ARIA.
I finally returned to the Palace with the aid of one of Alpha Lyall's men. I could see the way they looked at me weirdly like I had committed a sacrilege but I tried to act like I did not notice the way their eyes lingered on me.
Finally, I stopped in front of the Palace and walked around it as I made my way to the servants' quarters. It was already dark but I knew that everyone was still awake.

I couldn't walk right in. It wasn't like I had Alpha Lyall's protective authority over me to protect me from being punished. Hell, I had turned him down, telling him that we had to go our separate ways which made me prone to more punishments.
My chest squeezed tightly at the thought of not being able to bond with my mate because he had a wife. It was far more infuriating because he had refused to leave me, which was absolutely understandable. After all, hell, I couldn't stay a minute without thinking about him. He was the only thing that dominated my thoughts and it was amusing how I had come here, afraid of the fact that my stepfather had scammed me into being a slave.
Now, it was the thoughts of a certain King two times my size who refused to let me be.
Taking me to his cabin at the top of the cliff was a very romantic gesture. It would have been a romantic gesture if he didn't have a wife and didn't have me kidnapped. But how could he do that so easily?
Of course, he was the King. Being a man was one thing but being a King meant you got away with anything.
The quarters were empty and it was safe for me to slip into my room.

Looking around, I broke into a trot down the hall, stopping by my door, breath heavy as I twisted the knob and pushed it open. It was dark inside so I leaned against the door and tightly shut my eyes while taking deep breaths.
"Where have you been all morning?"
My eyes flew open and my heart nearly tore out of my chest. In the dark, in one corner, our chief maid, Tiffany sat, looking at me sternly.
I looked behind me, wondering how I hadn't sensed her presence here. Shit. I was in deep trouble.

Clearing my throat, I sighed. "I- I uhm fell sick?" I was a very terrible liar. For you to be a great liar, especially with beings who could sense a lie from miles away, it took great practice.
She pushed to her feet and turned on the light switch. The room was soon bathed in flickering amber lights and I could see her properly now.
Her eyes fleeted over to my neatly made bed. Of course, I hadn't touched my bed since I left my room this morning for my daily duties. But as bad luck would have it, knead was taken by the King's guards and led to his cabin. But I couldn't tell her that. I wasn't stupid to know that telling her any of that could put me in great trouble. I hated this.
"Sick? Your bed doesn't look like it was touched, am I right? And also, why are you coming in and why don't you look sick? You're lying, young woman. You missed your duties today, didn't you?!"
Fuck. How could I get out of this? I had no option but to speak the truth. It was the only way out for me. I looked at her and sighed.
"You're right. I am telling a lie."
"So if you are telling a lie, where exactly did you go? Why did you miss duties today? Don't tell me you have found a lover in a span of a month. Who is it? One of the guards? Who?!"
I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to yell and tell her that it was the King so she could leave me be but I wasn't going to do any of that. Not if I wanted life to be more complicated than it already was for me.
Sighing, I slipped my fingers through my hair. "Why don't you punish me already?"
"Of course, you will be punished, but not until you tell me where you have been all day. I asked your roommate Daneesha and she tried to tell a lie until I forced her to tell me the truth."
Fuck.
Daneesha must have been in a position that had her outing me but that didn't matter right now because I told her nothing of my movement. I didn't even know that I was going to be away for the whole day so Tiffany was telling all these lies to get me to speak the truth.
Well, she guessed wrong because I had nothing to tell her. Nothing at all.
"So where did you go?"
Lies. I had to be smooth with this one. "I wanted to see my family. I got a letter a few days ago from my little sister. We have no parents and it's just her and my aunt who treats her badly. I found a way to get to her after I was sold to the King. I wanted to see her so I could assure her that nothing was wrong. She worries too much about me and I was also worried because my aunt is an evil woman. I just had to do it. I didn't care because I wanted to see her and honestly, I knew I was going to be punished but not even that was going to stop me from seeing my lovely sister. I had to do it for her, you know?"
Tiffany was silent for a long time and for a moment, I believed she was going to forgive me and even help me escape which was a bad idea by the way since I had nowhere to go and I'd been sold by my stepfather.
"Tomorrow, be awake as early as three. You will start work before everyone. Three hours before they start and three hours after everyone has gone to bed. That will be your punishment for a week. Next time, you will come to me and tell me where you need to go and why."
She left before I could say anything else. Flopping into my bed, I pulled my knees to my chest and stared into the wall, reliving my day. Being with the King had incurred a great punishment, one that had me rethinking my choices.
Being with the King was impossible so instead of trying hard and getting punishments instead, I decided to focus on myself. Knowing fully well that I had told myself this several times and that I was nothing but a circus clown, I went to bed.
Daneesha arrived about an hour later and she woke me up with a morsel of bread, soup and questions.
"Where have you been, Aria? You nearly gave me a heart attack. Helping you cover up isn't as easy as you think, hope you know that?"
"I'm sorry," I replied softly as I chewed on my bread. "Today has been one hell of a day for me and I should have told you but an emergency came up."
It drew her attention. "What emergency?"
I laughed and waved her off. "It's not something you should worry about."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am." I nodded with a smile.
"Tiffany. Did she see you? Or you snuck into the room without being seen?"
Snatching the last morsel of bread, I threw it into my mouth and chewed before giving her an answer. "I found her right in this room. Gave me a terrible scare."
"Did she give you a punishment?"
I nodded. "Three hours of work before and after everyone has left for one week."
"That's terrible. I'm really sorry about that. It's terrible because no one can save you from this."
Actually, someone could but I wished there was something to do about it.