Bride For The Feral Alpha

#14: Iris Aubrey

Iris Aubrey made an earlier appearance than I would have initially thought.

Just as darkness blanketed the sky and the first stars appeared, the locks on my door began to click and I braced myself. After everything that had happened so far today, I was determined to control the one thing I believed that I could: food.

When I finally found my appetite, about two hours had gone by and the meat and bread no longer looked good enough for consumption. The grapes were just fine, but grapes could really only take one so far.

The door flew open and a maid stepped in with a tray of food in her hands.

My mouth watered at the sight.

The tray held a bowl of steaming lamb stew, thick bread still warm from the ovens, a wedge of soft cheese, and a small bowl of sliced pears. I watched as she carefully set the tray on my bedside table and picked up my untouched meal from this afternoon.

My eyes moved back to the maid. “Thank you.”

She dipped into a quick curtsy. “You’re welcome, miss,” she replied and then turned to leave.

It was small and I was almost sure that the woman had no idea what she did. The way she didn’t call me Feywin warmed something in my chest.

For a moment, I was just a girl again. Not a title. Not a womb. Not a breeder.

Every time I heard the name Feywin, it felt as though I was forced to remember my family’s betrayal and greed all over again.

And one thing I desperately needed, even if it was the very thing that had landed me in this situation, was a momentary escape.

I might have been too optimistic because once I looked up, I saw Iris Aubrey waiting for me by the door.

“Good evening. I figured that you needed some time to yourself, so I didn’t want to say anything.”

“How long have you been standing there?”

She shrugged. “Not long. Just as soon as the maid left.”

“Why are you here?”

“Lewison said that you needed some company but now that I am here, I see that he might have exaggerated the situation, so I would be leaving now.”

Iris turned, her hand on the doorknob as she slowly pushed and I could have sworn that every moment felt like an eternity. An eternity I was forced to recall my shameful attempts at forming conversation with inanimate objects.

“Stop. Come in.”

Her lips widened into a full stretched grin and she slipped back into the room and shut the door behind her.

I plopped a slice of pear into my mouth, trying to ignore the regret already creeping in.

She walked forward and stopped in front of me, as though waiting for instructions… from a Feywin?

“Why are you just standing there?” I asked, wiping the corners of my mouth and eyeing her carefully.

“You haven’t asked me to sit… Quinn… Feywin. I’m sorry but I am assuming that since you want me here, you want us to be back on a first name basis. Am I correct?” She arched an eyebrow.

It was difficult to meet Iris’s gaze. She appeared soft and her dark dove-like eyes made it seem like she was the epitome of honesty. Even though she was a monster.

Straightening my back, I forced the most neutral look I could muster. “Lewi—Aubrey said I could trust you? Is he correct?”

Iris nodded, her fingers knitted together before me as though she were pleading at the same time. Once again, I thought, pleading? To a Feywin?

She looked around the room in the same way Lewison had done only a few moments ago and I could only guess that she was checking to see if anyone was listening in on this conversation just like Lewison did earlier.

“You can trust me. You’ll need someone on your side here.”

She tilted her head slightly.

“And I happen to know how this place works. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Teach you our ways.”

There was a slight pause in her speech before she continued.

“And I can check you before the pack healer does.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Check me first? Pack healer?”

“Well, think of pack healers as doctors for werewolves, but they can serve humans like you too. It doesn’t really matter. And the thing is there are no longer any female pack healers. There haven’t been for a while now, but I studied anatomy, healing… medicine in school so I can help you. I don’t know you well but you have been through a great ordeal already and I cannot imagine you being willing to spread your legs for a withered old man just yet all in the name of routine checks,” she explained.

I nodded, shoving another slice of pear into my mouth just to give myself something to do. I had heard more than enough today and this piece of information just happened to be the least shocking one.

Once I was done with the pear, my eyes travelled to Iris once more and when I noticed how she shifted her weight from one foot to another, I was forced to remember that I had not offered her a seat yet.

“You should sit. Forgive me, I forgot. You can get the chair by my vanity.”

Her eyes lingered on my bed a little too much before she smiled and walked over to my vanity to get the chair.

Once she sat before me, I watched her carefully, measuring every word I had said… and the ones I hadn’t yet.

Trusting her would be foolish.

But loneliness was worse.

“First name basis. I’ll call you Iris. And you can call me Quinn,” I said finally.

A toothy grin forced its way onto Iris’s face and her eyes squinted as it did so. On another day, I would have been compelled to join her and allow the contagion to affect me fully, but I had a sister who smiled just like this all the time and she ended up being just another monster at the end of the day.

“The last Feywin. You said you knew her. Tell me about her.”