The Maid Who Stole My Alpha

Chapter Three

(Daciana POV)

I looked at Ashina then, and for the first time, her mask slipped long enough for my wolf to see the enemy clearly.

“You wanted my room, my crown, and my mate,” I said softly, making sure only she could hear the poison in my calm voice.

Ashina’s tears stopped for one tiny breath, and her eyes glittered with a hunger that made my blood burn.

Bardolph moved closer to her without noticing, placing his body between the maid and the Luna he had chosen not to believe.

That small act hurt worse than the judgment, because it showed me where his protection had gone before he even touched her.

As the guards led me away, I heard Ashina whisper his name like a prayer meant only for a fool.

I turned once at the door and saw Bardolph watching me with rage, pain, and something that looked almost like fear.

He still felt the bond, and that truth became the first sharp weapon I held inside my broken chest.

Before the door closed, Ashina lifted her face from Bardolph’s shoulder and looked directly at me with dry, shining eyes.

Then she mouthed six silent words that turned my grief into something darker, colder, and far more dangerous.

“He was never yours to keep.”

The old servant wing smelled of dust, cold stone, and forgotten tears that had dried long before I was born.

The guards did not meet my eyes as they led me down the narrow hallway where broken lamps threw weak shadows across the walls.

I had walked through this wing many times as Luna, bringing blankets, food, and medicine to servants who were too sick to work.

Now I was being brought there like a criminal, while the same servants watched from doorways with fear, pity, and secret hunger.

Nobody wanted to stand beside a fallen Luna, because standing beside me could make Alpha Bardolph turn his anger toward them.

The room they gave me was small, with one thin blanket, one cracked mirror, and one window facing the training yard.

I stared at the narrow bed and almost laughed, because Ashina had cleaned this room last month while calling me mercifully.

Now that same maid had pushed me into it, using tears as weapons and lies as keys to steal my place.

Lowell stood by the door after the others left, looking younger than his warrior uniform made him seem.

“My Luna, I am sorry,” he whispered, though his voice shook like someone afraid the walls might repeat him.

I looked at him carefully, because guilt had a sound, and Lowell’s guilt sounded more like fear than betrayal.

“Do not call me Luna if your Alpha has already stripped that name from me,” I said, forcing myself not to cry.

Lowell lowered his head, and the shame in his face told me he knew something he was too afraid to say.

“I found the box outside your chamber, but I did not place it there,” he said, speaking quickly before courage left him.

My breath caught, because one small truth had finally stepped out of the dark place where Ashina had hidden everything.

“Who ordered you to bring it to the hall?” I asked, moving closer while my wolf listened through my heartbeat.

Lowell looked toward the hallway, then back at me, and his hands tightened around the spear he held.

“Beta Hrolf told me the Alpha wanted it presented before everyone, but I never heard the Alpha give that order himself.”

His answer sent a cold warning through me, because Hrolf had served Bardolph’s father and hated every peace treaty I supported.

Hrolf had smiled when Bardolph marked me as Luna, but his eyes had always measured my throat like a weak point.

Before I could ask more, footsteps sounded outside the room, and Lowell stepped back as if the truth had burned his tongue.

Ashina appeared in the doorway wearing a soft gray dress, her eyes red enough to fool anyone who wanted to believe her pain.

The sight of her standing there like a wounded angel made my wolf snarl so loudly inside me that my claws almost came out.

“Lowell, the Alpha asked that no guard speak privately with the accused Luna,” Ashina said, and her sweet voice carried hidden command.

Lowell stiffened immediately, because Ashina already spoke with the confidence of someone who knew Bardolph would protect her.

He left without another word, but his quick glance at me promised that fear had not fully killed his conscience.

Ashina stepped inside and closed the door gently, as if she had come to comfort me instead of bury me.

“You should not look so proud in a servant room, Daciana,” she said softly, letting my title fall like a dead thing.

I lifted my chin, though my heart still ached from Bardolph’s face when he chose her tears over my truth.

“Pride is all you left me after stealing my name, my room, and my mate’s trust,” I said calmly.

Ashina smiled then, no tears, no trembling, no sweet mask, only the hungry woman hiding beneath the maid’s dress.

“I did not steal anything that was not already slipping from your hands,” she said, moving toward the cracked mirror.

Her reflection stood beside mine, and I hated how small and tired I looked next to her careful beauty.

“You think Bardolph loves you because the moon chose you, but men like him also need worship, weakness, and warm arms at night.”