Hearsay
Lilith’s POV;
As soon as I got to my room, I began to berate myself for running away.
It wasn’t like he had done something wrong, but the mere mention of their names brought back those pent-up emotions. And they were going to see me get married to the Alpha king and attain the highest status possible.
I felt guilty, but I knew that I couldn’t go back to say anything. Lexi purred and I rolled my eyes.
“No, Lexi. We can’t go to him now.”
I knew that he might be thinking about withdrawing the invitations or even calling off the wedding.
That night, I kept tossing and turning and thinking of ways to make him not call off the wedding or withdraw the invitations from Cassandra and Raider.
“You know you can’t keep bottling up our feelings for him,” Lexi voiced out, but I ignored her.
I hated that I was always flighty around him and I couldn’t help it. I could feel my body slowly giving in to the deep feelings that arose within me.
Whenever I set my eyes on him, my heart leaped, and when he smiled at me, I could feel butterflies setting off in my stomach. There was a certain warmness I couldn’t explain that spread through me, and the deep feelings of comfort that surrounded me whenever I was in his presence.
“You have to forgive yourself for trusting Raider,” Lexi reasoned, and I released a deep sigh, my shoulders slumping in defeat.
I was scared of everyone, I couldn’t trust anyone and risked falling into the wrong hands and landing in another kind of situation. I shook my head immediately as my mind began to think of Adams.
My stomach growled with anger, then I sighed on remembering that I hadn’t eaten much as I had fled from the dinner date.
I decided to go to the kitchen to get anything that was available to eat.
The murmurings from the maids in the kitchen were the first noises that sailed into my ears when I got closer to the kitchen.
At first, their conversation didn’t interest me until I was just a few feet away from the door and I heard my name.
Suddenly, their words captured my interest and I tiptoed to the door, pressed my ear to it, wanting to hear whatever it was they were talking about.
My heart slammed hard against my chest, and I wondered if they were talking about how unfit I was to be one of the Luna Queens due to my recent status as an Omega and the fact that they believed my father to be a traitor.
Lexi grumbled in disapproval, but I shut her out while listening to the gossip of the maids.
“She’s so cold to him. I mean, she should be glad that he’s marrying her,” one of them said, followed by the clanking of kitchen wares before another feminine voice spoke, which I was sure was another maid.
“Nobody in the council likes her or even approves her, but it’s not like they can say anything to him. He’s very calm and considerate–”
“If it were his brothers, they wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at her, mate or not,” yet another voice spoke, and I scrunched my face, but I remained quiet, and continued listening to their conversation.
“Ben would’ve made for a better Alpha king,” was the first voice this time around. And then the voices became distant as I heard the sound of water splashing.
“I hope Ben comes back to reclaim his position!” I heard the voice again as soon as the sound of the water stopped.
Several gasps of shock followed, and my palm quickly flew to my mouth due to the harsh tone and cruel way she had said it.
I was aware that Adams was not supposed to be the Alpha king since he was the last of his brothers, but I had no details of what had happened, and how he came to be the Alpha king.
“Julia!” one of the maids yelled, apparently bewildered by the words of her colleague.
“Common! You all have the same thoughts too, and it’s not like I told a lie. I said what I said, and I’m not sorry about it. Do you know what will happen once she becomes Luna queen? A traitorous omega becoming the Luna Queen! Isn’t that laughable? Our pack is going to become a laughingstock!”
“Is that the only reason you want Ben to become the Alpha king? What if Ben becomes a terrible ruler? Do you even know if he’s interested in ruling this pack?”
“Oh please! Don’t act like you’re not aware that he’s the better one out of all the five brothers and that he’s currently trying to reclaim his position! It’s–”
I listened to hear the rest of her words, getting more intrigued, but then, all I heard was muffled noises. It sounded as if someone was placing a palm on her mouth to prevent her from speaking further.
“You’ll keep your mouth shut and not speak again, Julia!” The voice sounded more mature than that of the girls I had been hearing, and my guess was that it belonged to the head maid or her assistant.
I have seen her a few times. She was a short, round, plump middle-aged woman who seemed to always carry a smile.
An eerie silence descended, and I expelled a sigh, but still remained in my position, trying hard to be silent while I waited for them to continue with their discussion, hoping they’d reveal more regarding the issue.
I had no idea about the internal power struggle between the five brothers, hence, their gossip poked the curious kitten in me and I wanted to know more. But I couldn’t just walk in there and demand answers.
“You will not speak ill of your King or his decisions. You will diligently carry on with your duties and leave the Pack’s business to the King and the council members. Otherwise, you lose your job here. Have I made myself clear?” Her voice was cold and harsh as she spoke.
“I wasn’t telling a lie,” I heard the maid they had called Julia murmur.
“The walls have ears,” the woman cautioned, and it seemed that the conversation was over, everywhere became silent.
I waited to hear something, but there was nothing, but the clanking of plates and splatter of water and then the light thud of footsteps and I gasped when I realized that it was heading in my direction.
I quickly jumped back and reached for the doorknob, pretending to open before it suddenly swung open.
It was the older woman, and it wasn’t the head maid or her assistant. I hadn’t seen this one before. She seemed to be in her early forties. She had very short dark hair that just reached the nape of her neck. She was dressed in the dark blue and white maid’s uniform, and she smiled at me. I returned her smile with a sweet, innocent one.
“Good evening–”
“Paula, my lady.”
“Alight, Paula. Is there something for me to eat?”Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
She looked taken aback by my question as she opened her mouth and stared at me for a while before smiling nervously.
“Yes, my lady! A moment please,” she dashed into the kitchen.
I took that opportunity to glance around to see the other girls. There were four of them and I remembered that I had heard three different voices. They quickly said their greetings as soon as they saw me, without meeting my eyes as they continued with their chores, leaving me to wonder about which of them had been talking about the rivalry between the brothers.
“My lady, we’ll bring it to your room. You can leave,” Paula said as soon as she noticed me standing by the doorway.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll wait to get it.”
She shrugged and returned less than a minute later with a tray that she held out to me.
“Here you go, my lady.”
I took it from her. “Thank you.”
She nodded curtly, and I left the kitchen for my bedroom, still pondering on all that I had heard.
As soon as I got to my room, I knew immediately that something was wrong. The door which I had shut was slightly ajar and my brows knitted in confusion.
Just then, Lexi purred, and I rolled my eyes and heaved a sigh as the familiar scent wafted to my nose, sending excitement to my stomach.
“Lilith!” He said huskily when I entered the room. He frowned as he saw the tray in my hand.
“I’m sorry for inviting them without–”
“No!” I blurted out before I could even control myself. “No, thank you. I’m glad you invited them,” I didn’t hide my emotion as I spoke, letting him know that I was glad that he was helping me.
A smile broke out on his handsome face, and he pulled me into his embrace. I didn’t pull away, instead, I thought about what the maid had said earlier, about Ben trying to claim his position. I wanted to know if he knew about it.