Chapter 87 Fear
~ Taren's POV ~
I was already on my way to the kitchen when it suddenly occurred to me that I had not retrieved the trolley from Lyra’s room the previous night. The realization slowed my steps as I considered turning back to get it before returning with her food. For a brief moment, I weighed the option carefully, but after a second thought, I decided it would be easier to take another trolley instead and avoid disturbing her unnecessarily.
I guided the trolley steadily down the corridor until I reached her door. Once there, I knocked three times, just as I had made a habit of doing over the past few days.
When no response came, I frowned and reached for the handle, attempting to open the door from the outside. It did not move. The door remained firmly shut, which immediately struck me as strange, because it could not be locked from the inside.
“My lady?” I called out, trying the handle once more with the same result. My unease quickly turned into panic. “My lady, are you in there?” I asked again, my voice rising slightly. “Please say something if you can hear me, so I know whether to go and get help or not.” Fear gripped me as memories of the last incident resurfaced, when she had fainted and the door had sealed itself shut without warning.
Just as my worry threatened to spiral, I heard her voice from inside the room.
“What do you want?” she asked, her tone flat, and I froze in confusion.
I hesitated briefly before answering. “It’s Taren, my lady,” I said carefully. “I brought your breakfast.”
“I am not hungry,” she replied without hesitation. “Take the food away.”
Her response only deepened my confusion. I stared at the door as though it might offer me answers.
“You are not hungry?” I repeated, my mind racing to understand what could be wrong and why she would both refuse to open the door and reject her meal. “If this is about last night, then I apologize once again,” I added quickly. “You misunderstood my reaction, my lady. It was not what you think.” I could not help recalling the events of the previous night, assuming they must be the cause of her sudden coldness.
At that moment, the door to Alpha’s room opened behind me. I turned just in time to see him step out, his gaze locking onto me immediately. The expression on his face was sharp and filled with suspicion, and it sent a chill down my spine.
“What are you apologizing for?” he demanded. “What happened last night?” He closed the distance between us until he stood directly in front of me.
“Good morning, Alpha,” I greeted instinctively, but the words seemed only to make his expression darken further.
“That is not the answer to my question,” he said, and I felt my throat tighten as I swallowed hard.
“I, um, I brought breakfast for her this morning, and the door is locked so I cannot go in,” I explained, stumbling slightly over my words as I struggled to decide how to properly relay what had happened.
“Last night, Taren,” he said sharply. “I asked about last night. What happened last night that you are apologizing for?” His gaze held mine, unyielding, and in that moment I knew there was no way out of this.
“Yes, last night, after you left, she informed me that you two are mates,” I began quickly. “I reacted in shock, but she interpreted my reaction as me being unhappy about it. She looked really hurt by my response, Alpha. That is why I am apologizing now, because she will not let me in.” I rushed through the explanation, laying out the entire sequence of events as plainly as I could.
He studied me with narrowed eyes for several long moments, his silence weighing heavily on me.
“Is that all?” he finally asked.
“Yes, Alpha, that is all,” I answered honestly, though a small part of me wondered why he seemed to expect more.
He released a quiet sigh at last. “That is not the reason her door is locked,” he said calmly, then turned toward her door. “Lyra, please. I am the one you are angry at, not breakfast. Please eat, so that you can have the strength to deal with me properly.”
My confusion deepened as I watched him, unable to understand what was truly happening.
Almost immediately, the door opened on its own.
“Only Taren should enter,” her voice came from inside the room.
At the same time, Alpha’s voice echoed in my head through mind link. “Get her to give you details of why she is angry at me and report back to my office.”
“Yes, Alpha,” I replied mentally, and he walked away without another word. I took a breath and proceeded into the room.
“Good morning, my lady,” I greeted softly. My eyes were instantly drawn to her. She was seated on the bed, which had been moved from its usual position. She looked utterly devastated, so unlike the woman I had come to know that it unsettled me deeply.
“You can just drop the food and leave,” she said flatly. “I will eat when I feel like it.”
I wheeled the trolley toward the sofa, my concern growing with every step.
“I am sorry, my lady, but you don't look like yourself at all,” I said carefully. “I have never seen you in such a state, not even when you first came here. Can you please tell me what is going on?”
“I don't want to talk about it,” she replied, her voice firm but tired.
“I understand,” I said gently. “But I do have a confession to make. Last night, when you said I did not look shocked but instead looked pained, you were absolutely right. I was in pain, but not for the reason you assumed. I am not in that category. I, for one, would love to be mated to someone outside my kind, and it would be even better if she were a witch, because witches fascinate me.”
She stared at me in silence for a short while before finally speaking. “So what was the reason for the pain?”
“Fear,” I answered without hesitation. “I was scared because I did not want you to get hurt. But it seems my fear is already coming to pass, because why do you look like two entirely different people between last night and this morning?”