Get ready
Chapter 20: Avalyn’s POV
Today was the sixth day.
My heart was racing and my head was planning on blacking out. I have been having the feeling since yesterday. I expected him to come last night but he didn’t. Even the strange red-eyed werewolf didn’t come ever since that first night.
Was he avoiding me?
It was crazy because I should be happy he wasn’t coming to claim me but somehow, I knew that the sooner it came, the sooner he got it over with.
I sat at the corner of my large bed with a copy of a novel I had picked up from the library when my door cracked a tiny bit and Dawn popped her head inside.
“Hey!” She whispered for the first time.
Whenever she came to visit, she would begin yelling my name from the staircase. I guess they got the message that today was going to be the day I got defiled and possibly impregnated.
“Hey,” I replied with a fake smile.
She let her tongue kiss her teeth as she invited herself inside. She came to sit by my side and held my hand. “Look, I know all of this is nothing you planned for yourself but I want you to relax. Be the way we have been in the last five days. The king isn’t such a cruel man when you get to know him…” she said.
Again, I gave her a fake smile. How could I do otherwise?
I was panicking. My insides were turning with fear and dread. What if he beat me up into unconsciousness and then took me? He could do so many things to me and there was nothing I could do about it…
“Avalyn to earth!” Dawn said, snapping her fingers in front of my eyes.
“Huh?” I whispered.
Dawn pulled at her hair and fell flat on the bed. “Come on, Avalyn! Listen,” She snapped, sitting upright again. “Listen, why don’t you think of this as a honeymoon… With the cutest man in the world! Think of this as the night you get liberated! And make sure you take notes because I am going to be learning first-hand experience from you!”
I smiled at her attempts to make me happy but deep down I only felt worse.
She pushed my hands away from my thighs and laid on them. “This is so fucked up…” She groaned and I just heaved.
The faster the time was moving the worse I felt. He could come at any moment. Sara didn’t know the time, and neither did Dawn or Greg. All they knew was that he would come and that I should expect him.
Suddenly, Dawn sat up straight. “You know what, there is something good coming out of all of these!”
My eyes danced in their sockets as I tried to see the invisible veil of light behind this darkness but I found nothing.
“What is it?”
She beamed at me and pulled her hair away from her face. “Well, after tonight, you will start glowing like the Queen -what am I even saying?” She hissed.
“You are more beautiful than she is so you will definitely glow more!” She finished with a loud shrill.
The cloud of confusion on my face only grew larger as I stared at her. “Huh?”
“There are rumors that the sperm of a Lycan makes a woman glow! That’s the secret to Willow’s beauty.” She had a satisfactory smirk on her face as she had just given the best speech of her life.
My cheeks heated against my will and I turned my head away. “Dawn that can only be a rumor,” I said even if I knew nothing about Werewolf culture or biology -I barely even knew the human culture.
“Okay, that’s it! I am done!” She suddenly let out before jumping off the bed and pulling me along with her.
“Dawn, what are you doing?” I yelled.
“We are going to raid the kitchen! You love berries right? I heard the farmers just brought in a harvest, come on!” She explained, pulling me outside my room.
I was reluctant at first but the mention of berries always cheered me up. Dawn and I ran down to the kitchen. The maids gave us strange looks but no one dared question her. We found the store room and Dawn -happened to have a key.
“I have a feeling you got this from someone…” I whispered as I waited for her to open the door.
“Of course!” She giggled as the door finally opened and she pulled me in with her.
“Dawn, aren’t we going to get in trouble?” I whispered as I looked around the cold room.
The last thing I needed was to get caught up in a crime. But the thrill was fun. I couldn’t deny that.
“As long as you are with me, you won’t get into trouble but venture into Emily and you will sleep in a dungeon!” She laughed.
They pulled the first drawer up and brought down a large plastic plate filled with berries.
“Now, I will say we take all of it but we will definitely end up in a cell too. Let’s just eat till we are filled,” she suggested.
