Lily
I kept my head bowed and my hands neatly clasped as I followed the other maids through the Marlick palace halls. The scent of polished wood, burning incense, and expensive perfumes hung thick in the air. Everything here felt heavy, like gilded, ancient and intimidating. And filled with secrets. Secrets I didn't want to know. My only goal was simple: survive, work, and be invisible. That was the rule I clung to.
Sara, my omega friend, had been the one to get me in, for a position as one of Princess Zeena's personal maids. It was a rare opportunity for someone like me. An outsider. Pure human. A girl with no name, no backing, and no claim to anything. The role came with conditions, of course. Strict ones. Don't speak unless spoken to. Never question orders. And above all…Never look directly at royalty.
That last rule had saved me. And betrayed me. Because if I had looked…really looked…I might've known. I might've seen him and recognised him. But I didn't. I kept my eyes lowered, kept my steps measured and kept myself small. I learned the palace routines fast. I worked quickly, quietly, and without fuss. Like a shadow. At nights, when the halls fell silent and the firelight died down… the past slipped in like smoke under a door. It curled into my thoughts and clung to my skin.
I had followed Sara into the city hoping for a fresh start. But I had carried the weight of too much loss. And one night, that night, had changed everything. Elis had disappeared at dawn. No note. No promise. Just silence, and a hollow ache that wouldn't leave me. My grandmother knew. She always knew more than she let on. She knew something in me had changed after that night, I was no longer a child.
"You'll begin to feel things, Lily," she told me, her rough fingers wrapped tight around mine. "Hear whispers not meant for your ears. See what others cannot. Your time is coming."
I hadn't understood her then. But now? It still didn't make much sense. The first time it happened, I was alone in Zeena's chambers. A rose, wilting on the sill, caught my eye. I touched it without thinking and the petals unfurled, fresh and vibrant. Came alive. I recoiled. Dropped it like it burned. The second time, I heard voices. Clear as day. Conversations I shouldn't have been able to hear. Rooms away. Entire floors away. It wasn't real, I told myself. I was tired or dreaming. But I wasn't.
Then there was Akin. The man who visited my grandmother just days before she died. I had only seen him once, but his voice, aura or scent haunted me.
"She cannot stay here, Miriam. It's too dangerous." He had said to my grandmother.
"She is where she belongs," Grandma snapped back.
The next morning, she was gone. And I was alone. I grieved for her. I also grieved for the boy who had taken something from me and vanished. I grieved all by myself. I found shelter with Iris, a familiar face from our past. She had once bought herbs from us. She smiled warmly, offered food and a room without asking too many questions. At first, I thought I was safe. But kindness, I've learned, is sometimes just a prettier kind of trap.
Her generosity twisted into expectation. She dressed me in finery, fed me well but soon began steering me toward her brother, Kal. Or so she said. Kal was charming, yes. Handsome, even. But every time Iris encouraged me to sit beside him, to walk with him, to accept him, I felt that same ache in my chest. An emptiness, because my heart...It already belonged to someone else. A werewolf. I told Iris no, again and again. She didn't take it kindly.
"Why do you resist so much?" she snapped once, her eyes sharp. "Kal is strong and kind. You could have a good life."
"I don't love him," I said quietly.
"You don't need to. Love comes later."
"But my heart is already taken."
I hadn't meant to say it out loud. But it slipped out, soft and raw.
Her expression darkened. That night, something shifted. I realized I wasn't welcome. I never had been. Iris's home wasn't a refuge. It was a cage. And I had no intention of being caged again. I left before dawn. No goodbyes. No explanation. Just the clothes on my back and a prayer I wouldn't regret it.
Now here I was…in the heart of the Marlick, the werewolf Kingdom, working for a princess. Scrubbing floors, folding gowns and pretending not to feel the strange hum beneath my skin. Pretending not to remember. For a while, it worked. Until the watching started. At first, I ignored it. A flicker of attention. A weight on the back of my neck. Then it came again. And again. A heat crawling down my spine, tightening across my shoulders. Someone was watching me. And it wasn't just anyone.
One evening, while arranging Princess Zeena's gowns for a banquet, I heard the shift in the air behind me. I f?elt it in my bones. Before he even spoke.
"You."
The word cut through the silence like a blade. I froze. That voice...It was unmistakable. I dropped into a curtsy, quickly, keeping my eyes on the polished floor. My heart was pounding so hard I thought I might faint. "Alpha King," I whispered.
Silence stretched. Tense and heavy. Then…"Look at me."
My breath caught. No. This had to be a test. We were forbidden to look at royalty, especially the king. But there was something in his voice. A command. A pull.
"I said… look at me."
I lifted my gaze. And the world tilted. There he was. Elis. Alpha King of Marlick. Ruler of the most feared werewolf kingdom in the North. Dressed in dark robes trimmed in gold, his gaze cutting through me like winter wind.