*Isla*
I am ashamed of the fact that I am crying when I get back to my room. I want to scream and break something. I think about how it was when I first arrived at the castle and that old witch, Mrs. Whateverthehellhernamewas got mad at me for accidentally running into something. Now, I want to pick up an antique and toss it across the room.
I can’t believe what’s happening! Not only did my own sister refuse to answer my questions about where we came from, King Maddox just described me as a friend to a very, very pregnant little girl.
I lay down on my bed and pull a pillow over my head, angry sobs coming out. What in the world have I gotten myself into?
How the hell did I think I could actually stroll into the castle and mean something to the king?
He’s the KING, after all, and I’m nothing. I’ve never been anyone.
Even if my parents truly were once the king and queen of Maatua, they certainly aren’t now. That island has been described as cursed by everyone who has ever heard of it.
It seems to me like my entire family is cursed at this point. My parents, having to leave their homeland, my brother’s illness, my kidnapping and near-death experience.
And falling in love with the cruel king who obviously doesn’t mind making little weaklings like me think that he has feelings for us when he really doesn’t at all.
Hearing footsteps behind me, I flip around, pulling the pillow off of my face far enough to see who is in my room.
Thankfully, it’s not Maddox. It’s Poppy, and she looks concerned. She sits down next to me, and when I roll back over and put the pillow back in place, she rubs my back.
“Didn’t go well, huh?” she asks me after a few minutes, which actually makes me laugh.
“You can say that again,” I reply. I’m not bawling and crying anymore, but I am still upset. Her hand is soothing in a motherly way, though.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, still smoothing her hand down my back. “Did you speak to your sister?”
I sit up, pulling away from Poppy as I move my pillow aside and lean back against the headboard. I try not to think about the times I’ve actually hit my head on this headboard while making love to Maddox.
Poppy hands me a wad of tissue, and I swipe at my eyes. “I spoke to her. She wouldn’t tell me anything. It seems pretty clear to me, though, that we are from Ma–that place. Everyone says it’s best not to even say the word.”
Poppy snickers. “I didn’t take you as the superstitious sort, Isla.”
I shrug. “Yeah, well, I need to be more careful. Things aren’t exactly going well right now.”
Her smile becomes even more sympathetic. “You’re alive. That’s something.”
“I guess that’s true. Goddess, my emotions are all over the place, though.” I sniffle a few more times and wipe my nose.
“Well, dear, you were poisoned. Your body is probably trying to adjust.”
I nod. Maybe she’s right. “Anyway, King Maddox came back as I was leaving his office. And he was pissed that I was in there.”
Poppy’s eyes almost bulge out of her head. “Seriously? Why? He said you could use his phone. As far as I can tell, he has no business being mad that you were in there if he wants to keep getting in there.” She gestures with the top of her head at my lower body, and I want to laugh.
But it’s too much of a sore subject for me to laugh at the moment.
Instead, I sigh. “I’m not sure that he does,” I say. “He had some… girl with him.”
“What?” Her eyes are so big now, they look like cereal bowls with pupils, and her mouth hangs open after she’s said the word.
“Yeah. She was young, too. Way younger than me. And… super-duper pregnant. So it seems I’ve been relieved of my services. In fact, considering her baby was about to pop right out of her, I guess I wasn’t ever needed in the first place.”
“Shut up!” Poppy insists, dropping her hand on my leg, hard. I know she didn’t mean to smack me, not that hard anyway, but it stings a little. “No fucking way!”
I can only shrug again. “I’m just telling you what I saw, Poppy.”
She is shaking her head. “I can’t believe he would do such a thing! I mean, it’s not like he has been a saint since the Luna passed, but I can’t imagine that he would sleep with someone who isn’t even old enough to be his… sister.”
I don’t know what that means. I think she’s just so flabbergasted she doesn’t know what to say, and I am right there with her.
“Anyway,” I say, “I may as well figure out what to do now. I have no reason to stay here. I guess I can go home, but I’m not sure my mom wants to see me right now.”
“You can’t leave!” Poppy blurts. “I don’t want to be the maid to just any old whore!”
I raise an eyebrow at her. “As opposed to me? An extra-special whore?”
She bursts out laughing, but I’m not sure what’s so freaking funny. “That’s not what I meant. You’re not a whore. You’ve only been with one man.”
I am glad I can amuse her. I slowly shake my head. I didn’t intend to be with any other man either, but now… well, if I’m ever going to have a family or anything, I’ll need to find someone who will love me.
And here I was thinking perhaps King Maddox was my fated mate! Maybe the Moon Goddess had it in her heart to give him a second chance mate, and that could be me.
