A Lover and A Liar

Fear Him

Alina got up from her bed, frustrated at herself. She was perfectly healed now, yet in reality, she didn't feel any better at all. Not when she was aware of the danger that loomed on hallways of this haunted castle. And haunted was what this place was. Not by ghosts. If it were ghosts, it would have been way easier.

It was haunted by people. Wolves her mate called family.

If this was what a big family was, Alina didn't want it. All she wanted was her mate, if she was honest with herself.

But it seemed he didn't want her nearly just as much.

She opened the door of her room, not sure of the destination in her head, but she abruptly stopped when she almost stumbled in a wall.

A living breathing wall.

"Grumpy." Alina gulped, panic almost gripping her from inside. However, she was aware that she faced him defiantly, despite the fear of him―and Vincent, consequently―finding the truth. If she showed only a sign of fear, it would be over. This was what had kept her surviving each day of her difficult life. Surviving meant being smart. And being smart meant never leaving any space to your enemy.

"Witch." He gritted his teeth at her. "We have to talk."

"Aren't we already?" Alina had no intentions of inviting him inside. His cold brown eyes searched her face for any sign of what he already questioned himself, she supposed. Questions of that night he would have been a fool not to have.

"What did you do to me?" he asked, as always not beating around the bush. "Two nights ago? What did you f*****g do to me?"

"I did absolutely nothing." She forced herself to keep looking back at him. Lying had always been one of her talents, but it didn't seem to help right in this moment. "You're imagining things."

He angrily growled at her. "Tell me the truth before I get it out of you, witch!"

"You'll get it out of me?" Alina had to laugh. He was a big man indeed, but there was no fiber of magic inside his body, different from hers. "Go back to being the dutiful dog to your master, Maximus. That's what you do best anyways." Just as she said his name, and his eyes widened, Alina had realized he had understood something. However small, it had been a stupid mistake from her part.

"How did I find myself in my room that night, with blood running from my nose?" he accused. "The last thing I remember is you hugging me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Stop playing dumb, Alina, you know perfectly well!" His hand gripped her forearm, but for some reason, it still didn't scare her, no matter how strong his grip were. "If you don't give me answers, I'll go and tell my master everything," he threatened.

For just a split second, her heart dropped, before she took hold of herself once more, "Tell him what exactly, Maximus?" Taking his hand off her arm, she stood in front of him, her eyes threatening and angry. "Why don't you, then? Because I really doubt you. If that was your intention, you wouldn't have warned me beforehand."

By the way his jaw tightened, he seemed to hate the way she read right through him, and Alina took advantage of that.

"But you cannot really tell your master anything, can you? Because you aren't sure if I did anything to you. And you cannot go and tell him you let me take advantage of you, he cannot have his servants being weak."

"Stop talking," Maximus hissed.

"No, I will not," she declared. "Do you think he'll always need you, Max? Do you think a man like him won't get rid of you once you fulfill his wishes?"

His teeth gritted even tighter, but his eyes averted away. Doubt. There was what crept inside of them, and for some reason, she felt pity about him.

"I said. Stop. Talking."

"You're serving to someone that would do anything for power, kill even you if it need be," she told him to his face. "I don't give a damn if you go and tell him now, Max, but when you see the walls of this castle crumble upon you, along with its people, you'll understand what a mistake you're making. But then it will be too late," her voice dropped lower. "It isn't too late yet, Max."

Before he could say anything, some clicking steps from a distance made them silently agree to stop talking.

"Alina." Katherine's hateful voice echoed through the hallway, until she reached them. "Maximus, what are you doing here with this witch?"

Alina's heart felt like it stopped beating as she waited for the answer, The anticipation had her hands trembling. Perhaps she had gone too far by telling all that to Maximus. If he used her words against her, it would be too late to fix this.

"Nothing," he lied, to her surprise. "Master just ordered me to look if Alina has had any progress with her spells."

The tiny small on Alina's face was almost thankful. Perhaps he wasn't that bad. Alina wanted to believe so, at least. She wanted to believe he was still salvaged.

"With your permission, my Lady, I'm leaving." Maximus made a small bow before he left.

Katherine's eyes, full of hatred, bored holes into Alina's face. "You," she accused. "How could you ruin my night with him, witch?"

She gulped. Troubles didn't seem to end today. "I don't know what you're talking about," she repeated what she had said to Maximus.

"If you only hadn't came to his room, I would have slept with him! I would have been pregnant by now! Julian would have had no choice but to mark me then."

Alina watched the pure pain on the other woman's face, as twisted as it was. And it seemed to her like a whole obsession over Julian, one Katherine called love. But the point was, Katherine did have feelings for him.

Would she be okay with Vincent hurting Julian?

...Did she even know that was Vincent's plan to begin with?

"Are you listening to me?" Her voice could draw blood out of Alina's ears if she kept talking. "Why did you come to his room? What did you want?"

How was Alina supposed to answer to that? "Uhm... I..." she hesitated, "I wanted to send my grandma a letter," was the first lie that came to her mind.

"In the middle of the night?!" Katherine narrowed her eyes disbelievingly. "What would you write to that letter?"

"I just wanted to tell her I am alright. It's been days, she is worried about me, I know it. I would never tell her anything more, I wouldn't risk her life like that."

Katherine seemed to buy into that lie, fortunately. "And why did you want Julian for that? You could have asked for help from a servant."

"I know, but I couldn't find the servant that sends the letters. They told me to ask the King. And I didn't want him to find out about me being a commoner."

Crossing her arms on her chest, Katherine bit on her bottom lip. "That stupid letter of yours caused me so damn much, Alina. You better fix this with your spells, and fast."

Since this morning, Alina had been expecting Vincent to send word and meet her; accuse her of ruining everything for them, because clearly after she had left, Julian hadn't actually slept with Katherine.

She wanted to believe he couldn't. She wanted to believe he couldn't because all he wanted was for it to be Alina instead.

But Vincent not saying a word meant only one thing, she realized instantly: He didn't know Katherine hadn't been able to sleep with Julian.

And him not knowing meant only one thing: Katherine hadn't told him. Because she was scared of his reaction. Because she was scared of her father. She wasn't the smartest, after all, and she hadn't been able to get Julian to make her Queen for years now, which had made Vincent hate his own daughter even more.

That only made Alina sure that the only one she really had to fear was Vincent.

And she did fear him, with everything in her.