anthoniocruso

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Trigger warning; it gets a little violent so if it's not your cup of tea...

The gold drawing room was aptly named. My eyes hurt from all the gold it was seeing. The chairs all seemed to be made of gold. Its cushions, a creamy material and stuffed with soft feathers.

The centre table, the side stool, the enormous chandelier had all been made from pure gold. The creamy curtains had beautiful embroidery work done with gold threads. The walls were painted cream with gold trimmings. Even the tea cups, kettles and the sugar bowls were made of pure gold.

It was giving me a headache. All this gold. But Sierra was almost bouncing in her seat with excitement. How could anyone be happy to be in here. Whoever had designed this drawing room needed help.

" This is where all your etiquette classes will be held." The Dowager Luna said.

Great. It seemed I would have headaches for a whole month. Milah didn't seem to mind. She looked around, awe evident in her eyes. Willow sat quietly like she always did. I could see a pink bruise on her shoulder. She was always tripping and hurting herself. I didn't know anyone as clumsy as she was.

The Dowager Luna had said to her,

" A lady shouldn't sport bruises. Her skin should be as smooth as a baby's bottom."

I'd rolled my eyes at that and she had leered at me. The Dowager Luna didn't seem to like me at all. She had looked at me with a queer look in her eyes and then nodded with what seemed to be satisfaction.

Workers had brought in the afternoon tea and the Queen mother had introduced us to our etiquette teacher, an omega named Pontiac Neves and that had been all. We sat in silence while Aspen and the Dowager Luna had discussed in whispers, sometimes glancing at me.

It made me very uncomfortable and I wanted so badly to just go to my bedroom. Wherever it was.

" Um, your majesty?" I said, careful to be polite. " If we're done here, can I maybe go to my room? I didn't get much sleep last night."

The Dowager Luna regarded me, haughtily.

" Why not?"

" Um ..." I began to fidget. There was no way I could tell her the real reason.

" Sleep," The Dowager Luna said, her voice incredibly haughty, " is important to a woman, especially a lady of the court which you now are. It wouldn't do for you to develop bags underneath your eyes. They're highly unattractive."

Like I gave a damn. I refrained from rolling my eyes though. She continued.

" And no. We are not done here. Pontiac?" She said to the omega. " Pass a pen and paper around. In a week, there will be a banquet in your honor." She said to us. " You will need to be announced. Put down your first and last name on the piece of paper when it reaches you, after that, you may leave."

Last name? That I certainly couldn't remember. My mother and I had lived alone. I couldn't remember my father's name but I could remember my mother's.

When the paper reached me, I put down Devenity Bellefleur, my mother's name. A smile tugged at my lips. It had a nice ring to it. My mother would love it.

A lump grew in my throat. Truthfully, she would love it ...if she was alive to hear it.

Suddenly, I couldn't stand staying in the room with the Dowager Luna. I wanted so badly to just leave and not just because I needed sleep. I needed to be as far away as possible from any wolf, especially the Dowager Luna. I was highly sensitive now. If I made the mistake of lashing out at her, it could be disastrous.

It came as a relief when she dismissed us. I got up, curtseyed like the others and was shown out of that horrible gold drawing room.

〰️〰️〰️

I hadn't slept up to an hour when Milah, Sierra and Willow came barging in to my room.

" Oh no." I groaned. We had all been given separate rooms but it seemed no one wanted to stay in theirs.

" Get up Deven." Sierra squealed, collapsing on me. I tried in vain to push her off. Giving up, I sat up.

" What is it?" I asked, yawning wildly. I wondered what the Dowager Luna would say if she saw me yawning right now. Probably something about how unladylike and unmannered I was.

" Don't tell me you want to spend your first day in the castle sleeping." Milah said.

Actually, I did and I said so.

" Well, we asked Aspen and she said we could explore the entire eastern wing on our own if we wanted to. You should come with us." Willow said. She had an excited look on her face. She barely ever looked excited.

Explore the castle? I planned to do just that at some point in my search for the treasure vault. I sighed. As much as I needed sleep, I really had to find those Ardenites.

I got out of bed and stretched.

" Where to first, witches?"

〰️〰️〰️

We had been 'exploring' for close to two hours now and I was dog tired. The castle most definitely had secret room with secret doors but I'd felt every wall and searched behind every tapestry in the eastern wing and had come up short. It seemed there was nothing to be found here.

It was a little disappointing and I had to constantly remind myself that there were still several parts of the castle that I hadn't even stepped foot in.

We walked into a hallway filled with ornamental armor and several animal skins. I could hear horses neighing from the arched windows. Sierra rushed to one of the windows.

" It's the prince!" She exclaimed.

We went to the window to investigate. There were several people down below, some on huge stallions. I couldn't see anyone clearly so I had no idea how Sierra knew it was the prince.

" Look, there's his banner." Sierra said.

I frowned.

" Why would wolves ride horses?" I asked.

Sierra rolled her eyes at my question.

" Because they're royalty."

I gave her a look. She was craning her head out the window for a better view. It seemed she was already taken by someone she didn't know all in the name of a title.