“In here?” It was cold and -we could get locked in.
She turned to look at the shock on my face and groaned. “You are no fun, Avalyn! Jeez, you act like a big sister sometimes!” She whined.
Her eyes suddenly lit up again as they landed on an empty plate in the corner of the room. “Yes! Now, sister Avalyn can’t stop me.”
She went to the plastic plates and picked them up. She brought it to her nose and sniffled at it. “Clean!” She announced.
Before I could protest she started placing berries into the plate till it was filled to the brim. She threw a few into her mouth and turned to me.
“Come on, mission completed!” She said with the plate underneath her arm.
As we stepped out and she started closing the cold room, someone called out from the other side of the kitchen and we both froze.
“Who is that?! You are not allowed to be in there!” They yelled coming towards us
“Oh oh!” Dawn exclaimed and my blood exploded in my chest. She pushed the plate to my hands. “Run, Avalyn! Run!”
“What about you?” I asked with worry in my voice but then I saw the glint of excitement in her eyes. She was enjoying this.
“I’ll be fine. Now come on! Go on before we lose the berries we worked so hard for!” She pushed me toward the backdoor and without thinking, I slipped out of the kitchen before the man could get any closer.
We had taken this path once when we came to eat in the kitchen but then the queen stepped in as well. I got pale and Dawn understood that I didn’t want their Queen to see me, so she took me down this path.
I followed the wall till I found myself at the main entrance once again. I stopped running and walked calmly to the staircase that led to my room. I pulled the door open and quickly rushed to the window to see if Dawn made it.
My heart was thumping from the adrenaline and when I finally saw her mass of dark hair, a smile came to my face.
A few seconds later, she burst through the door and as our eyes met, we burst into a peal of laughter.
“That was crazy!” I said amidst laughter.
“I know right? Where’s our prize?” She asked and I pointed to the bedside table.Material © of NôvelDrama.Org.
She walked to it and picked it up. She then sat on the floor and I laughed at her actions. “Aren’t you like a royal? Can you sit on the floor?” I asked with amusement, lacing my voice.
“I am not royal … Even if I were, I can still do whatever I want in here,” she replied with a chuckle. “But Emily is a royal yet she acts like a sick child. But the goddess knows how much I love her,” she said dreamily like Emily was right there in front of her.
“Why don’t you go visit her, you seem to miss her a lot…” I said in a low voice.
She threw two berries in her mouth at the same time and shrugged. “My brother won’t let me. He says releasing Emily and me to the world at the same time will cause a cyclone.”
I stared at her trying to keep a straight face but that was my mistake. As soon as our eyes met, we burst into another string of laughter.
We spent the rest of the day, laughing and eating our berries. By the time dinner came, I had completely forgotten what day of the week it was.
Dawn fed me with more stories of her and Emily. To a point, I felt like I knew Emily too.
The air in the room was light and fun. Dawn had managed to make me forget my misfortune and I was happy for her friendship. I wouldn’t have been able to survive without her -and Sara of course.
“One time, Emily put a fire in the dungeon… The guards ran so fast, we all thought it was an attack!” She exclaimed, laughing.
“My brother almost-” her words hung in the air as a sharp knock filled the room sending my blood to a cold tank.
“Let me get it,” Dawn mouthed but before she could get to the door, it opened and Greg stood there in all his glory.
“The maids are here to clean the room, and prepare Avalyn,” He said and I felt like a broken bottle had been shoved down my heart.
This couldn’t be happening. Tears immediately pricked at my eyes and I struggled to keep them back.
“Can I stay and help too?” Dawn asked but before he could respond to her.
A group of three maids stepped in and stood by his right. He turned to me and pointed at the maids.
“They are here for your bath,” He said and I felt like my body was going to be opened like a dead fish on the market table.
Then he turned to Dawn. “As for you, you have training and guard duty tonight. Say your goodbyes.” He instructed.