Forbidden Mating With The Alpha

Chapter 15

It was a few hours past midnight when the rain finally stopped and a silence fell over the inn once again. Everyone was asleep and the celebration in the banquet hall had already ended; that is, everyone except for a certain woman who cautiously opened her bedroom door so as to not accidentally wake anyone up. Layla never thought she would find herself sneaking about like a thief but it was necessary to do do if her ambition was to be realized.

It was fairly obvious from what she had seen last night with the prince and Lucy that he loved her more than he could anyone else. Yelena explained that well to her and she was so bothered to the core, falling asleep was more of a difficulty task for her than it had been for Lucy that same night.

She was dressed in a nightgown that protected her from the cold of the sitting area. The bedrooms were very warm and were meant to stay that way. She wanted to get her objective complete fast so that she could return to her bedroom and continue to think about how she would achieve her goal.

She reached into the cleavage of her nightgown when she stopped before one of the tables and pulled out a small piece of paper that had been cut out in the shape of a butterfly. She carefully placed the the paper flat on the surface of the table and crouched down so that her lips were a few inches away from the paper.

After holding in her breath for a few seconds, she blew at the paper and it quickly flew off the table and wafted through the air. Before it touched the ground, the paper absorbed the life she had breathed into it and its wings began to flap as a normal butterfly's would.

"Go, do as you master commands," she whispered into the air and the piece of paper took on her wish. It flew around the room for a few seconds before it stopped down and slipped through the gap at the bottom of one of the bedroom doors. After it disappeared, Layla smiled a smile that revealed the true nature of her heart. Feeling satisfied with what she had done, she returned to her bedroom with a new found peace of mind.

Early the next morning, Ida was baffled when she did not receive a response after knocking on Lucy's door a few times. She did consider that Lucy might have wanted to rest some more and left for thirty minutes to give her some time, but when she returned and there was still no response, she figured that going in without permission was the best choice of action.

And indeed it was, because even if Ida had given Lucy a few more hours to rest, it would not have been enough for her to feel well-rested. When Ida entered the room, she found Lucy sleeping peacefully on the bed. She did not want to wake her up because the expression on her face was that of a child but there were preparations that had to be done for the ceremony that would begin the next morning.

"Miss. Rosalie," it's time for you to wake up, Ida said, softly nudging Lucy on her arm to wake her up. However, she still did not open her eyes. Ida's concern grew and she put her index finger under Lucy's nose. Her breathing was very steady and upon checking her pulse by pressing her fingers against her neck, she saw that her heart was beating normally as well.

Lucy was simply asleep but she would not wake up when Ida called her name. It wasn't after she had tried for a full minute that Lucy finally opened her eyes. She was very groggy and barely managed to open them enough to be able to see. Her eyelids were so heavy that she had to close them again. Her body was tired and she could hardly lift a finger.

Last night her body was hardly tired and no matter how long she kept her eyes closed, she could not fall asleep because of the thoughts that kept appearing in her mind. Yet this morning her body had gone beyond being exhausted and she felt completely stiff.

"Are you feeling ill?" Ida asked as she pressed the back of her hand against her forehead. Normal temperature. There was no sign of a fever but there was evidently something wrong. She took ahold of Lucy's right hand and lightly pressed her wrist, and Lucy hardly flinched.

"I can't feel anything... not even the pain," Lucy said, her speech slow and slurred. It was like trying to speak for the first time with an uncooperative tongue.

"There's something terribly wrong," Ida commented to herself. She could not figure out what was wrong with Lucy's body. Judging from her medical expertise, the symptoms Lucy was showing were those of fatigue, which made little sense considering she had done nothing the previous day that could lead to such exhaustion.

"Good morning." Ida turned her head to the door to see Yelena entering the room. She quickly stood up, lowered her head to bow, then returned her gaze to Lucy's face.

"I hardly think we can call it that," Ida said, catching Yelena's curiosity.

"She's not waking up," she added and Yelena quickly walked closer to the bed to see what the problem was. Lucy was laying in bed, her eye half-lidded and her breathing very steady. She didn't appear to be ill. Instead, she just looked very sleepy.

"Did she get any sleep last night?" Yelena asked, voicing her own concerns.

"I found her asleep when I came in. She's showing signs of extreme fatigue. She doesn't have a fever and her heart rate is normal," Ida explained and Yelena got down on her knees beside Lucy's head.

"Rosalie, what's wrong?" Yelena asked and Lucy tried to move her head to shake it, indicating that she had no idea either.

"Can you get a doctor?" Yelena asked and Ida furrowed her eyebrows.

"I could but I don't think there's much that can be done. She'll have to stay in bed-"

"She can't do that!" Yelena called out, standing upright, "She has to take part in the ceremony or she won't get married!" At hearing Yelena's words, Lucy's heart skipped a painful beat. She wanted to sit upright and prove that she was fit to start the preparations but her body would not listen to her mental cries or orders.

She felt paralyzed, but that could not have been the case because she could speak, though she had to put in a lot of effort to do so. She could also move her fingers but when she raised her hand, she lost control of it and it would fall back down to the bed.

"This is terrible. What could have happened?" Ida asked, biting her bottom lip as she thought very hard about what to do next. Yelena was suspicious. It was far too inconvenient for Lucy to fall ill or have something terrible befall her the day the ceremony preparations would begin.

"Do you think it could be foul play?" Was Yelena's question that made Ida open her eyes wide. The first person that came to mind was Layla.

"I doubt it. I'm certain the Commander would have done something if Rosalie's life was in danger," replied Ida, somewhat concerned that it really could have been foul play. The two of them looked over at the bed where Lucy was still laying there, half awake. She was eerily drowsy. Something was pushing her to succumb to the drowsiness she felt.

She did not want to fall asleep if it meant she would not be able to prepare for the ceremony.

"Can't her preparations happen in this room?" Yelena asked Ida, who pursed her lower lip in thought.

"It would be extremely difficult. I don't see how we can take her measurements if she's going to be laying down," Ida began, considering how they could work their way around the predicament. There were a few steps to the preparations excluding the actual ceremony itself. Had it been a marriage between two people only, it would have been a lot easier but the future wives had to work in accordance.

"I suggest we wait a few hours to see how things develop. It wouldn't be too much of a problem if she started later than everyone else," Ida said realizing that it would be near impossible for the preparations to be concluded with Lucy in bed. Yelena could only nod to show her agreement.

Lucy heard everything they had said and though she would rather get up then, she, too, realized that it would be better if she waited a few hours. If it truly was the work of foul play, then whoever it was would not win. She would definitely make sure that she was up and about in a few hours. In the meantime, she would give in to the drowsiness and sleep the next number of hours away.