I moved away from the window, bored. I wasn't interested in seeing the Alpha prince. I went down the hallway, running my hands along the walls. My eyes caught something moving and I turned sharply. Someone had gone past the hallway. I peeked out and saw someone in the royal guards uniform. He looked very familiar and I realized that I knew him .

It was Brutus. He had been one of our guards when we had lived in isolation and had been fond of coming by the cottage. He had never stopped looking at me with that disgusting look in his eyes. It seemed like he had now been transferred back to the castle.

He stopped infront of a red tapestry bearing the sigil of the Rivinlytes; a black wolf against a white full moon. He looked around and I shrank back, hoping he hadn't seen me. When I looked again, he was gone.

My heart beat increased. Either he had super sped out of there or there was a secret doorway he had gone through. I hadn't heard a sound, it had to be a secret doorway.

I hoped it was.

I looked back at the girls. They were still looking out the window. I moved silently towards the tapestry. It was dangerous to go in, especially because Brutus was still in there, but I was too curious. I decided to just check it out and see if I could find the doorway.

I put my hand underneath the tapestry and felt the bricks. They were all solid. I pushed gently ...and then harder but I got no results. Then, I felt the wall around the tapestry. One of the bricks went in when I pushed it and a small portion of the wall began to rotate, quietly. It stopped when the side of the wall was jutting out. It was dark, but I could see a passage way.

Yes! I didn't know whether it led to a vault or not but it was a start. There was no way I could go in now, but I would certainly return later. Now, I just needed to find out how to close it.

I held on to the wall and pushed it. It began to move back into place, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The wall was almost in place when a hand reached out from the darkness and grabbed my hair, pulling me in. A hand clamped over my mouth, stopping me from screaming but I struggled against the hold hoping that the girls in the hallway would hear. The person, a man used his foot to push the wall and when it closed, encasing the passage way in more darkness, he released me.

I shrank away from him, wishing I'd thought to bring a knife or something.

" What do we have here?" Brutus nasal voice echoed in the dark. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in a secret passage way with him. " You're not the one I was waiting for, but you'll do." He continued.

Waiting for? I straightened my back, determined not to show any fear.

" What is the meaning of this?" I asked, forcing my voice to remain calm. " You had better let me go, Brutus. I am a lady and you have aready done too much by even touching me."

I could see the feral glint in his dark Amber eyes. He'd always had that look in his eyes, that look of manic lust.

" You've always been a little bitch, haven't you?" He said his voice bitter. " You? A lady? You would still be rotting away in that cell if I hadn't gotten you out." He thundered and I shrank back against the wall.

" Yet," he continued, " you go around, with that nose of yours in the air like you, a measly witch could be any better than me, a Werewolf!"

He moved towards me and grabbed my hair again, pulling me close. I refused to scream out and he pulled harder. I bit my lips, determined not to give him the satisfaction of hearing me cry out.

" Still quiet?" He asked. His breath made me recoil. " By the time I'm done with you witch, you'll be screaming for mercy. Or more like your witch sister, Willow."

I froze. Willow?

Brutus laughed manically, and I realized he wasn't just trying to scare me. He would actually ...NO!

I brought my knee up and it made hard contact with his groin. He hadn't expected it and he went down groaning. I rushed to my feet and felt along the wall for the key brick but I couldn't find it. I banged on the wall.

" Help!" I screamed, tears welling in my eyes.

I heard Brutus get up. A second later, my head was yanked back by my hair again.

I screamed and fell. Brutus was on me in a second. Something hard collided with my cheek and I almost passed out.

" You bitch!" Brutus swore. He grabbed the neckline of my dress and used it to raise my upper body, only to slam it back down on the hard concrete ground, repeatedly. Then, he went back to punching me. I tried to block his blows with my arm to no avail.

" Not so high and mighty now are we?" He laughed into my ears.

With the last of my strength, I slapped him. It was more of me raking my fingers across his face. He went silent. I could dimly see the blood pooling from four scratches on his cheek.

Brutus turned slowly to face me.

" Now you've done it, you bitch!" He thundered, his arm raised to hit me again ...but the punch never came. Instead, Brutus went flying back into the darkness. He hit the wall with a crack!

There was a feral growl and a pained cry. I stared into the dark, tears flowing freely then I scrambled to my feet. I wasn't eager to meet whatever was attacking Brutus neither did I want to know who would come out alive. I hurriedly searched the wall for the key brick, fear nearly crippling me.

There was a sickening sound like something being ripped from a body. A second later, something wet hit the wall beside me and I screamed.

It was an arm. I recognized the sleeve on the severed arm to be that of Brutus uniform.

Good goddess.

Something moved towards me in the dark and I opened my mouth to scream again, but a pair of bright green eyes stopped me. I recognized them.

It was him. This time though I couldn't complain. I was relieved, even happy to see him.

" Are you alright?" He asked his voice, rough.

I tried to nod but instead, my legs failed me and I collapsed to the ground.

He moved quickly and gently carried me into his arms. I grabbed his shoulder, my hands shaking, nausea threatning.

" H-how did you know that I was here?" I managed to ask.

How had he even gotten in? The wall hadn't been opened. There was probably another doorway somewhere.

He was walking down the passageway. There was blood all over his face and neck, but strangely, I felt no fear.

" I heard you scream." He said. " In my mind."

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