Chapter 70: Was It Truly Her?
The next morning broke with a strange, eerie calmness. The breeze was light, moving through the trees outside the palace as the distant chirping of birds filled the early air, and the sun shone brightly through the clouds, though it wasn’t quite enough to pierce the thick, lingering gloom that had settled over the fortress.
Inside the royal bedchamber, the atmosphere was heavy, smelling strongly of dried herbs and bitter medicinal tonics. The pack physician had only departed a few hours prior, leaving behind a array of glass vials on the side table. Azure lay in the center of the massive bed, her posture deliberate in its innocence. Before leaving for an early, urgent meeting with the King of a nearby pack, Valex had leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead—a gesture she had welcomed with a quiet, victorious satisfaction. Now, her delicate features appeared soft, masked by a profound, calculated exhaustion. Her head was propped up by a plush velvet pillow, the heavy royal blankets pulled up to her chest, her eyes closed as she rested in the quiet room.
The heavy oak door creaked open slowly, breaking the silence.
Cara walked into the bedchamber, her fingers gripping the handles of a polished silver tray. On it sat a single porcelain cup, the thick, white steam rising from the hot tea swirling lazily into the air. Cara’s face was completely drained of its usual warmth, twisted instead with a raw fury and a deeply buried hatred as she forced her eyes onto the woman resting in the bed. Every instinct in her body screamed at her to turn around, to drop the tray and walk away, but she had no choice. She was a maid, bound to the palace, forced to serve the lady that had usurped the throne.
Stepping over the thresholds, she walked closer, each step feeling heavier than the last, until she stood directly beside the bed. She looked down at Azure, her features hardening into a severe scowl.
"I just wish I could pour this hot tea directly on your face," Cara thought bitterly, her vision blurring slightly from the sheer intensity of her anger. "You disgusting woman. I can only wonder what you did to Odesse. What kind of monster are you?"
As the thoughts raced through her mind, her jaw tightened and her hands began to shake, causing the porcelain cup to rattle against the tray.
"If you plan to kill me, you should have done it while I was asleep."
The sudden, smooth voice made Cara flinch, nearly dropping the tray entirely.
She looked down and saw Azure’s eyes opening weakly. The woman yawned softly, a delicate, practiced movement, as she slowly pushed herself up against the pillows to sit straight. She offered Cara a small, condescending smile. "And anyways, your glare was so incredibly hard, it felt like my soul was about to be exposed right out of my skin."
Cara’s heart hammered against her ribs. She shook her head quickly, her fingers tightening on the tray as a nervous, defensive smile forced its way onto her lips. "No... No, I don’t..."
Azure didn’t wait for her to finish. She extended her hand, her movements fluid and authoritative, and collected the cup directly from Cara’s hands. "Foolish girl," Azure murmured, her voice dripping with amusement. "There is absolutely no need to pretend around me."
Cara stood frozen, staring down at her as Azure lifted the porcelain cup to her lips. Azure took a slow, deliberate sip, but the moment the liquid touched her tongue, she gasped softly and pulled the cup away, touching her lower lip gently with the tips of her fingers.
"This is really hot," Azure whispered. She looked up at Cara, her eyes narrowing as a sharp, sheepish smirk spread across her face. "So... you want to kill me by serving me hot tea? Hoping my throat will get tightened and choke me?"
The nervousness left Cara’s posture. Realizing that the mask was already broken, her face became entirely stoic and straightened. Her shoulders squared, and when she spoke, her voice was completely cold, devoid of any servant’s deference.
"Why ask me if you already knew?"
Azure didn’t snap. Instead, she laughed loudly, a clear, melodic sound that echoed mockingly against the stone walls. Holding the cup properly, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, placing herself directly in front of the maid. Her eyebrows raised, her expression lit by a sharp, triumphant smirk.
Slowly, Azure raised her arm, holding the porcelain cup right up to the level of Cara’s eyes. She held it there for a terrifying, silent second—and then simply opened her fingers.
The cup hit the stone floor with a deafening shatter, exploding into dozens of sharp fragments as the dark, hot liquid splattered across the floor and over the hem of Cara’s skirts.
Cara looked down at the mess in absolute shock, her instincts forcing her to take a sharp step back. Her chest heaved with a mixture of surprise and mounting rage. She snapped her gaze back to Azure, her voice tight and deeply annoyed. "Why would you do that?"
