THE ALPHA'S HUMAN MATE

STICKING TO THE RULES

The sound of banging on my door was what woke me up the next morning. Getting out of bed, I cringed when my feet touched the cold floor.

Opening the door, I saw the petite girl tasked to work at the garden. She had a smile on her face, sticking her hand out for me to take as she introduced herself.

“Hi, I’m Jasmine. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hi, I'm...”

“Elara, I know. Honestly, everyone does.” Jasmine winced, giving me a pitiful look. “You're the girl chosen as the king’s personal maid.”

Not knowing what to say, I opted to say nothing, not at all shocked by her information.

“It's best if you get ready. Lady Eveline will be here any moment from now.” Jasmine said, ushering me back in.

I closed the door, changing out of the clothes I had on into a freshly washed uniform. Washing my face with water by the side, I tied my hair into a ponytail and then quickly opened the door, following Jasmine out of the servant quarters to the hall.

We were first addressed by Madam Rosalie.

“Good morning, ladies. I see you are all cleaned up.” Eveline says, giving us a pointed look.

Once again, she was looking flawless. Her hair matted to the back, her face radiant and glowing.

“Breakfast is at 6:00am, lunch is at 1:00pm and dinner is at 8:00pm. Miss any, and you will have to wait until the next time for a meal.”

“For the maids working as personal servants, I expect you not to be seen or heard. Especially if you are the King’s personal servant.” She continued, giving me a look. When she said the latter, I could have sworn I saw her grit her teeth.

“There would be no chit-chat among the maids during working hours. Work as fast as you can to meet the time frame, and if you successfully manage to execute your duties on time, you are expected to spend the rest of your time in your personal room until it's your meal time.”

“Know that you will be punished according to your offence. Tardiness, death. Steal, death. Any form of disobedience and death. Remember, you are nothing more than a slave brought over here to serve the king.”

“With that being said, I expect to have no reason to come down here to speak to any of you. You are all dismissed; follow the guard at the door, and he will lead you to the kitchen.”

We all lined up, following the guards out of the hall to the kitchen where the other maids were. Walking over to the tray of food, picking a plate of porridge, I stood at the far end of the kitchen with Jasmine beside me as we ate our breakfast.

“I wish they would serve us more decent food than this. How do they expect us to get the appropriate nutrition if the only thing they give us is porridge, stale bread and an extremely disgusting tea?” Jasmine whispers, looking down at the plate of porridge in her arms in absolute repulsion.

I nodded, agreeing with her, focusing myself to swallow the tasteless porridge.

The both of us kept on eating when Eveline walked in, whispering something into the ear of the chief cook before walking out.

“Heavens, Eveline can be so superficial and fake.” Jasmine said. Out of the blue, her face turned sour.

“Why...? I thought she looked friendly.” I questioned, mystified at why she would say that.

“Come on, don’t be fooled. She is anything but nice. The only reason Eveline is being nice...” She says, using her fingers to emphasise the word ‘nice’. “It is because she doesn’t see any of us as a threat to her position as the king’s personal whore.”

“Wow, you must really hate her.”

“I have worked here at the King’s Palace since I was six. I had a best friend, Maribel. She was the former maid to the king.”

“What happened to her?” I asked, taking the last bite of my porridge.

“What do you think?” Jasmine counters back. “Look, Elara, I'm not trying to scare you. You work for the king now, which means that Eveline is going to have an eye on you. She might act all charming and friendly to you, but be careful; don’t forget she is like them. A beast.” The warning was evident in her voice.

A beast. I had no idea she wasn’t human. The beast had a unique feature; mostly it was the colour of their eyes that gave them away, but Eveline looked more human.

Deciding not to stick my nose into something that has nothing to do with me, I took the last bite of my porridge.

Nodding my head, I walked over to the sink to do my dishes, waving Jasmine goodbye, then walked out of the kitchen with her words still ringing in my heart.

Like Eveline had suggested, it would be best if I worked as fast as I can, trying not to be seen nor heard.

After climbing the seventh staircase, my breath came so rapidly that I had to force myself to breathe slower through my mouth. I got to the king’s quarter, which was a full hall with no one but him in it.

I guess it’s true what they said about the king liking his privacy. Rumours flew about how the King hated being seen and how a few privileged people got to see what he really looks like.

Taking light steps not to make any noise, walking over to the supply closet, I brought my equipment for cleaning, heading to the King’s room.

With one hand holding on to the cleaning supply, the other was raised up to the door, and I knocked softly, waiting to see if anyone was in.

