EIGHT

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Word Count: 1707

~Avia

I've decided not to stay long at the compound tonight, wanting to finally get a proper night's sleep instead of gallivanting all about the city the whole night long.

My hands tightly grip the window sill to my room here in Isaiah's estate, as I pull myself up. I've gotten quite good at coming in through this window, as leaving through my door has recently become too much of a risk. Mercifully, a trellis laced with climbing ivy aids me in my climb up to the second story, even if I can feel the soft bend in the thin wood as I make my way up.

Wincing, I pull myself through the last part of the window, ducking my head below the window to avoid smacking my head.

A small gasp causes me to look up to the corner of the room, a girl standing with her back pressed against my dresser, arms piled with clothing stares at me, large brown eyes wide. Isaiah doesn't enforce any clothing regulations on his staff here, aside from the guards, but there's no doubting this girl is a maid. My maid, to be exact...I never thought I could ever say that.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kenna," she rushes, turning around to open the dresser, shoving the clothing in haphazardly. I've come quite familiar with this girl, who has tended to my rooms since I moved in. I'm still not used to someone coming into my room to tidy, since I've never been afforded a luxury like that, so almost every time she has entered, I've stopped what I was doing and helped her.

"No, it's okay," I say breathlessly, slightly winded from my climb. I hop down from the window, feet landing on the soft carpet. "You're up late, Caiya."

I must look insane. I'm wearing all black, a hood pulled over my head, which I now tug down to my shoulder meekly. Kenna wouldn't be climbing through windows in the dead of the night like this. Caiya likely thought she could come in and put some laundry away without me waking, and here I am, looking like a criminal.

A rebel.

"Your window was open and blowing things around. I was walking past and thought I better close it," she says warily, noting the clothing she must have spent time folding that was left on my bed, that is now back in my dresser.

My throat is painfully dry as I slowly tug my leather gloves off. "Thank you."

Excuses pour through my mind, yet not a single one I can grasp. Is she going to report this incident to Isaiah? Maybe I can account for me being out, blaming it on homesickness, but my clothing...I'm wearing my clothing, none Caiya's seen before, that I keep stashed under the bed for nights like these.

"Are you scared of him?" she whispers, fidgeting with the hem of her cream coloured shirt. Her eyes are almost too big for her face, giving her an innocent, doe-eyed look. She's been polite, never maintaining conversation with me for any longer than I ask her to, so it's a surprise for her to ask such a striking question.

"Who, the Alpha?" I question, shrugging off my jacket now. Caiya watches me carefully, apprehensively.

She steps away from the drawer, coming toward me, wisps of light blonde hair tumbling down from her bun after a long day's work. "I've heard rumours about him...Terrifying ones."

"Me too." Here's my chance. "Tell me yours."

"Other staff have mentioned he leaves her in the dead of night to go kill people with his bare hands, and then their ghosts haunt this castle," she says under her breath, glancing at the door left ajar. I'm tempted to close it, to press her on everything she knows, but I don't want her to think I'm trapping her in here, especially not when I look the way I do.

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