Her Maiden

Chapter Ten: Hunger

***AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am SO Sorry for the wait!!!! I've been super busy plus I restarted this chapter a couple of times just because I wasn't 100% on the direction I was taking - but I've figured it out now!

Thanks for your patience, enjoy!***

Bela, Cassandra and Daniela were waiting in the foyer upon your return. They chittered and clicked anxiously before you heard the doors to the castle shut behind you.

It was strange that being entombed again within the confines of this aged place actually came as a relief for once. For it's vast size, you had tended to find the castle stifling until now.

"What happened, mother?" Bela queried, a slight tone of anxiousness in her voice. It surprises you.

"We were worried." Cassandra chimes in.

"That's a lot of blood," murmurs Daniela, more to herself than anyone else.

You feel Alcina's shoulders relax a little and see her smile warmly towards the trio.

"Thank you, daughters. You are so thoughtful. Everything is under control, you needn't fret."

Her voice is calm and reassuring. You lay against her chest, in her arms and look down from her height to the three women.

You are surprised when Bela glares at you, though Daniela and Cassandra are already beginning to hum and fidget, satisfied that all is well.

Lady Dimitrescu carries you, as though you weigh nothing at all, back to her bed chamber.

She leans down over the bed to place you there, but you aren't ready to let go of her just yet. Maybe you never would be.

"Pet, you're not going to fall. Let go," she murmurs softly in your ear.

You could have cried when you had to release her.

She looks at you as she, with a curious expression, raised herself back to full height.

You blink at her through blood stained eyes, your breath held, trying not to cry.

You gaze at her and noticed the bloodied outline of where you had been cradled into her. Her dress was ruined and it was the first time you had seen her appear as anything less than pristine. There was something very authentic and raw about Alcina now, like for the first time since you had met her, you were finally seeing her.

"You followed me," you manage, though it comes across as more of a question, requiring a confirmation on her part.

You feel a gloved hand cup your face, a thumb moving carefully across your cheek, caressing you with such fondness, then wiping drops of blood from your eyes, as though they were tears - so many tears.

She had thrown the corpse of that lycan through the woods with the same ease as swatting a fly. She could be so strong, so effortlessly powerful, an aggressor. Yet here she was, treating you with such divine tenderness, the likes of which you hadn't even known from the regular people in your life.

Then her grip becomes hard. You gasp.

"Y/n, you are never to leave the castle again. Not without my express permission. It is not safe, do you understand?"

Her eyes burn into yours, unblinkingly.

You nod, eyes now welling with real tears that you can no longer hold back.

The grip softens and she resumes her caresses of your face.

"Shh, sweet pet. It's okay now. I'm sorry, had I scared you, playing our little game?" she croons.