle pricked my finger and I hissed, quickly sucking to ease the pain.
"Eloise, she asks you a question."
After hours of sewing, I finally raised my gaze and beca the elephant in the room.
My stepmother had the usual ghastly look on her face, like I was the bringer of all her life’s problems, and my step-sister—smiley as always, eager to acknowledge my existence even though I tried to remain a ghost.
"Yes," I replied, inwardly recoiling. That was one of the many reveals that have troubled .
I’ve been given lessons ever since my father announced my betrothal to the Lycan Monarch. I dreaded the day I’d be presented before him to see if I was fit to be his wife.
I’ve heard stories of the monarch, who was a powerful, feared ruler of the Lycans who succeeded in ending the war. Their long-reigning battle with the vampires has left the world broken.
To secure our future as the last human kingdom, my father, the Archduke of Beloria, wants to ally with them.
He believed the winning side would benefit us and help take back the lands we lost. That he said, but I knew it was no less than gaining more power.
To do that, what better option than giving his bastard daughter to the beasts?
Fiona giggled again, pulling out of my thoughts. There was always sothing about my life she deed funny. I should laugh, too, but I couldn’t muster expressive emotions right now because just breathing made Stepmother angry.
"Poor Eloise, I pray you get eaten at the Bride’s Presentation so that you don’t have to fuck a Lycan."
I wanted to roll my eyes now, but I held back.
"Your father depends on this Presentation with everything, the kingdom looks forward to it too. You must make the monarch like you," Stepmother said in a strict tone. "Or suffer the consequences."
I’ve no idea how I intend to make the monarch like . I knew nothing of his likes or dislikes, only as the warlord I’d read about. He’d lived through war all the years of his life, and recent rumors spoke of how much of a mindless beast he had beco.
I might not be ripped apart tomorrow, but I’ll face the consequences of failure. Maybe I should pray to the gods to strike dead now.
As if this particular prayer was worthy of an answer, the thunder bood, and the windows rattled from the sheer force.
"Ah, another downpour? This spring season is sothing else."
"Maybe the gods are weeping for Eloise," Fiona amused.
This one ti, I agreed with her. I was going to et a tragic fate co the morrow; no one would mourn , and my ghost wouldn’t wander to find out.
"Co pour tea, I’m parched."
I blinked away from the window before my stepmother would yell at for not focusing on my womanly duties.
"Eloise, I said you should pour tea. Did you not hear ?"
My eyebrow furrowed in confusion. I looked over the handmaids with their heads lowered, waiting for instruction, but no one had moved.
She ant .
Swallowing hard, I rise, dropping the fabric held tightly in an embroidery hoop.
My shoes resounded as I walked to the table. I moved my hand to the teapot, being close, I could feel the heat.
"It’s still hot, perhaps let it cool down a bit."
"No, I want my tea in my cup now," she pressed. "Mother, tell her!"
"You heard her, pour it."
My eyes skimd the table for a napkin to use, wanting to be done with this and going back to pretending I didn’t exist.
"Do it with your bare hands."
I froze at her words; however, delaying wouldn’t do any good. I can still rember the ti I said no to cleaning out her chamber pot; the back of my knee still hurts from my stepmother’s cane.
I grabbed the teapot and chewed the inside of my mouth when the heat got too much, but I poured the tea anyway.
"That’s better. Such an obedient thing you are," she said nastily. "Cheer up, Eloise, you were chosen for a greater purpose."
"And I’m pleased."
Sure, it was a great responsibility, don’t make laugh!
"Father tells I’ll marry a rich Lord, of great character, and if the gods are kind, he’d be given a land with a grand title, I’ll be a princess. What do you think? Jealous?" she grinned.
"I’m sure this Lord will be lucky to have you as a wife. To find soone of your qualities is rare," I comnted with a smile.
"Of course, he would! I’m perfect, unlike you born of a whore."
I slipped, intentionally.
Fiona’s screams echoed through the four walls of the room, and she jumped, the table tipping aside.
"Dearest, are you alright? Don’t touch it—bring cold water now!"
The handmaids hurried to fetch them. Thank the gods for Fiona’s thick gown; she didn’t get burned, but I can’t say the sa for her hand.
"She burned !" she cried.
My stepmother’s hand struck my cheek. "You wicked girl!"
I placed my hand on the spot and it ached under my touch, the corner of my eyes stung, but I didn’t let the tears fall.
"I kept you in our ho in spite of the fact your mother whored her way to my husband. You’re an insect I should have squashed a long ti ago!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs.
"My mother was not a whore," I glared.
She huffed scornfully. "You know nothing of her, how would you know?"
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My teeth clenched. I hated how true her words were. I didn’t know anything about her, not even what she looked like, and Father didn’t spare enough to tell about her.
But I like to imagine she wasn’t a cruel person like the woman who stood before .
"Well then, let tell you exactly who she was. She shalessly seduced my husband like the filth she was—I curse the day he brought a screaming baby into this house!"
I cursed that day, too, but in the end, it never mattered.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦
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