Chapter 14 A SECRET ABOUT TO UNVEIL
Ginnie
Fucking bastard!
Fuck his fucking chambers and their goddamn spotless perfection.
After having to clean Varkos’s stupid chambers all day, my arms ached, my back screaming with every step as I shoved the door to the staff quarters open, still cursing under my breath. Rage and exhaustion tangled together until I could barely tell which one hurt more.
And then—
I stopped.
The words died in my throat as my eyes swept over the small empty space in disbelief, Lily’s tiny shoes lay by the wall, neatly placed like she’d been planning to come right back. While the thin blanket lay half-folded on the bed.
Lily was gone!
My heart slammed violently against my ribs.“Lily?” I whispered, my voice already shaking, “Baby where are you?”
But there was not a single ounce of response from her. I crossed the room in three swift motions, checking behind the narrow wardrobe, under the bed, even the tiny washroom as if she might have somehow curled herself into the shadows.
She wasn’t there.
“Lily, baby. This isn’t funny! Stop messing with me.”My breath began to come out fast, too fast as it dawned on me that she wasn’t in here.
No. No, no, no.
Lily knew better not to wander around this villa, she knew how dangerous this place was—how dangerous they were. Lycans didn’t see humans as fragile things to protect…they saw us as disposable trash.
And Lily wasn’t just human.
She was something worse in their eyes.
A halfling.
If anyone found out—
I couldn’t let myself finish the thought, my hands were already trembling as I rushed out of the room and into the corridor, my pulse roaring in my ears.
“Lily!” I hissed under my breath, afraid to raise my voice too loud in order not to draw any attention to me. I checked every single washroom in the staff quarters, the laundry room. The narrow servants’ passage behind the kitchens.
Each step felt heavier than the last as terror crept its way into every empty corner. Where the hell would she go?
Oh, God!
I pressed my palm to my chest, trying to steady my breathing as I turned to another corner leading to the kitchen. Two maids stood at the center, whispering in hushed, excited tones I didn’t care to find out about.
I barely registered their faces at first, not when my mind was still trapped in the search for Lily—until one of them let out a soft laughter.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said, her voice trembling with gossip-fueled excitement, “The Alpha himself did such a thing?”
My steps slowed despite the will to continue searching for Lily.
“I’m dead serious,” the other maid whispered back. “Something I saw with my own two eyes can’t be false. The Alpha has called for the family doctor immediately.”
My heart skipped so hard it felt like it slammed into my throat. Who in heaven's name would Varkos be calling a doctor for?
“For who?” the second maid asked, as if she knew the question running through my mind.
“For some human slave child,” she replied, lowering her voice to a low whisper, though her eyes gleamed with happiness. “The child collapsed right outside his study…they said the Alpha found her himself.”
A human… child.
Cold flooded my veins—paralyzing, pinning me to a place without any intent to let go. The walls closed in as if the villa itself had decided to take advantage of it and crush me where I stood.
“The Alpha?” the second maid scoffed, “that monster doesn’t even blink when humans die. So why the hell would he care so much about the child?”
“I know!” the first maid hissed under her breath. “That’s why everyone’s talking, can you imagine he carried her inside himself and ordered the doctor to come immediately. Didn’t even wait to hear anything more.”
I stopped breathing.
Lily.
It had to be Lily!
“Collapsed.”
“Outside his study.”
“Doctor.”
No.
No, no, no.
If a doctor examined Lily—they would come to finally know the truth I’ve hidden for so long. They would get to know that she was a halfling!
And halflings didn’t get any bit of mercy in Bleeding Rose, if anything they got executed.
They would kill her.
I didn’t give a second thought as my feet began to move, the maids’ voices faded into a dull, distant buzz as my body moved on instinct alone. I didn’t care if I was going to get punished, beaten, or thrown out to rot for challenging Varkos.
I only cared about Lily.
My feet pounded against the cold stone floors as I took the stairs two at a time, my heart slamming violently against my ribs like it was trying to escape my chest.
Please, I begged silently. Please let me be wrong. Please let this be some other child. Please—
But deep down, beneath the terror and denial, I already knew the bitter truth that I didn’t want to accept. By the time I reached the upper level, the corridor leading to Varkos’s study stretched out before me, long and merciless, like a path carved straight into hell.
My steps began to slow as I approached the heavy door that stood at the end of the corridor. “Get a grip, Ginnie!” I muttered to myself, “Varkos had no fucking right to take your child away from you…I’d rather die than let him.”
I swallowed hard and took a step closer, then another, every instinct screaming at me to turn around, to flee before I saw something that would break me beyond repair—but my feet kept moving, drawn forward by the courage to find Lily.
And then I finally reached the door—
I saw her.
Lily lay sprawled on one of the chairs in Varkos’s study, her small body swallowed by the massive piece of furniture. Her chest rose and fell shallowly as she lay there, fragile and exposed.
Relief slammed into me so violently that my knees nearly gave out. But before I could call her name—
My eyes landed on him.
Varkos
Seated calmly beside her.