Azure walked closer, closing the distance between them until she was standing deep within Cara’s personal space. Her face, which had been soft moments ago, turned incredibly rigid, her eyes turning into flint.
"This is a reminder," Azure said, her voice dropping into a low, lethal hiss. "A reminder that I am the Queen of this pack now. And I can destroy you the exact same way I just destroyed this cup. Do not forget your place, Cara. All I need to do is say a few words to his Highness."
Azure paused, stepping back a single inch. In a terrifying display of pure manipulation, her face suddenly crumpled, her lower lip trembling as genuine-looking tears began to roll down her cheeks. Cara’s eyes widened in horror, completely stunned by how fast the woman could alter her entire reality.
When Azure spoke again, her voice was thick with a heavy, manufactured emotion, loud enough to carry if anyone were listening by the door. "Your Highness... this maid... she tried to kill me. She tried to poison me because I wasn’t Odesse. She is completely mad, my King..."
Just as quickly as it had begun, the act vanished. Azure straightened her spine, her eyes turning cold and maniacal once more as she raised a hand to wipe the dampness from her cheeks with the back of her fingers.
She looked at Cara’s pale face and smirked. "Just like that, Cara. With a few tears, you’ll be thrown out of this pack to the rogues. Or maybe, even better, you’ll be killed. Just like your old Queen was. Dead."
The word hit Cara like a physical stone to the chest. The space around her seemed to tilt, and the word dead began to echo repeatedly in the corners of her mind, growing louder and louder. Her lips quavered, her breath hitching as she stared at the woman before her.
"Dead..." Cara whispered, her voice trembling violently. She watched as Azure turned her back, beginning a lazy, unhurried walk toward the bath chamber. "What... what do you mean by dead?"
Azure stopped. She turned her head back over her shoulder, looking at the young maid with a look of profound, mocking pity.
"Oh, poor, poor Cara," Azure said, her tone dripping with a cruel sweetness. "It has been an entire month. Could your tiny human brain truly not connect the dots by now? Or what, did you honestly believe she just ran away from the man she loved? What a naive, pathetic fool you are."
Cara stood rooted to the spot, a sharp, throbbing pain hammering against her temples. Her mind raced, screaming in denial. "No, no, it’s not true. She’s trying to break me."
"No," Cara said out loud, her voice growing stronger as she stared Azure down. "You are lying. She is not dead. Odesse will come back, and trust me, you will not go scot-free when she does. Hopefully, she kills a monster like you herself."
Azure didn’t rage. Instead, she looked down at her Cara’s hands, noticing that her fingers were trembling slightly. She touched her own jaw, a small, dark smile spreading across her face as she looked back at the maid.
"You shouldn’t threaten someone when you are so visibly nervous yourself, Cara," Azure remarked softly, her voice entirely calm. "Because when you shake like that, your threat is entirely empty. It has no teeth."
She raised her hands, digging her fingers into her dark hair and shaking it out lazily, as if she were simply dusting out her curls after a long sleep. She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. "Anyways, whether you choose to believe me or not, I do not really care. Your beliefs change nothing. All you have to remember from this day forward is very simple: do not disobey me, and you will stay on my good side. But choose to cross me again, and I will certainly make sure no one ever remembers your name. Not even your little crush, Kael, will remember you exist."
Cara’s heart hit her chest so hard it felt as though it were trying to pound its way out of her ribs. The secret she had kept buried deep in her chest had just been dragged into the light and defiled.
Azure scoffed mockingly, enjoying the sudden flash of terror in the maid’s eyes. "Oh, please. It’s not like he likes you back anyways. Do you truly think a commander like him notices a servant?"
She walked back toward Cara, her steps silent on the stone. She stopped just inches away, raising a hand to touch her own lips in a mock gesture of deep thought. "Kael’s heart... his heart is completely locked away, Cara. You may doll yourself up in the prettiest gowns the palace can provide, but he will never, ever find you attractive. He won’t even look at you."
She chuckled softly, the sound grating against Cara’s ears. "His heart doesn’t feel affection. Not romantically, and certainly not sexually. His entire existence is entirely hollow outside of his duties."
Cara looked at her, the tears finally spilling over her eyelids, her lower lip quivering uncontrollably as the cruel words sliced through her.
"So do not even bother," Azure continued, turning away once more to head toward the bath chamber. "His only loyalty is toward his King and the safety of this pack. He is a weapon, nothing more."
