Rose-Lee’s POV
“Where is she, I told her that I expect nothing less than perfection for the King’s arrival.” I hear my father’s violent growl in the distance. “Get her in here to clean this mess NOW!” I rush up the stairs before I am in more trouble. Every inch of me aches from last night’s punishment. “I will not have you ruin this for your sister, now get this place cleaned up, you know we are hosting the selection ceremony tomorrow and all the Alphas as well as the King are to attend so unless you want more lashings I suggest you get it done before they start arriving today.” My father screams in my face. “Yes Alpha, Sir.” Is all I can say while lowering my head in submission as he leaves the room sending me a glare, “I will deal with you later.”
Going into the servant’s quarters to grab the broom, I rush out to clean the mess made by Samantha one of my sister’s minions. With tears burning the back of my eyes from the pain shooting up my back from the sudden movements I clean the ball room for the second time today.
I do not understand why those two hated me so much and lived to torment me. I had already gotten lashings from them tearing into my sister’s ceremony dress last night after I had hand stitched every inch of the dress. Why do they want to see me punished? It is not my fault I was born without a wolf, I thought to myself as I hear announcements coming from the entrance. “My beautiful Winter Rose, you need to leave; the Alphas are starting to arrive and your father told you to stay out of sight, I will finish up here. Now hurry before you get punished again.” I hear Lillian rush into the room in a panic. Helping me to my feet she shows me out of the room.
As I enter my room in the dungeon I look at the shackles to the side attached to the stone wall, tears spilling from my eyes as I fall to my already sore knees. I get flash backs of the night before, like so many times before being chained to the wall to receive my punishment but for some reason last night was one of the worst I have received. “Useless, lazy bitch,” the words from the night before replay in my head as I wash up with the water in the bucket next to my cot so I can get started with dinner for the guests. After getting dressed, I head up to the kitchen.
So deep in thought, I walk into what felt like a stone wall, looking up I see a mountain of a man with long, curly brown hair. His black eyes staring down at me giving me a growl so vicious it seemed to make his whole chest vibrate. “Idiot girl, get out of the way.” A sharp pain flashes on my face being slapped by my father reopening the gash on my face that had just healed, before I could register what I had done. “Alpha Isaiah I apologize for the girls’ incompetence. Please follow me; we have a lot to discuss.”
“No just show me to my room, I want to get cleaned up from my travels before we discuss anything.” Alpha Isaiah says while staring at me. As goose bumps riddle my skin from the man looking down at me, I push myself further against the wall wishing I could disappear into it as they walk past me and disappear around the corner. Holding the back of my hand to my eyebrow to stop the blood from spoiling the clean floor, I rush to the kitchen and set to my task of making the food for our guests.
“It seems you have a few broken ribs, I wish you could go see the pack’s doctor but I will do my best to help with the pain.” Lillian says while scanning my bruised side. We had just finished cleaning after serving the large crowd of Alphas and Betas their dinner when Lillian decided to have a look at my injuries as I struggle to breathe threw my tasks. “Your mom would kill your father for inflicting you with all of this pain and suffering. It is not your fault that the witch tricked him.” I look at her with my brows pinched together. “What witch? What do you mean?” I ask in confusion, as she give me a sad smile while placing her hand on my shoulder, “Never mind, I will tell you when you are ready, now is not the time but for now let’s get you bandaged up, you have a long day tomorrow so you need to get some rest.”
“Lillian I need to know what happened; I need to know why my father carries so much hatred for me. He is so loving towards Anna-Beth so why can he not hold me in such regard. I need to know.” I beg her, stopping her when she tries to turn around, she is the only one who can give me the information I need to understand why I am treated this way. “Child now is not the time. There will be a time that I will sit with you and explain everything but for now it is simply not the right time. Just know that I am going to get you out of this” I sigh and accept defeat for now.
When I walk into my room to get some rest for the day to come, I see my father standing in the corner of the dark room with a look of disgust on his face. “You clumsy little slut, I told you to stay out of sight but you make a point of walking into Alpha Isaiah. What had you hoped to gain, his sympathy?” My father says with a sadistic laugh roaring out of him. When his face suddenly stiffens, “No one will have sympathy for a stupid little girl that killed her mother by bringing her disgusting presents into this world. I should have killed you the moment I laid eyes on you.” He sneers at me while dragging me to the chains. Locking them around my feet and hands, he walks out of the room.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry,” I tell myself in a faint whisper barely audible to my own ears as I see him walking back in with the red hot iron used to mark Rogues and killers. He presses it against my already broken ribs. “Why,” I scream unable to hold in my screams from the pain. “You dare question me you low life Rogue, you killed my mate. You are an abomination that I should never have given life to. You are the bane of my existence and I will rid myself of you soon enough.” He says to me with a look of pure hatred. Taking the already cooling off rod from my skin, he throws it across the room and unlocks my shackles.
Giving me a punch to my gut he holds whispers in my ear, “This is nothing compared to what I have planned for you if I see you tomorrow. This will be your only warning.” With that being said he pushes me to the ground and disappears into the corridor of the dark dungeon.
Lillian’s POV
I feel awful for not giving Rose-Lee the information she so desperately needed but I simply could not break her heart more. This child has gone through so much in her short life and I cannot bear the thought of adding to that pain. I will find a way to tell her someday but for now I will need to stay silent until I have that figured out.
I was Georgiana’s personal hand maiden and the only one in the room when she passed. She drew her last breath in my arms. She was not only my mistress but also my friend and holding her lifeless body after giving birth to the most beautiful baby girl, I now love whole heartedly. This cold winter night has plagued my memory ever since. I promised to look after Rose-Lee and keep her safe from her father. I plan on making good on the promise even if I get killed for it.
My plan can now come into action with the hosting of the selection ceremony; all of the Alphas in the country as well as the King are to attend. I have one Alpha in mind, who I know based on his reputation may be the best bet. Alpha Alistair is known to be a just Alpha unlike Rose-Lee’s father Jerome. Now I just need to find a way to get him alone and just hope that he will be willing to help my winter rose.
It is 5am and all of the servants are doing the finishing touches for the ceremony today. When I hear a shrill shriek coming from Anna-Beth’s bed room, she rushes out with Samantha in tow jumping up and down screaming with a voice so horrid. “The King is here, he is finally here. I didn’t think he was going to come but he is finally here.” She rushes out of the room towards the castle entrance, pushing Rose-Lee out of her way. “He is going to choose me, I just know it. Why wouldn’t he? I am perfect.” She says flicking her long brown hair over her shoulder and sending Rose-Lee a glare, “What the fuck are you doing here. You are not going to ruin this for me with your ugly face. Go before I call my father” She sneers as I rush to Rose-Lee to get her out of the room and out of sight before Jerome sees her but I was too late.
