Chapter 4: The Revelation
1333 Words
My cramped-up muscles relaxed in response to the touch of her experienced fingers. I slowly began to lay my guard down until I fell asleep.
"Rrrrrrrrring," the antique clock in the room rang, waking me up from my slumber. The time was 5:00 p.m. I had been sleeping for four hours.
"Where is Tonia?" I wondered, looking around for her. "Tonia!" I called out three times, but I didn’t get a reply.
I knew she was not in the room. She has never been the kind to stay in one place for long.
I suddenly remembered that the Alpha prince requested that I come to him as soon as I was done. I stood up and began to trace the path we took from the palace court to the room I was in. Immediately I pushed open the big door to the courtyard, and Tonia was coming out. She hugged me and left, whispering to my ears that Reek was waiting for me.
"Good evening." I greeted him. I noticed his attitude towards me wasn’t the soft, mutual one he had towards me even a few hours ago.
"So I asked you to be here immediately after cleaning up, but you chose to defy me. Tell me, was that the reason why your father decided to sell you?" Reek asked me. I was shocked and dumbstruck; I just looked at him.
Ooooh, I see; you feel too big to respond to me," He said again. I tried to answer him, but the words were not coming forth.
I wanted to explain that the reason my father sold me out was because I didn’t and couldn’t wolf him out. I wanted to explain that my dad hated me because he felt embarrassed by my physical weakness. I wanted to tell him that the reason I was not speaking was because I was an extremely shy person and that I lost my voice anytime I talked to someone I wasn’t familiar with, but I couldn’t.
"Sage, get this thing to the kitchen. Strip her of that cloth and give her aprons. Make her a maid," He angrily barked to his Beta. I began to wonder if my negligence was reason enough to cause this rage.
Sage took me out and handed me over to the chief maid. I started to cry, and Sage turned back. He hugged me and said the same thing Tonia said anytime I failed to wolf out. "It’s going to be alright," He said.
He left me there and left. I took off my dress as instructed by the chief maid. She gave me another dress, an apron, and some duties. Tonia came into the kitchen with the same kind of dress I was now putting on. She hugged me and assisted me while doing her duties as well.
I got used to things around the palace. And the people slowly began to like me. Everyone except Reek. Reek’s hatred only grew against me, yet he insisted I serve him every day.
More than once, he had made me strip myself before him but never had he touched me. He only stared and then later dismissed me. This time, he asked me to look for Sage and give him a message. I looked around the palace but could not find him.
I asked around, and I was told to check the cabins. I met him bleeding.
He had turned into a wolf and gone hunting when a human hunter saw him. Sage had not noticed on time until he had been shut. He was lucky to have escaped, but he was there helpless. He had lost a lot of blood.
I resuscitated him, used my apron to arrest the bleeding, and ran for help. He was treated at the Pack Hospital. He got better in a few days.
Since the day I saw Sage in the woods, Reek’s attitude toward me has changed. He became more caring, but Tonia warned me against him, so I tried my best to avoid him.
I was done with my daily duties when Tonia walked up to me and said, "Do you want to go picnicking with me?". I was excited because I hadn’t been to a picnic since I left Dawn's pack.
"Yes!" I said.
"Then get ready so we can be back before dusk," she said while hugging me. I packed my things quickly, arranged a basket of fruits, and then turned to follow her.
Sage was already waiting. He sat peacefully on a carpet he had spread on the trimmed grass beside the river. "Hey, Sage!" I called him. "Hey Tracy, Tonia," he called back. "How have you been?" he asked us. "I am fine," we both replied.
We laughed for a while, took out our snacks, and began to eat. We discussed a few issues, and I began to feel dizzy.
"I feel sleepy," I told the pack.
"oooh! You must have been stressed out," Tonia said.
"Allow me to pack so that we can go back to the palace," she added.
I stood on my feet, but my feet seemed too weak to carry me. I fell back on Sage’s body, and I lost consciousness.
* * * * * *
"How did I go from Sage’s arms beside the river to the bottom of the river with a big stone?" I asked the water goddess. "Well, what can I say?" She said. "Tonia and Sage helped you find yourself in the River."
No, there is no way that is possible," I began to think. Tonia has been my alibi since childhood. She had been my only support system and my only assistance since I started getting hate from my family. It just did not make any sense.
"I knew you wouldn’t believe this," the water goddess said.
"Look at that," she said. She was pointing at a mirror on a wall I didn’t know was there. The mirror was oval-shaped and bound by a silver casing. The mirror reflected my image. I looked back at the water goddess, wondering why she was showing me a reflection of myself.
"Look into the mirror," she repeated. As I looked into the mirror, my image slowly transitioned into a room. The room looked really familiar; I was sure I had been there before.
While still wondering where the room was, I saw an image of me lying on the bed and Tonia massaging me. Immediately, I remembered the room. It was the room that Tonia and I were taken to the very first time we were brought to the Blue Fang Palace.
I watched as I fell asleep.
Tonia checked to confirm I was asleep, then straightened her dress and walked out. The image I was seeing followed Tonia to the palace of Reek.
"What do you want here?" he asked her. "I remember very clearly that I specified who I wanted to see," he told her.
"I know," She replied. "She sent me to tell you that she is too tired to attend to you now. She says she hates you and will not want to see your face ever again."
"What!?!?" Reek screamed in shock, echoing my shock too. "Are you sure of what you are telling me?" He asked Tonia.
Yes, my Lord," She replied. Reek was silent for a while, thinking about what he just heard. "My Lord, I am very sorry, but my Lady Tracy is usually this rude and unapproachable.
That’s the reason why a lot of people hate her". She added. Tonia was not done yet.
"The reason why her father sold her was because she made him and her younger brother sleep with her when they were both drunk; She also tried to stab her mother while she was sleeping. I just felt like telling her, so you’ll be careful around her," she concluded and turned to leave.
I was dumbstruck. I never imagined that Tonia would stab me in the back this way.
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