She paused at the threshold of the bathroom, turning her head slightly as she noticed the tears streaming down Cara’s face. A cold, dismissive look crossed her features. "And also... why do you think he would ever love you? Even if he were capable of giving someone affection, he would never fall in love with a human. A fragile, weak little creature like you."
Azure turned her entire body around, leaning against the doorframe as her gaze hardened. "This isn’t your love story, Cara. What happened for Odesse will not happen for you. You are not going to magically find out that you are part wolf. You are not special. So do not let the little love story that happened between Odesse and Valex fool you into thinking you can have the same."
She raised her chin, her eyes glaring forward with a chilling, absolute certainty. "You are a side character in this story, Cara. You and Odesse... you are both just side characters in the love story I am writing for myself and Valex. Everyone in this palace, everyone in this kingdom, is a side character in our story. And trust me, I shall kill anyone who dares to get in my way, because anyways... side characters are never missed by history."
She looked down at the shattered porcelain and the spilled tea near Cara’s feet, her expression shifting into one of pure disgust. "Clear up that mess you made. And make sure none of it is left there. I do not want me or his Highness to get hurt because of your blatant incompetence. Move."
Turning on her heel, Azure walked away, scoffing quietly under her breath. "I truly wonder how his Highness ever allowed a creature like you in here in the first place."
Cara stood frozen, completely broken, watching the empty doorway as the heavy silence of the room closed in around her. The strength completely drained from her joints. Her legs gave up, and she collapsed heavily onto the hard stone floor, right beside the puddle of dark tea. She buried her face in her hands and cried her eyes out, the violent, suffocating sobs tearing through her throat.
"Odesse..." she wept into the empty room, her voice thick with an agonizing grief. "Odesse, no..."
...
Inside the bath chamber, the air was dimly lit, the thick moisture smelling heavily of sweet lavender and rich vanilla. Azure’s body was bare as she stepped over the smooth edge of the marble bath, descending slowly into the heated water. She sank herself deep into the pool, letting the warmth rise up to her shoulders, and let out a long, ragged sigh.
"Foolish girl," she muttered to the empty room, her voice echoing softly off the damp tiles. "I really am getting so tired of all this. The constant whispering, the stares..."
She paused, lifting a wet hand to push her damp hair back from her face. Her brow furrowed as a dark thought crossed her mind. "Should I just kill her off? It would be so easy to simply rid myself of her."
She stared at the water rippling against her skin, considering it, before shaking her head. "No. Not yet. If she does anything truly stupid again, I will definitely kill her. But for now, it would cause too many questions."
Azure leaned her head back against the curved marble edge of the bath, closing her eyes slowly, intending to let the warm water soothe the tension in her muscles. But the moment the darkness behind her eyelids settled, her memories dragged her violently back to the terrors of the previous night.
She remembered the sudden, invisible force hitting her chest. She remembered her back crashing into the stone wall, the agonizing pain, and the way the wind had roared through the open balcony doors under the brilliant light of the full moon.
And then, the voice. The soft, chilling voice that had vibrated through the very air of the room.
"I told you I would come back, Azure."
Azure’s eyes shot open immediately. She sat up straight in the bath, her breathing suddenly fast and shallow as a cold spike of panic flooded her veins. She gripped the edge of the marble bath, her knuckles turning white.
"That voice..." she whispered, her voice cracking in the empty room. "Was it... was it truly Odesse?"
She forced herself to take a deep breath, trying to rationalize the terror away. "No. No, it can’t be. It is impossible."
She paused, staring blankly at the steam rising from the water as her mind raced. "But what happened last night... none of it was normal. The kinetic blast, the way the magic resisted me... Was it just a side effect of my spell? Did Valex’s inner wolf lash out because the mental chains are too tight?"
She shook her head rapidly, her fingers digging into her hair as she rubbed her head back, trying to force the memory away. "There is absolutely no way Odesse is alive. She fell into the endless abyss. I watched her. I saw the blood. No one survives that fall. She is dead. It is physically impossible for her to be here."
Azure forced her breathing to slow down, her jaw tightening as she stared at the stone wall across from her. "Maybe I imagined it. I’ve been too stressed, constantly maintaining the illusion. Yes... that must be it. My mind is playing tricks on me because I am exhausted."
She looked forward, her features freezing into a tight, serious mask of determination mingled with a deeply buried panic.
"I need to fix the side effects of my spell," Azure murmured, her voice hardening with an ancient, dark resolve. "I must reinforce the chains in Valex’s mind today. I have to make absolutely certain that whatever happened last night... never happens again."
