Gina's POV.
I looked at her stupidly as I held the necklace.
“Can you not talk?” asked Nydia.
“I… I am so sorry. I must have… have… got lost in…” I stammered. I knew from experience that there was no point saying that she had told me to search for the necklace. If she was anything like my sisters she was just looking for an excuse to make me look foolish or worse like a thief.
“Is she stupid?” Nydia asked in a soft voice that could be mistaken for concern but I could hear her ridicule clearly.
“You should leave,” Dagen said, he did not look at me.
“I apologize…”
“Clean up the mess you have made; I want everything placed in its original state,” said Nydia.
“I am feeling generous today so I will forgive you this once for entering my room without my permission. The next time it happens, I will not be so lenient,” she said.
“Thank you, my lady,” I bowed to her.
“Dagen dear, we should go to your room instead,” she held Dagen’s hand affectionately and this caused Raven to whisper in my head, stupid woman.
It took me even longer to arrange the room and put things where they ought to be.
By the time I was done, I walked out of the room like a zombie.
When I got to my room I laid down on the bed exhausted.
I felt a roar in my stomach that reminded me that I had not eaten all day.
I made no attempt to move as I was used to the feeling of hunger.
I had starved many times for several days in my father’s house. It was no wonder I was so skinny and my skin was so pale. In a way I was malnourished.
I smiled as my stomach cried once more but I lay stubbornly on my bed; my bones were too sore to move at all.
Within minutes I was fast asleep.
I woke up not too long afterwards to a scent that lingered on my breath in spite of the fact that it made me hurt.
What did he want now?
Had his mistress sent him here to say something demeaning?
Or was he here to use me like the sex slave he had turned me into?
“You have eaten nothing today,” he stated it like an accusation.
I said nothing.
What was there to say?
It was the truth.
I had eaten nothing all day because I had spent the entire day looking for a piece of jewelry for his mistress.
“Do you intend to give me an ugly and unhealthy heir? Is that your revenge?” he asked.
In spite of myself, I had to laugh at this.
An ugly and unhealthy heir? Was that what he thought my not eating all day meant? That it was a way to punish him?
I laughed.
It was a deep throaty laughter that I could not stop.
Even to myself, I sounded quite mad.
“This is no joke,” the seriousness in his voice made me laugh out all the more.
“Are you done being mad?” he asked when I had stopped laughing.
I did not respond.
If I had any strength left I had used it all up to laugh.
“Answer me, can you not speak?” he demanded in a raised voice.
“Leave me alone,” I said in a quiet voice. I had no strength for this. I could not continue to argue with Dagen about my eating habits. Besides, this was no fault of mine.
“Just so you know, the next time you refuse a meal I will end your life. You are useless if you cannot bare me a healthy heir. I should also let you know that if you do bare me one that is unhealthy, I will end your life, understood?” Dagen quipped. His tone told me he meant what he had said and I did not doubt him in the slightest but for some reason, I was not scared.
I was strangely at peace or perhaps it was the tiredness that made me so.
He left after that and I returned to my sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, my bones no longer felt sore but I was still very tired.
I noticed too that I was not alone although I was expecting no one in my room at this time. The maids usually came in later than this.
“Diane?” I saw that she had brought out clothes from the wardrobe and had laid them out neatly on a table nearby.
What was she doing that for?
“Oh, good! You are awake. You should have your bath now, Ruth is running your bath already,” she said in an almost cheerful tone.
“My bath? What are you going to do with all these clothes?” I asked her.
“The Alpha wants you to attend a ball with him as his Luna,” she said.
A ball? No one had informed me prior to this.
I was excited either way.
My father had never allowed me to attend a ball before. At least I got to attend one now.
“A ball?”
“All I know about it is that some very important people are going to be there; we need to get you into the finest things,” there was excitement in her voice as though she was the one attending the ball.
I said nothing.
I allowed Ruth to bathe me and when I returned to the room it seemed like Diane had already figured out what I was to wear to the ball.
When she was done dressing me up I stared satisfied with my image in the mirror. It surprised me how much one could look different with just a change of dress and some powder on the face and not to forget whatever it was that she had done to my hair.
I could not rival Nydia’s beauty but I did look presentable compared to when I had stayed with my father. Perhaps with time, I would become beautiful.