The Alpha’s Hidden Queen

Chapter 3

I broke the one rule Mira gave me on my fourth night.

It wasn’t my fault, not really. The tray was too full, the hallway too dark, and my arms too tired from a day spent scrubbing floors that didn’t seem to want to stay clean.

The glass slipped, and the wine hit the stone floor of the cellar in a dark, spreading stain, when I heard footsteps coming before I could even finish reaching for a cloth.

Kael appeared in the doorway lkke a cloud of dark smoke.

“Explain,” he said. One icy word.

“It slipped. I–I’m sorry, I’ll clean it—”

“You will clean it,” he agreed, stepping closer, “and then you’ll explain to me why I should keep a maid who can’t carry a tray without destroying my property.”

I kept my eyes down.

“I'm waiting,” he said, and this time his hand caught my chin, forcing me to look up at him.

I had made a mission of it to avoid him since my first night here, especially with Bastian thinking I had some secret agenda. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t look into his eyes again. But they were closer than I expected, light grey with specs of green closer to the iris and something in my chest lurched again, that same unwanted pull from the courtyard surfaced, sharper now.

His jaw tightened. I knew he felt something this time too— I saw the flicker before he shut it down.

“It was an accident,” I said, quieter now. “I’m not going to apologize for being human enough to make one.”

Silence dropped like a blade.

“Human,” he repeated, low and dangerous. “You’re not human. You’re mine, for as long as I decide to keep you. And you will answer to me.”

“Then decide quickly,” I said, before I could stop myself, “because I’m not going to spend however long that is on my knees pretending I enjoy it.”

I wasn't sure we were just talking about wine anymore.

His grip on my chin didn’t loosen. If anything, it tightened, just enough to remind me exactly how little power I had in this room.

But he didn’t hurt me.

His thumb brushed once, along my jaw, lingering like he wasn’t entirely sure why he was still touching me.

“You’ve got a mouth on you,” he said, quieter now. I could tell I'd piqued his interest.

“I’ll clean the cellar,” I said. “Alpha.”

He let go like my skin had burned him.

“Clean it,” he said, already turning away, voice rough in a way it hadn’t been a moment ago. “And Fen—”

I looked up.

“Don’t break anything else.”

He was gone before I could answer, and I stood alone in the wine-stained dark, my pulse loud in my own ears, hating how much of it wasn’t fear anymore.

°•~•°°•~•°°•~•°

I met Ophelia Nightshade three days later, in a hallway too narrow for both of us to pass at the same time.

I gave way for her before she said anything, because that was what the weak in the pack did.

“You must be the new maid.” She looked me over slowly, the way you’d look over a stray dog deciding wandering into your terrain. “Fen, was it? Strange little name.”

“It’s the only one I’ve got.”

“Mm.” She smiled, thin and unbothered. “Kael’s never kept a maid this long without losing interest. You must be doing something right.” Her eyes flicked down, then back up, sharp as a blade dressed as a compliment. “Or something very wrong.”

I said nothing because I didn't understand what she was implying.

“Careful,” she said, brushing past me at last, her voice trailing back over her shoulder like an afterthought that wasn’t one at all. “Things that don’t belong somewhere have a way of being removed from it. And you, my dear, don't belong here. ”

I didn’t move until she was fully out of my line of sight. Why did it seem like everyone was out to get me?

I was already learning fast that in this house, laying low wasn't going to help me.

°•~•°°•~•°°•~•°

She found me again two days later, in the gardens this time, where I’d been sent to cut flowers for a centerpiece on a dinner table I'd never br allowed to eat from.

“You’re still here,” Ophelia said, settling onto a stone bench like she owned the place. “I confess, I’m almost impressed. Most of the girls Kael brings in don’t last the week.”

“I’m not trying to last. I’m just trying to do my job.”

“Adorable. You think there’s a difference.” She plucked one of the flowers from my basket, turned it slowly between two fingers, and let it drop to the dirt at my feet. “Let me offer you something no one else in this house will bother to. Advice.”

“I didn’t ask for any.”

"I'll give it anyway, out of the goodness of my heart." Her smile was all teeth and no warmth. “Whatever you think is happening between you and Kael — whatever little spark you’re telling yourself means something — it doesn’t. He’s had maids look at him like that before. They all leave the same way. Discarded, or worse.”

My hands tightened around the basket handle. “Is that a threat?”

“It’s mercy.” She stood, smoothing invisible wrinkles from a dress that cost more than I’d see in my lifetime. “You’re nothing here, Fen. No name worth having, no family to claim you, no standing beyond what he decides to give you on a whim. Girls like you don’t get to keep men like him. You're nothing compared to me. I'm what he deserves. Remember, for the rest of your very ordinary life, that you were briefly useful to one.”

Heat curled at my sides. Fury, old and buried suddenly very awake and bursting to break free.

“You don’t know anything about what I have,” I said, quiet and even, “or what I’ve survived to still be standing here in front of you.”

Ophelia’s eyes narrowed, just slightly, like she’d heard something in my voice she hadn’t expected. For half a second I thought I’d given too much away.

Then she laughed dismissively and the moment passed. “Save the dramatics for someone who cares. Finish the flowers. You wouldn’t want to disappoint him twice in one week.”

She left me alone with the roses, my pulse still hammering, my hands not quite steady as I finished cutting stems, one snapped between my fingers, I could no longer really see through my rage.