When Tables Turn

LUCY

My eyes fluttered open as I felt a cold damp cloth on my forehead. I looked around and realized I was in the servants’ bedroom, lying on one of the soft beds.

Everything started coming back to me fast—from being captured in the forest, being imprisoned in a lycan king’s castle, being given a job as a servant, and then meeting the king himself in the flesh. I remembered everything, and I wish I didn’t!

“You passed out in the rose garden after we met the king. Well, that was unexpected of you,” a voice said beside me. I knew that blunt tone.

I turned my head slowly because it felt stiff, and I looked at Emma. She was sitting on a stool beside me with a small bowl of water in her hands.

“You are lucky, you are no longer going to be sentenced to death like most humans that end up in the castle dungeons. Being a lycan king’s mate is rare even for our kind, but being a human mate to a lycan is unheard of!” she whispered, but it just ended up being a bit too loud.

Shock and confusion were showing all over her face. I’m pretty sure my facial expression was of a person who had probably encountered something worse than a ghost.

“How can this be? Why is this happening to me?” I thought out loud while I sat up straight. There was no way on this earth I was going to live like this! I grabbed Emma’s hands and looked at her desperately.

“You have to kill me! Please do it now, I cannot live like this anymore. Every day something bad happens to me but this…this is worse than bad!”

She looked at me in shock, then pity.

“I cannot kill you, Lucy, even if I wanted to. Killing a king’s mate is worse than treason, but killing a lycan’s mate…now that is just asking for a fate worse than death. He would not only skin me alive, but he would burn down my whole village, including everyone I love, my family. He would kill everyone I have ever set my eyes on.”

I shook my head. “He won’t, he doesn’t even like me! I am sure he would reward you if you killed me…please!” I begged.

“No! You don’t know anything about our kind. Even if he doesn’t like you now, his wolf has already created a bond with you the moment he set his eyes on you. Maybe his human side is in denial about being mated to a human, but his wolf would surely have my head!” Emma said, removing her hands from my grasp.

“He wouldn’t know you killed me. Suffocate me and let the other servants find me. They will say I died in my sleep. You have to, please! You cannot let me live the rest of my life with a lycan. Take pity on me and grant me this, please, I beg of you.”

She looked at me as if considering my request, but then she shook her head, grabbed the towel I had dropped on the bed, and stood up.

“I might hate your kind, but I am not a murderer. So please do not tempt me, for we also have a goddess who will burn me with the flames of hell. Rest some more. It’s already past ten. I will bring your supper.”

She then quickly grabbed her bowl of water and walked out.

I had so many questions regarding my future now. The only solution I had for this problem of mine was death. The anger on that lycan’s face when he realized I was his mate brought goosebumps all over my skin.

How can I be mated to the beast that killed my friends? His kind killed my family. I would rather be dead than live in this place with these hell-bound beasts.

Emma walked in with a plate filled with rice and some soup. She handed me the plate and a spoon. “This is all that was left over. Eat up, you will need your strength.”

“What does this mean for me, being mated to the king?” I asked, receiving the plate from her hands.

“I do not know, he just asked me to keep this a secret and for you to be silent as well. If any of this gets out, he said he would have my head, but he didn’t say anything about your fate. You will resume your job tomorrow as usual,” she said sternly, and I nodded my head.

***

I was allowed to sleep earlier last night after the unfortunate event that ended with me passing out, so it didn’t surprise me when I woke up very early without being woken up by someone else.

I was assigned to be in the kitchen today, so that is where I was helping the other maids prepare breakfast for the royals.

I was getting used to being hated, glared at, and pushed around by these omegas. I guess they took a bit of pride for being more superior than me since every other wolf was more superior than them.

So bullying me soothed their pain and gave them a bit of self-esteem, but as for me, I was miserable. I had gotten hurt more than ten times already, and it was still early in the morning.

Someone would either trip me, push me so hard I would fall facedown, or purposely pour a bit of boiling water on my hands.

This time I was on a chair trying to get some glass plates for breakfast. They were so high up in the kitchen cabinets, and unfortunately, I was short.

Some other evil omega with an unknown vendetta against me kicked the chair I was standing on for support, and I fell down hard.

And to add more to my misery, the glass plates I was trying to get decided to come crashing down on me like rain, and I closed my eyes waiting for them to hurt me.

However, nothing came.

Everything happened so fast—one moment I was on the floor watching as the pile of plates came almost crashing down on me, then the next second I was in someone’s strong arms and placed on top of the kitchen counter.

My eyes were so wide, and I blinked as I watched the pile of plates crash and break into tiny pieces on the floor. I was surely going to get into a lot of trouble for that. I’m sure those glass plates were very expensive, like everything else in the castle.

“What the hell were you thinking climbing on that chair just to get stupid dishes! Don’t you know it’s not safe? Are you stupid?” a deep, angry, harsh voice said to me, making me jump a little.

I looked up at the man who had practically saved my life, but when I realized who it was, I felt like passing out again. It was the lycan king! God, why me?

“I…I…I needed them. It was just an accident,” I stuttered. I almost rolled my eyes at how stupid I sounded, but it wasn’t my fault someone decided to end my life by causing that accident.

I wasn’t going to say that to the king though—he might just decide to kill me himself if I dared to accuse one of his people.

He scoffed, still standing very close to me. We were literally only inches apart.

“You needed them? So you decided to just risk your life for them…do you realize how ignorant you sound? Who even made you work in a kitchen? Your job here is done,” he said, carrying me off the counter and placing me on the floor where I stood flabbergasted.

I heard people gasp and realized there were still servants in the kitchen.

“Follow me,” he instructed.

The servants watched in silence as the King led me out of the room.