She woke up in a strange environment, or well it was a strange place for her. But almost everybody else would have recognized it, at least the maids.

Maeve was lying in a big comfy bed, that wasn't the one she had slept earlier. This on was much bigger and warmer. There was even a big fireplace keeping the room warn. The human didn't quite understand how she ended up in there, the last thing she remembers was lying on the couch in the library.

There was literally nothing familiar.

She even tried to sniff the pillow, if it would have told anything about the person who stays in there. But she didn't smell anything.

Maeve put her legs on the ground and started to walk away. And that is when she noticed that she slept in her day dress and corset. Only the thought about sleeping in a corset made her ribs hurt, and in last night she tortured her ribs.

"Please, forgive me." She mumbled to herself. Few years back she decided to sleep with a corset and her ribs killed her for the following week. After that she never ever slept in a corset, she always threw it away before going to bed. But many things have changed in the last few months; she lost her family and moved to live in a castle full of shapeshifters. Not really a identical environment fo a human girl.

She really wanted to talk with Cory, her whole body and mind screamed her to go and find her. But she knew that Cory didn't want to talk to her. She didn't want to tell her who her mate is and Maeve was somehow ok with it (But she couldn't admit that she is way too curios to find out by herself who he is and it killed her for not knowing).

A quiet growl stopped her thoughts.

"Oh." The girl mumbled as she noticed that her stomach was screaming for food. As she couldn't find her shoes anywhere she had to go barefoot. If her Mother would have seen her now, she would have passed out.

Alison was always very casual with everything her children did, but walking without shoes was something she couldn't stand. She always started to yell like a maniac if she saw someone without shoes. Unlike her mother Maeve loves to walk without shoes, so always when she was alone in the meadow she took her shoes of and ran like no one in the world would catch her. It's stupid, she knows but the feeling she gets while running like a maniac is something no words could describe. Maybe in one day she could convince Cory to go to the meadow with her. they could have a picnic and talk about stuff that is weighing her heart.

"T-Tommy?" She whispers shouted. Maeve felt like she is the most selfist person alive because she hasn't really seen Tommy in a while and maybe the mouse is hungry and dying of hunger.

No one answered.

"Tommy?" Now she wasn't whispering anymore.

"A-are you hungry?" But like earlier the mouse didn't show up.

"Well, I'm g-going to the kitchen." She muttered. It's rude for not answering if someone asks you a question, she thought. But what she didn't think about was the Tommy is a mouse, and mice cannot speak as she can.

She lifted her chin up and straightened her back and made her way to the kitchen.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF IT, YOU FILTHY SKANK!!!" The fat kitchen lady yelled when Maeve took bread in her hands.

Maeve winced and dropped the bread.

"Now look what you have done, thief!" The lady took a sharp knife in her hands, " You ruined a perfect bread!" She took a few steps closer to the human.

Maeve started to tremble. No one has ever yelled her like that for food.

"You little skank! Let's see what The King will do when he hears about a thief under his roof." She flicked the knife. "You are going to lose your hands for this!" A sadist smile appeared in her face.

"I-it's just b-bread."

"HA! JUST A BREAD? YOU FOOL! THIS BREAD IS THE BREAD!!!" That sentence made a really big question mark appear in Maeve's head. What the poo is that?

"GUARDS!!!!"

Few very young and inexperienced looking guards came in. They looked very confused. "THROW THIS THIEF OUT OF THE CASTLE!!"

The guards looked at each other before nodding. "N-no," Maeve screamed. It was winter and she wasn't wearing any shoes or a cloak to warm her up. She will freeze to death.

The guards didn't listen to her and the taller one put her over his shoulder. "What a thief like you are doing in the castle?"

"It's odd that His Highness hasn't found out that someone that doesn't belong in here has been stealing his food."

"She is a human. You really think he has time to deal with a human who is also a thief?"

"I'm h-his ma-mate." Maeve sobbed.

The guards laughed. The shorter one sounded like a pig who is choking. " You think that his mate would walk around barefooted and hair like a birds nest."

"I believe that his real mate is someone who is tall and doesn't s-sh-shutter", the shorter one mocked her. "And doesn't walk around like a living scarecrow."

"And here we are, your highness."

