Chapter 13 The Hand-maiden's Threats
Aurelia
The interior lights cast harsh shadows across her face, turning her ice-blue eyes into glittering voids. She tilted her head, studying me like a predator deciding where to strike first.
“You look surprised,” she said softly. “Did you think my mother was the only one who wanted to watch you squirm?”
The air in the car thickened and turned suffocating. The partition between us and the driver was up, sealing us in this private hell.
There were no shifter-guards. Just me, her, and the low hum of the engine as the convoy began to roll.
I wondered if it was intentional, if Thayne was trying to bait me into losing control so he could punish me again. He seemed to be an expert where baits were concerned.
I forced my voice steady. “What do you want, Irina?”
She leaned forward slowly, elbows on her knees, her smile never wavering. “To make sure you understand your place. You’re not Luna. You’re a tool. A filthy little witch dangling from the Alpha’s leash. And tonight, at Alpha Varrick’s celebration, everyone will see it.”
Her gaze dropped to the faint bruises on my arm, Ravina’s fingerprints still visible under the sleeve I’d tried to hide.
“I told the Alpha the party might overwhelm you at first, and that you needed a female to accompany you so you wouldn't feel out of place.” She continued, still flashing me that smile.
I clenched my fists in my lap, my nails biting into palms. The mate bond tugged at me. It was faint and distant, Zhayad too far ahead in the lead vehicle to feel the full burn.
I hated how much I missed it in this moment, and how isolated I felt without it.
Irina noticed. How couldn't she?
She reached out, trailing one manicured nail along the edge of my sleeve, right over the bruise. I flung her hand away without even making body contact.
Her eyes widened in surprise, not expecting that I would dare to use my powers on her again after the last time.
“That sounds really genuine,” I told her, not breaking eye contact. “It makes me wonder what I've done to deserve such a thoughtful gesture from a poisonous soul like yours.”
“Careful, little witch,” she whispered. “The party is full of important alphas. Powerful ones. Ones who don’t take kindly to half-breeds playing queen. One wrong word from me, one ‘accidental’ slip about the danger that you truly are… and you’ll be lucky if they let you crawl out alive.”
She sat back, crossing her legs again, smiling serenely.
“But don’t worry. I’ll be right beside you the whole night. Your devoted hand-maiden. Ready to help with anything you need.”
The threat hung between us like smoke, but I refused to feel threatened.
“I need you to lay off my back,” I said in a low voice, each word measured.
Irina’s smile widened, showing too many teeth. “Request denied.”
I closed my eyes. Just for a second. Long enough to swallow the surge of magic that prickled under my skin, begging to lash out.
Patience. Self-control. I repeated the words like a mantra. Violence now would only prove every accusation they’d ever hurled at me. I couldn’t afford to give them more ammunition.
The convoy slowed, tires crunching over polished gravel. When I opened my eyes again, we had arrived.
I had expected another fortress of black stone and iron spikes, like the Onyx Fang compound. Cold, imposing, and built to intimidate. Instead, Alpha Varrick’s estate unfolded like a fever dream.
Sweeping lawns of emerald green rolled toward a sprawling mansion of pale cream stone and arched windows that caught the last light of sunset in warm gold.
Towers rose at each corner, but they were wrapped in climbing roses and ivy, not battlements.
Lanterns floated in the air above the drive, soft orbs of amber and violet drifting lazily.
Music coming from stringed instruments and distant laughter spilled from open terraces. Color bloomed everywhere: deep burgundy banners, sapphire-blue fountains, guests in jewel-toned gowns and silver-threaded suits moving like living stained glass.
It was beautiful. And utterly disorienting. I didn’t have time to process it.
Alpha Zhayad appeared in front of me, stepping out of the lead vehicle like he’d materialized from the shadows. He blocked out the entire view behind him, the towers, lanterns, the laughing guests, filling my vision completely.
His black suit was tailored to lethal precision, the fabric absorbing light rather than reflecting it. His eyes were back to their normal green, but the mate bond still hummed between us.
It was low and insistent, like a heartbeat I couldn’t escape.
He didn’t speak until he was close enough that I had to tilt my head to meet his gaze.
“In there,” he started in a voice quiet but edged with steel, “you will do as I say. I didn’t bring you here to enjoy yourself.”
His hand rose, fingers brushing the edge of my jaw, just a ghost of contact, enough to make my pulse spike.
“Stay away from the wines. Stay at Irina’s side if I’m not close enough. Do not wander. Do not speak unless spoken to. And do not—” His thumb pressed lightly against my lower lip, silencing the protest I hadn’t even voiced out yet. “—give anyone a reason to question your place here.”
The bond flared hotter at the contact, my traitorous body instantly heating up like ramen noodles in the microwave.
I hated how my body responded even now, even after everything.
I nodded once, and he studied my face for a long moment, his eyes searching for something.
Defiance, perhaps, or weakness. Then he stepped back, turning toward the estate without another word.
Irina slid out of the car behind me, her smile still in place, masking the ugliness underneath it.
“After you, Luna,” she murmured, gesturing toward the glowing entrance with mock courtesy.
I walked forward, the soft music and laughter growing louder with every step, the weight of hundreds of eyes already settling on me with the weight of a living thing.
Irina walked beside me, pretending to fix my dress, my hair, my jewellery. I wish I could simply blast her all the way back to OnyxFang.
Her voice in my ear was low, meant for my ears alone.
I braced myself for the threat I knew she was about to issue.
“I will crush you tonight, witch. This will be nothing like the claiming ceremony. Tonight, I will demolish what is left of your reputation and watch Alpha Zhayad banish you.” Initially, I imagined she'd gone through the stress of accompanying us just to spite and torment me.