When I heard no sound, I twisted the knob, going inside the room.

Be invisible.

I chanted to myself before walking fully into the room and was welcomed with total darkness. Not having a clue where I was going, I used my hands to make a path for myself. Falling two to three times on the ground till I got to the window, pushing the curtains aside.

The once dark room was graced with light, allowing me to get a better look at the place. The first thing I noticed was how big it was, if that was the correct word to use.

This was by far the biggest room I have ever seen; it was massive. To think I needed to clean every inch without missing a spot.

The wall of the room was painted red; there were two doors on the other side of the room. One, I’m guessing, was the bathroom, and the other was probably the king’s closet.

I walked over to the shelves, spotting different types of books from different genres. He must love reading.

Looking over to the side of the shelves, I saw a different set of swords lined up against the wall, but one caught my eye.

Just by seeing it, I could tell it held more power and strength, emitting a glow anytime the sunlight was on it.

I sighed, ending my exploration as I half-heartedly picked up the broom and began working.

There wasn’t much to tidy since the place was already clean without a spark of dirt, so I decided to give the place a good basic cleaning.

Dusting all the furniture and cleaning the windows and glasses. Mopping the floor and doing the laundry. I was folding the clothes after drying them when a wave of dizzying spells hit me, making me hold on to the closest thing beside me, which was the couch.

Glancing towards the wall clock, I saw I had only two hours before lunchtime and an hour before the king got back from his usual morning meetings. Thanks to the information Jasmine gave me this morning.

Putting my head down to my knees, I tried focusing on my breathing, waiting for the dizziness I felt to pass. A second later I started feeling like myself again. I waited another minute before getting back to work. Folding the clothes and putting them in the closet.

I closed the closet door behind me, then walked over to the window, contemplating whether to leave it open or close it back the way I saw it.

Suddenly, I felt a shiver behind me. I turned back but saw no one.

Choosing to leave the curtain open, I picked up my cleaning equipment, making my way to the door when I felt another shiver.

This time, I was certain that someone was staring at me.

I turned back yet again, not seeing anybody behind me.

What was I thinking?!

Of course, there was no one in the room but me. Ugh... I should stop being paranoid.

Pushing the door open, I walked out of the room. I turned to close the door behind me and could have sworn I saw red eyes staring at me.

In the blink of an eye, it was gone.

I was beginning to think I was seeing and hearing things. Clearly, my dizziness was affecting me in a not-so-positive way.

Quickly closing the door and putting the cleaning supply back in the closet, I walked downstairs to the maid's quarters and to my room.

It was only 12:00pm, which meant one hour more until lunch. Lying down on the bed, I thought back to what happened moments ago.

Was I being paranoid, or was I really being watched?

I couldn't tell. Choosing not to dwell on it anymore, I closed my eyes to rest for an hour before 1pm.

When I woke up, the clock was set at 1:15pm. Racing out of the bed, tidying up my hair, I ran out of my room to the hall, where the maids gathered.

Taking a plate of bread and tea, I walked over to where Jasmine sat, taking a seat beside her.

“Hey, thanks to the heavens, you made it.” Jasmine whispers, giving me a smile.

“Yeah, I finished early and decided to take an hour's rest, ending up oversleeping.”

“I understand; it's not easy working seven hours straight. I thought I was going to faint if I carried on working.” She sips her tea, nudging my shoulder. “Did you see the king when you left his chamber?”

“No, I didn't. I thought you said the king always comes back from his morning meeting by noon.”

Jasmine gave me an apologetic look. “Yeah, he usually does, but from what I heard from a friend of mine, something must have happened because the king became furious, stomping out of the meeting hall. He often goes back to his room; that was why I asked if you did see him when you were tidying up the room.”

I shook my head, having a bite of my food.

“I didn't.”

“Oh well, I guess he didn't go back there.” She shrugs her shoulders as she carries on eating.

I thought back to the feeling of someone watching me earlier but shook it off. There was no way the king would have gotten in without coming through the door.

Right.

An hour after we were done with our lunch, I walked into the kitchen to assist the maid working there.

I was not allowed to serve the king his meal except for a beast like his kind. The human maids were only allowed to clean and tidy up the palace, while the beast maid did the cooking and serving.

I spent the rest of the day helping out in the kitchen. You might be wondering why, or just resting.

I couldn't, not with my thoughts going wild.

We had our dinner at 8pm before being dismissed to our room.

Slipping out of my uniform, leaving only my undergarment, I quietly washed my face and then plopped down on the bed, drifting off to sleep and ending the day's stress.