05

Mistress Pandra and the other female servants dressed up Odessa in a long slave dress that greased the floor. She took a good look at herself, spinning around. Why would they prefer black dresses as their favorite color?

She contorted her face the moment she was pinned at a spot, and a raw oily scent was dropped on her palms to rub on her body. “King Godric loves the oily scent, so he would probably hope to inhale it from your body when you get closer.” Mistress Pandra said to her without being asked.

One of the servants packed her hair into a ponytail before rolling it into a rose.

“All these care, I think it's just this time, right? You all wish that I don't return?” Odessa spoke up. She hated that she was dressed like a dark princess when she had been a slave to them.

They looked at each other and snorted.

“Wish for your safety, slave. We don't care if you make it out alive or not….” Mistress Pandra snapped at her before tying the ribbon around her packed hair. “You will get going, and I hope you return safely, so my King won't bother getting another disgusting creature from your pack again.”

Odessa clenched her teeth. Do they truly see them that way? She had wondered several times what happened between the werewolves, humans, and the Lycans that made them enemies.

The lycans are the strongest and would tear them apart. Was that the reason her species collided with the humans?

“Keep going! Lyra will take you to the King's chambers.” Pandra said to her, gesturing towards the door.

She spared them a last look before heading towards the door, her palms tucked into the gown. It's been fifteen years already since she wore a cloth like that, and now it looked like a burden. They would call it a slave dress because it didn't have some sort of design on it…..but to her, it was more like a princess's dress and was quite difficult for her to handle.

Lyra shut the door behind the moment she stepped out and led the way to the king's chamber. Even though it was still in the same building, it was still quite distant from the other rooms.

“Your Majesty!” Lyra lowered her head the moment they reached the door.

Odessa twisted her face, looking at the woman who seemed to be the king's right-hand woman. When do rulers have women as closest servants? It's always a Mistress and not a woman who would act like a warrior.

She looked at the door intently as it opened, and Lyra signaled her to hop into the room. “Be fast! You can't keep him waiting.” she scolded her, and she dashed into the room, face contorting like she was going to fight the King.

Her feet stiffened on the floor as she stood in the middle of the room. The door had been shut, and she was sure Lyra would leave.

How long was she going to be in the room? Till dawn?

There were lampstands covered in gloves, and in the four corners of the room, which brought enough light. She looked around, the room was more like a hall, or was it? The bed was supposed to be three in one. How could just a person live in such a room?

There were several artefacts, designs, and flowers in the room. It showed that he was indeed the king and nothing less.

“What next now? Should I lie on the bed?” her eyes tinted as she questioned herself. “Or, should I just stand here?”

The sound of a torn fabric halted her thoughts. She swirled her neck gradually to the back, and there was no one. Her back skin was brushed with a cool breeze, causing her to raise her hands backwards a bit, only to find her clothes torn.

Her eyes widened as if it would fall out. Mistress Pandra's statement resonated in her head again.

The King will feed on her blood!

“My—my blood!” her lips dropped open. “I will end up dead if this is how it is.” she thought, her limbs trembling as she found herself on the floor.

She kept looking around, trying to fish out where the King was, not until a serene wave of darkness hurled from the top to the floor, rotating before her very eyes.

A cold pit formed in her belly. Teeth quivering. “He is here already!” she sniffled, her breathing accelerating. “How does he even feel living in darkness?”

Her question was answered with a mighty growl that caused her heart to skip and her palms resting on her face, concealing her eyes not to see what was happening.

“That's not a lycan growl!” she pondered, frozen to that spot. “Just suck my blood and let me go.” she almost screamed, but her lips weren't moving.

A loud growl came again, coming closer to her at each tick of the clock. She prayed the ground would open and eat her up because she didn't wish to see whatever it was that was before her.

Her palms perspired. Her clothes were soaked up already.

She peeped through her fingers and couldn't believe what she saw. Not a Lycan, then what was that?

“A Kyrennei!?” her voice was almost a scream, but she was panting, and that made it difficult for her to speak. She let go of her face, her eyes still shut as the grunt of the creature reached closer to her face.

At six years old, her teacher had listed so many shapeshifters like them, and the Kyrennei were among them. She could recall being told how it was such a scarce but fierce creature that could overpower a lycan.

‘Kyrennei requires blood from other creatures to sustain themselves, but mostly, humans.’

Her teacher's words rang in her ears again. She understood why he would feed on her blood, but why not a human instead? She wasn't a human!

Maybe because she was wolfless and looked like a human, right?

The sniffling of the creature drew her out of her thoughts. She snapped her eyes open to meet its furnace eyes dazzling into hers. The room became so suffocating for her.

Her heart race quickened the more it got its head closer behind her neck, until its fangs stuck on her fabric dress, drawing it away like it was some piece of trash.

She knew it. Those women didn't waste their dress to please their king, but because she had to look good for the last time before her death.

Hot sweats formed on her forehead, rolling down to her lips. “Just suck my blood, please!” she cried out, followed by the pain that rushed through her body up to her brain.

She struggled to keep up with it, but its fangs piercing into every part of her flesh were more like death itself. She tightened her fist on the remaining cloth still on her thighs. “Oh moon goddess!” A scream that went as far from the palace building left her throat.

‘If we ever meet again, I'll rip you apart.’ The last statement of the King last six years ran through her memory.

She shut her eyes, tired of biting her lips to sustain the pain. “I can't survive it. I'm sure I won't,” she said to herself before letting go of her body.