The idea almost makes me laugh aloud.
But I bit my tongue. There wasn’t anything funny going on here, except for whatever the hell Maddox was up to with that little girl.
“Don’t decide anything now,” Poppy says, patting me on the leg where she smacked me a little while ago. “You have plenty of time to decide what you want to do.”
I hope she’s right because I don’t want to leave right this very minute, but I also have to wonder what I will do if Maddox comes storming into my room and demands that I leave in the same tone he used when he found me in his office.
“I’ll go get you something to eat,” Poppy says. “You’ve got to be tired after everything you’ve been through.”
“Thank you,” I tell her, feeling bad that she’s even waiting on me. I don’t think I need a maid when I am likely no longer the Alpha King’s Breeder.
I’m just a glorified guest in the castle who might be asked to leave at any moment, and honestly, I don’t want to give Maddox the satisfaction of tossing me out on my ass.
And if he does tell me to leave, I guarantee he’ll take back the credit card he’s given me, as he should, as well as the little amount of cash I have.
Why would he pay me for having sex with him? That wasn’t what I was supposed to do here. I was supposed to have his baby, and he doesn’t need me for that anymore.
Poppy gives me another sympathetic look and then leaves the room, leaving me lost in my thoughts.
Eating something fattening and going to sleep sounds tempting. But I’m not sure that’s what’s in my best interest now. If I have to leave the castle, I need a plan in place….
I’ll have to go somewhere.
I think of the cufflinks. I think of the mystery surrounding my homeland. I think of the curse….
Maybe I know where I’ll go after all….
*Maddox*
Sydney is sitting in the chair behind my desk, sobbing, as she speaks to her mother on my phone. I am angry. At a lot of people. Including her.
I’m not mad that she was in an awful position and got herself knocked up by her aunt’s husband. I don’t think that was the girl’s fault, even though I can tell by the one-sided conversation I’m overhearing that she wasn’t taken against her will by Alpha Bryant. He wasn’t her first. This was the problem that had sent her to her aunt and uncle’s house to begin with.
Little Miss Sydney had spreaders disease–the inability to keep her knees together.
But she was only nineteen–a little older than I had thought–and she clearly didn’t feel like she was loved at home.
I’ll let her stay in the castle until her child is born, and then, after that, we’ll reevaluate the situation. Perhaps she can work here as a maid or something.
Beta Seth comes in and says, “Her room is ready. It’s on the bottom floor, like you asked, so she won’t have to climb stairs, but in the opposite wing as your room, so no one will assume anything is going on.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, glad I have a Beta who is reliable. “Did you assign her a maid and tell Mystica to come and check her out?”
He nods. “She’s on her way, so Sydney might need to get off of the phone.”
The girl looks up at his words, and it’s clear she’s heard him as she manages to tell her mother goodbye. It seems like Sydney loves her mama even if she’s disappointed her time and time again.
I will need to have my phone de-snotified before I use it again with all of those tears and mucus flowing out of the girl. She plucks a tissue from my desk and heads toward us.
“Beta Seth will take you to your room,” I tell her.
“Thank you, King Maddox,” she says, and I think she’s actually batting her eyelashes at me. I recoil in disgust.
I want to say she’s too young for me, but that’s not true since she’s basically the same age as Isla, but the fact is, Sydney is far too pregnant for me to even consider what she might look like not pregnant, and she’s obviously wild and immature.
Besides that, I’m not interested in anyone other than Isla.
Isla.
I’ve fucked up.
Again.
After Seth and Sydney leave the room, I sigh and wonder what I should do.
I shouldn’t have yelled at her. Thinking back, I’m pretty sure I told her, or at least gave her the impression, that it was fine for her to use my phone. I was just angry when I walked in.
And I honestly didn’t want her to see me with Sydney. I didn’t want to explain something that had no explanation because I hadn’t done anything wrong.
I know what I need to do. With a deep breath, I head down the hallway toward Isla’s room.
When I arrive, I stop and stare at the closed door for a moment, gathering my thoughts.
The door to her antechamber is unlocked, so I walk in, but when I reach her bedroom door, I pause again before knocking.
She doesn’t answer.
“Isla?” I call.
Again, it’s quiet.
“Isla, it’s Maddox.” Like she wouldn’t know that. “Can I come in?”
She says nothing, and I notice I don’t smell her like I usually do. I don’t sense her.
A bit of panic wells up inside of me as I remember how terrified I was when I discovered she was gone before.
I try the door, and it’s locked, but I am better prepared this time. I pull the keys out of my pocket and unlock the door.
My heart stops.
Her room is empty.