Claimed By A Midnight King

Chapter 21

The kitchens smelled of boiled fat and broken dreams.

My knees hit the wet stone hard enough to hurt, and I didn’t even flinch. Pain was just a background noise now.

I plunged the brush into scalding water and started scrubbing, my hands screaming, the lye biting into the fresh blisters in my hands.

This was worse than in the Sun Clan. At least there, I’d been invisible. Here, every omega and cook watched me with eyes that wanted me dead. I was the daughter of their king’s murderer. I was the girl who’d nearly destroyed their Alpha with a magic I don’t even understand.

“Faster, you filthy imbecile!”

A wet rag hit the back of my head, and dirty water dripped down my neck. I didn’t look up. Looking up only invited more.

Six hours in, my hands were bleeding through blisters. I’d been here for six hours and no one had spoken to me except to give orders or insults. And the invisible tether was a dull ache in my chest—Dominic was somewhere far above me, and the distance felt like it was getting wider.

Then a shadow fell across my bucket.

Instead of a kick of a bucket of filth to the face, small hands gently took the brush from mine.

I looked up and found Elara kneeling beside me, her brown eyes carefully fixed on the floor.

“You shouldn’t”, I whispered.

“Beta Silas sent me”, she replied quietly, already scrubbing with practiced efficiency. There was a faint blush on her face. “He said someone needs to make sure you didn’t die in this kitchen”.

I stared at her “Silas sent you? Why?

“He didn’t say”, Elara admitted , her hands moving faster, covering for me. “Just said you were important. That I should watch and report back if anything…unusual happens”.

Something twisted inside me. Silas was protecting me, but only because I was useful. A tool. Not because anyone cared if I lived or died.

The other servants didn’t interfere. Whatever shadow Silas had cast over her was enough.

Around midday, the kitchen doors opened.

The room went still.

A towering warrior walked in, his dark hair pulled back, his scarred face twisted with something that made my crawl. The servants nearest to him instantly stepped, lowering their eyes.

One of them whispered to another: “That’s Garrett”.

“From the border?” The other replied nervously.

“War captain now. Under elder Kael’s order”

He moved through the kitchen like he owned it, his golden eyes scanning the space until they landed on me. For a moment, he just stared.

Greta hurried over, bowing so low her nose nearly touched the floor. “War captain Garett. What brings you to the kitchens”.

He didn’t answer her. He stepped over to where i was kneeling , and even without looking up, I felt the weight of his attention like a physical thing.

“So you’re the Solari rat?”, he said, his voice rough as stone. “The one everyone is talking about”.

I kept my head down, my brush moving mechanically through the water.

“The Alpha’s little mystery”, he continued, his boot nudging the edge of my bucket. “Heard you destroyed the Great Hall and nearly killed the Alpha”.

The other servants were trying to disappear into the stone walls.

“My father knew your father”, Garrett said quietly. “The Gamma traitor. The one who slaughtered our people. And here you are, breathing the same air we breathe”.

The predatory interest in his voice made my wolf want to hide, but I forced myself to stay still.

Then another cut through the kitchen.

“Garrett!”

We all looked up. A woman in a pristine blue gown stood in the doorway—Vespera.

Her expression was calm, almost bored. But something in her eye made even Garrett straighten.

“My father needs you at the border garrison”, Vespera said smoothly, walking past him like he was a servant. “There are supplies to inspect”.

Garrett’s jaw tightened,but he bowed slightly. “Of course, my lady”.

He left, and the kitchen exhaled

Vespera then turned to Gretta. I need fresh water barrels prepared for the western garrison. They march tomorrow evening”

“Yes, my lady”, Greta said, already moving. “How many—“

“All of them”, Vespera said. Draw them from the deep-mountain spring. The soldiers need pure water to maintain their strengths during the march”.

She glanced at me,and her smile was sharp. “And Vivian will carry them to the courtyard tomorrow morning. Every single barrel. I want the garrison to see exactly where their water comes from.

Then she was gone, and the kitchen went back to a frantic pace.

Elara found me an hour later, pulling me toward the back where Greta was shouting orders at the other servants.

“Did you hear what she said?” Elera whispered urgently..her small finger gripping ny arm. “She said to draw the water tonight… But the garrison doesn’t match until tomorrow evening”.

I frowned. “So?”

“So why prepare it hours early?” Elara’s were wide, darting nervously around the kitchen. “Water goes stale. It gets contaminated. No one prepares supplies that far in advance unless—“

She stopped, her mouth going dry.

“Unless something is going to happen to it in those hours”, Elara finished, her voice dropping to barely a whisper. “And unless someone wants to make sure you’re out in trouble”.

I looked back at Vespera as she walked out the kitchen door and was already issuing orders to bring the water preparation. I looked at the kitchen, at the servants, at the space where Garrett had stood.

My stomach twisted.

“We need to tell someone”, Elara said, but her voice was shaking.

“Tell them what?” I asked bitterly. “That the regent’s daughter is planning something? What would we even say is her plan? There’s no evidence. Who would believe me”.

Elera’s grip on my arm tightened. “Silas sent me to watch. That means he suspects something too. We could—“

“Could what?”. I interrupted. “Walk up to the Beta Silas and tell him his suspicions are right? That will only make things worse for both of us”.

But even as I said it, I felt something shift in the mate bond. A sudden spike of anger, or maybe fear. But It was gone before I could even understand it, leaving me confused.

By evening, I was hulling the first water barrel down to the courtyard, my hands raw and bleeding.

My heart hammering with the certainty that something terrible was about to happen.

And I had no idea how to stop it.