Chapter 17 His Touch
Meira’s POV
My heart started beating so fast I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. The kind of fast that only meant one thing: fear. What I’d just done could easily be considered an offense in the royal house. Carelessness. Insolence. A servant stepping out of line. It wouldn’t take much for someone like me to be thrown out… or punished.
“Is this what you were sent to do?”
The voice slid through the silence like a blade; it was smooth, familiar, and capable of cutting through every layer of my calm. I knew that voice. I had heard it once in the forest, at the alpha choosing ceremony, and in the courtroom it was sharp as winter air and warm as fire all at once. It always made my body react in ways I couldn’t understand, like sparks racing under my skin.
I turned slowly and cautiously. And there he stood.
The Alpha Prince.
Mr. Sherlock…
But to everyone else in the pack, Alpha Dane
His brows were knitted, a deep frown drawing shadows onto his sharp features as his eyes traveled from my face to my toes. I felt suddenly exposed in my simple servant clothes worn brown fabric, frayed hem, and nothing royal about me.
Then his gaze dropped to the floor, to the book I’d dropped. I scrambled to pick it up before he could comment, bowing my head so low I hoped he wouldn’t notice the tremble in my hands.
“I’m… I’m sorry, my prince,” I breathed out, refusing to meet his eyes. Those eyes held too much power. Too much influence over me. Whenever he fixed me with that cold, unreadable stare, I felt my soul shrink and expand at the same time.
Up close, he didn’t dress like the royals today. His clothing was foreign, dark leather mixed with silver embroidery, fitted to his broad frame like he’d just returned from somewhere far beyond the borders of our kingdom. A traveler. A warrior. A prince who had seen more than he let on.
He surprised me with his next words.
“Did you feel it?” His voice was gentle but still deep and commanding like a velvet-wrapped demand.
I blinked, confused. Feel what? The strange pull I felt whenever he was near? The scent that always brushed against my senses like a familiar whisper? The invisible thread that tugged my chest whenever he stepped too close?
I swallowed. “I—”
Before I could finish, he added, “Did you feel Aurora’s pain when Simon left her for Emily? ”
Oh.
The book.
He was talking about the book I had just dropped.
I stared at him for a moment before my mind caught up with reality. How could I forget? The story, the emotions, it always pulled me in too deep. And now… somehow I was discussing it with the Alpha Prince, as if we were equals.
“Of course I felt her pain,” I said, unable to stop the words from spilling out. “She sacrificed everything. Her time. Her hopes. She made him songs, mixed oils for him, and cooked every new recipe she learned everything she gave came from a place of wanting to be enough.”
His eyes sharpened slightly, watching me.
“But Emily…” I continued, “Emily had the ability to do things Aurora couldn’t. Not because she was better but because she had opportunities Aurora never had. And Simon… he valued what Emily could do, not what Aurora gave from the little she had.” I exhaled, the ache in my chest surprising even me. “People judge you for doing small things, not understanding that sometimes… that small thing is everything you’re capable of.”
I didn’t realize how carried away I’d become until I felt the shift the subtle awareness that I’d crossed an invisible line. I was a servant. He was the prince. I shouldn’t have spoken so freely.
But he didn’t look offended.
There was a small smirk on his face instead, softening his features. His eyes raked over me again, slower this time, lingering. A look that made me feel almost naked beneath my clothes. And for a terrifying second… I didn’t hate it.
He looked intrigued. The same expression he wore the night in the forest when our eyes locked. But now, something warm unfurled in my chest, like a glow I didn’t understand and wasn’t sure I should trust.
“How did you learn to read?” he asked quietly, stepping closer. Much closer. Like he wasn’t the same man who had stared at me with icy detachment less than a day ago.
Suddenly, I remembered who I was. Just Meira. A servant. A nobody. And he… was the Alpha Prince.
I stepped back, barely an inch, but the air between us shifted instantly.
“My aunt Elizabeth,” I muttered, “she—”
But before I could finish, he closed the distance again. His hand came up, fingers tilting my chin upward, forcing my eyes to meet his. Every inch of me froze. His touch wasn’t rough… but it wasn’t soft either. It was firm. Commanding. A prince’s touch.
“Look at me when you’re talking to me,” he murmured.
It felt like an order… but it slid over my skin like a caress.
“My aunt Elizabeth had hired a tutor,” I continued, trying to ignore the heat spreading through me. “He came to teach my cousins Annabelle and Claribel. Sometimes when I wasn’t busy with chores… I listened from the corner.”
His breath brushed my cheek as he leaned in again, closer than before. Close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his body, warm and dangerous.
“Mei…” he whispered, my name falling from his lips like something forbidden.
My heart thudded painfully.
But before he could finish, before he could say the rest, everything shifted.
The air thickened.
A presence, massive, powerful, and suffocating, entered the room. I felt it before I heard the footsteps.
The atmosphere darkened, pressing down on both of us like a storm had suddenly descended. Alpha Dane’s hand fell from my chin slowly, sending jolts down my spine. His posture straightened, jaw tightening.
My blood ran cold.
That aura…
That overwhelming dominance…
There was only one person in the entire kingdom whose presence commanded that much fear and respect.
My heart nearly stopped.
The Alpha King?