180- Under the Alpha’s Gaze
POV Elowen Grimwald:
As I stepped inside, I felt as though I had entered another era. A kind of cave, with a rustic steel pedestal sink beside a bathtub made of the same material. A candle sat in a hollow between the stones, casting a golden light across the room. An aged wooden cabinet stood next to the toilet, also steel, old-fashioned, along with a coarse, frayed rug in the center of a brushed clay floor.
“After the bath, dry yourself well and use the lotion from the green bottle on the counter.”
“May I ask what it’s for…?” I asked timidly, though curiosity got the better of me.
“That’s the last question I’ll answer, pup. The lotion will dry the wounds in a few hours.” Apparently, everyone knew I hadn’t yet gone through the transformation.
“Really? Wow, that’s incredible. Thank you so much.”
“Hurry up, don’t waste my time. You have half an hour—the time it takes to fix your cell,” she announced, glancing at her old silver watch strapped to her wrist.
“I’ll be quick. Thank you, thank you very, very much, Nerin.” My warm gratitude provoked no reaction from her.
What a cold and hard-to-bend bunch!
I hesitated about whether I could close the door or not, but she did it for me.
Even though everything was old and outdated, it smelled clean. How I had missed the scent of cleanliness. The first thing I did was use the toilet, hoping to rid my body of everything it had been forced to hold.
Not even the sting of water against my wounds made me any less happy in that bathtub. The warm air enveloped my skin like a caress, while the water slid over me, carrying away the weight of days spent imprisoned.
The citrus scent of the soap perfumed the air, a stark contrast to the mold and urine smell of the cage.
How wonderful it was to wash my hair and feel it soft again instead of dry straw.
Fresh breath after a long, thorough brushing of my teeth?
Magnificent.
God, how good it felt.
I followed all of Nerin’s orders and left the bathroom wearing the robe. When I looked down the corridor, the guard was no longer there.
I entered the clean cage, organized and returned to its original place, except for a few bent bars. The spider webs had been removed, as well as the trash. The wall support was still crooked, but a new mat, with a clean sheet, had been laid on the floor atop a kind of rubberized tatami.
May no cockroach reach me there while I slept.
On the floor, spotless and dust-free, there was nothing left except a new bottle of water.
“And the chamber pot…?” I asked Nerin as she locked me back in, hoping she would say I was free of it.
“Once a day, you’re allowed to use the bathroom, until further orders.”
That simple concession set off fireworks inside my brain.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Nerin!” Cow!
She stared at me, one thin eyebrow raised.
“Then don’t thank me. I don’t care whether you live or die; I’m just following orders.” She slapped my face without even lifting her palm.
You asshole! That’s what I wanted to scream.
“Even so, I thank you. Blessed be you, Nerin.” But I was fake, wearing my best forged smile.
“I’ll bring your clothes. If you tear them, they’ll be—”
“The last clothes of my life, I know.” I tested her patience.
With her usual firm expression, she turned her back and left me locked inside.
The lotion had been a holy remedy, as numbness was already taking over the surface of my skin. I looked at the scrapes on my arms, and they were drying, even after just a few minutes. The creator of that miracle deserved an Oscar.
I opened my robe a little and noticed my ribs were more pronounced than usual. Eating only one meal a day, I would soon become a dry piece of skin and bones.
At least I would be clothed when the alpha returned.
Aldren.
The demon’s name was Aldren.
His figure matched sin and lust; the name did too.
All that remained was to test my new mat. Luckily, I didn’t set my expectations high, because it was still hard. Having spent so long unable to stretch out fully, I preferred to stand and stretch rather than curl up and try to sleep again.
I raised my arms and interlaced my fingers, stretching upward, then cracked my neck and stretched one arm at a time before bending forward, trying to reach my toes with my hands.
For a brief moment, I felt empathy for prisoners scattered around the world. Their lives weren’t as bad as mine, of course, because they had three meals a day while I had only one, and if they weren’t in solitary, they could talk to each other, whereas I had no one—but what hurt the most was the loss of freedom.
Elowen Grimwald, imprisoned for the crime of snooping around some pretty towers in search of her sister. How wonderful.
An expert in the sound of footsteps, I knew the ones I heard weren’t Nerin’s.
Aldren?
I straightened up immediately. Just the possibility of it being him again made me dizzy with anxiety and fear.
The figure who appeared at the door was not the alpha; but for the first time, I wished it were.