"Let us guide you back to your castle." They laughed like coyotes and threw her to a big pile of snow. After that, they left and closed the door behind them.

And there she sat, in a pile of snow. Crying her eyes out, but even her tears froze. She knew that she had to find a warm place to sleep unless she wanted to die tonight. Is she would have born as a werewolf she would survive, they could shift to their wolf form and sleep outside. But as a human Maeve's hands will fall off in an hour or two if she stays outside.

She started to walk towards the village she saw. It was covered with a layer of snow and truly a beautiful landscape. It somehow reminded her of her home. In winters it snowed so much that sometimes Maeve sinks in there. William always had to lift her.

Her stomach growled. Ugh, she didn't even get the bread. If it was ruined by her, why couldn't she take it with her then?

Maeve sighed and started to walk towards the village.

***

Cory was looking at herself in the mirror. She really didn't see anything that is beautiful in her face. Normal sized blue eyes, small button nose and bow shaped pinkish lips. Her brown hair was falling on her shoulders and ended in there. Her father didn't stand long hair, so he always forced her to cut it short.

Her father was always very possessive and if he got angry he belted her. Her mama died by giving birth to her, and it felt like her papa took the pain and released it by using violence or getting drunk. He died a few years back, and since that day she has let her hair to grow.

Cory knew that she is nothing more to her mate than a big bag full of trash. She had no value in money or she didn't come from a good family. Unlike him who is from a good family and valuable to The King.

She felt tears fall in her cheeks. She never has been a crier but it felt like everything was wrong in her life. She couldn't handle it anymore. The pain she felt almost every night because of her mate. Her wolf was always crying in her head.

"Why does life have to be so hard?" Being alive is so hard, breathing is an eternal battle and darkness so tempting.

No one would even miss him if she would join her mother, maybe Maeve but she is the future queen and she is just a servant girl. Always has been and always will be.

Her mate would probably smile in happiness when he would hear that his mate is dead. He would get rid of the pain in his ass. He could enjoy his life with different girls, every one more beautiful than her. Cory looked down to look at her breasts. They weren't the smallest and caused a pain in her back, she hated them. She had a slim figure and looked like she wouldn't have eaten in days, she hated it too. She hated every little thing in her body. She wasn't beautiful, she wasn't pretty, she wasn't worth of living and breathing.

She took a brush in her hands and let it slide in her hair. She always wanted to have long and healthy hair just like Maeve's.

Cory snorted.

Maeve's life seems so perfect. A human who is mated with the king. She will bathe in gold and dress in the finest silk. She seems to be just perfect.

The maid has heard many rumors and gossips that the servants talk in every chance they get. Almost every one of them is about the human girl. They talk about how she is so beautiful that is hurts and how she already has the king wrapped around her finger. Some even say that they have seen them kissing.

Cory knew that Maeve won't ever wrap him round her finger. First, she is way too innocent to do so and the king hates humans more than anything. The mate bond is strong, but his highness will always be the number one in his life. He killed his cousin for god's sake.

She remembers the first time she heard gossips that the king has found her mate. She first thought that his mate is some bitch who doesn't give a shit about anyone but herself, but when she met Maeve she knew that in someday she will be a great queen.

But she will not be there to see it.

"Cory? What are you doing in here? You should be cleaning the blue room."

"I'll be going there right now" she smiled, "don't worry about me, Emma."

Emma lifted her eyebrows, Cory is acting weird but it's probably nothing. She is probably on her period or something. "Okay?" She muttered and walked away.

The maid with brown hair and striking blue eyes walked in the kitchen and took a knife. She knew what she had to do, but that wasn't cleaning the blue room.

She took her cloak and walked out of the castle. Snow creaked under her shoes as she walked next to her childhood home. Now it was just an empty cottage with no light or warmness inside of it. But no one can remove the memories it held. She laughed quietly, she will take those memories to her grave. But she will make new memories when she is with her mama.

She hasn't even ever seen her in life, but she will recognize her. Cory knows it, she will see her laughing with her older brother.

She sat on the snow and sat there for an awhile. She wanted to stare at the stars for the last time. When she was little she dreamed of traveling to the stars. It's impossible but you can always dream.

Cory settled her back to the snow and smiled for the last time before taking the knife in her right hand and striking it in her pulsating heart.