Our Fatal Failings (Twisted book two)

Chapter Eight

I wake up in a bed, soft and plush. How long had I'd been asleep? A couple hours at least. The door clicks open and a woman comes in, dressed in a long dress and an apron, hair plaited in a braid. She seemed young, only a few years older than me, or perhaps my age.

The room around me is a picture of opulence. The canopy bed looms over me, expensive furniture across from me and paintings of nature dot the walls. "Is this Evansville?"

"The Royal Palace in Evansville your Highness."

"Highness?" I sit up, recalling the events of the past day. 'Alpha of Alphas.' "Don't tell me he built himself a castle."

"Yes your Highness, it's new." I bring the covers close under my chin. "His Majesty requests your presence."

I roll around in bed, facing away from her. "I can't believe this." My head is level now, my thoughts stable. "I'm in a castle. He really built a castle."

"Yes, your Majesty."

"Please don't call me that. Call me Imani, or Ms. Walker. Anything but that."

She cocks her head to the side, looking at me in confusion. "Using anything but your title would be disrespectful. We were told before your arrival that the only appropriate titles for you are Your Majesty and Luna."

I turn back towards. "Who told you?"

"Alpha."

"Of course he did." I bring my knees up to my face. "When do I have to go?"

"Now." I notice the cloth folded over her arm. It's a dress. "I was sent to prepare you for your meeting with the Alpha."

"In that? Can't someone find me a nice comfortable sweater and a pair of joggers?"

With a shake of her head no, I decide to get out of bed and go through with it. I guess there would be no negotiating. I take a shower and tie my hair back into a bun. The dress is green and beautiful, made of velvet and as dark of a lush pine forest. The servant fasted a silver crown, engraved with moons and stars to my head.

"Ready?" I look at myself in the mirror. I don't like what I see. I feel swamped by the clothing and the jewelry. It's not me and because of it, it's wearing me and not the other way around.

"Yes." I rise. "Take me to him." We walk through hallways, some of them still sparsely decorated, telling me how new this castle truly is. But what is decorated, is decorated elegantly, with every attention paid to detail. We walk into a throne room, with two stone thrones sitting on the dais. Imprinted into the stone are moons, which I notice adorn the whole place. He dedicated this place to the moon goddess.

I look behind me, only to find myself alone. "Hello?" Where did the attendant go?

"She had orders to leave as soon as she brought you here." The voice rings in my head like a bell. It's warm and full and it makes my heart flutter against my ribcage.

And I hate it.

I turn on my heel. Without Wolfsbane, everything is sharper, everything is more vivid and my hearing in much more acute. But without Wolfsbane I am also drawn to him, just as a moth to a flame.

He crosses the room and I put my hands out in front of me to stop him before he gets to close. I can't think with him where he is and if he comes any closer, I'll start thinking the wrong thoughts, the ones that'll get me in trouble, the ones that'll make him know what happened to my mark.

He lowers my hands and runs his eyes over me. "It's been awhile."

"I still hate you."

"But not long enough to temper your tongue I see. Same old Imani, same viperous tongue."

"Shouldn't you stay away from vipers?"

"I play with danger."

I cross my arms as goosebumps pepper my skin.

Lovely, lovely, lovely mate.

"I guess you brought me back here because the moon goddess denied your request your a second chance mate? You should've prayed harder."

He lifts his hand pulls down one of my twists. It curls against my forehead. "I didn't pray at all."

I purse my lips. "I thought you were smart."

"Smart, but confident. I know you couldn't hide forever."

Yes, thank the goddess you found me.

"Yeah, I guess I couldn't," I say bitterly. But those thoughts worry me. It's like a voice in my head splitting off from the one. The one and only lone objector t all my plans.

Lovely, lovely, lovely mate. It purrs again, wanting to reach out and hold him. Fighting the feverish haze that threatens to consume me I keep my eyes steady and focused on his.

My head pounds and my stomach lurches. I feel sick, down to the very bones. Is this what it is to go feral?

"What's wrong? The whole time I struggled with my inner thoughts, he had been studying my face.

"Nothing but the fact you ripped me from my home and destroyed the country. Besides that everything is fine." I sneer, curling my lip at him, but all he does is roll his eyes.

"Go ahead, talk like that. But I can see you struggle. Are you sick? Hungry?"

"Sick of you and hungry to be free?"

He takes a few steps closer and a sheen of sweat appears above my lip. I grit my teeth. Not a step closer.

Closer, Closer.

I clear my throat. "Aren't you going to show me the castle?"

"Something is off. I thought the feeling would fade after you got off the Wolfsbane, but something is just different."

Oh god.

Oh yes.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

There's a strange expression on his face. "Have you been experimenting with black market drugs?"

So maybe I'm safe after all. "What?"

"Are you high on a potion." He says it with a straight face. "Your eyes are flickering."

A snarl escapes from my lips. Tell him already. My legs itch with the need to walk forward, my canines tear into my flesh and fill my mouth with the iron taste of blood. "The full moon must be near."

"It's nowhere close."

"I really don't know what you're talking about."

"Imani."

That's it. That's what it takes for me to lose it all. I blank out, with only fragments of what happened next. Something else in me takes control, something feral and primal. Claws grow from my fingernails, darkening as they grow. I brush my hair back, bending my neck to reveal almost unblemished skin.

And then I snap back to reality. His eyes are dark and angry. "Who did this to you?"