Chapter 3 The Alpha's

The cold floor underneath her uncovered feet bit into her skin as the watches dragged Sienna over the sloppy way. Her worker dress was as well lean for the climate, her arms uncovered and bruised from how firmly she had been grasped. The texture clung to her knees as she lurched, her legs still frail from everything that had happened at the ceremony.

She didn't know where they were taking her. When she attempted to inquire, one of the watches pulled her harder by the arm and mumbled, "You will soon discover before long enough."

They had not indeed permitted her to alter. Her hair was a mess, her face streaked with tears and soil, and the disgrace of being paraded through the town in her servant's uniform felt like a moment of skin she seemed not to have shed.

It was when she passed through the doorways of the chateau of the Alpha that Sienna realized that the beat of her heart was beating fast. The scene resembled what one would imagine to be a nightmarish setting to be. Tall dark entryways lingered before her, protected by more men with sharp eyes and more honed weapons.

She gulped the protuberance in her throat. "This is where I will be buried," she whispered to herself.

The guards didn't react. They opened the door with a squeak and pushed her through the side entrance. None of them uttered a word as she was forced down long corridors of all gold-framed mirrors and velvet curtain. The scent of lavender oil was in the air, mixed with another scent, darker, she could not identify. It was all as well idealized, as well noiseless, like a trap wrapped in silk.

The head maid, a tall, wide lady with a strict confront, met her close to the servants' wing. She looked Sienna up and down like she was a rodent somebody dragged in.

"You're the rejected one," the woman said plainly. "You'll start work today. You belong to Luna Renna now."

Sienna could not tell why, but her voice was caught in her throat. She went down a little hall instead, and came out in a tiny room under the staircase, where the housekeeper was.

"Here you shall be sleeping henceforth," the woman said, opening up a little, dark room, which was full of brooms, of old rags and spiderwebs. The only thing on the floor was the ragged blanket.

Sienna didn't move. She just stared.

"What, you were expecting a bed?" the woman snapped. "Get changed and report to the kitchen. You're already late."

The door was slammed behind her and Sienna was alone in the dark. She sank on her knees and the cold sunk into her skin and she gathered the blanket on her shoulders. She did not weep. She just sat there, numb.

Later that day, she was ordered to clean the Alpha's chambers. The head housekeeper handed her a bucket and an old cloth. "Don't touch anything that looks expensive. Don't speak unless spoken to. And if the Alpha comes in, you look down. You are dirty, remember that."

Sienna nodded once and made her way upstairs. The Alpha's wing was silent. The doors were thick and had some carvings on them that she could not identify. The smell came first when she moved into his room. It was leather, smoke, there was something more beneath it, like after a storm, the smell of pine that follows it.

Everything was neat. The bed was very straight and the furniture was shining. One of the nightstands had a picture on it, in a silver frame. Ryder, Renna, standing there, side by side, both of them in ceremonial whites. They were royalty-like.

Sienna took the frame in her hand. She trembled trying to look at the picture. Ryder had put his arm round Renna at the waist, and his eyes were... weary. She placed the frame down before her hands dropped it.

She devoted the following couple of hours to cleaning the surfaces, cleaning the bathroom tiles, folding and re-folding of the towels. The room was so silent that she became dizzy. The very sound of the clock telling time and time again served to remind her that she was nothing here, a ghost going about among the influential.

She sat on the floor of the storage closet that night, and gazed at the hypothetical wall. She felt hungry. No one had offered her food. No one even bothered to check and see whether she was still breathing.

Suddenly, there was a gentle knock on the door of the closet. She flinched.

"Psst," someone whispered. "You got a phone call."

A junior servant opened the door and handed her an old cell phone. "Some lawyer. Said it was important."

She took it up shakily. Hello? said she, in a whisper.

There was a low, hurried voice as it spoke inquiringly, "Sienna, It's Harvey. I'm sorry. I... I am not supposed to call but I had to inform you."

She clutched at her breast, the beating of her heart sounding like thunder in her ears. "Tell me what it is?"

"The contract you signed, it wasn't the one we agreed on."

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice rising.

"There was a clause, Sienna. One that protected your inheritance unless you willingly forfeited it. But someone switched the final page before you signed it. I only found out after Zane registered the papers."

Her fingers tightened around the phone. "You're telling me I gave up everything? My land, my name, everything?"

"Yes. And you signed it in front of witnesses, without pressure, without duress. That's legally binding. There's nothing I can do now."

She was not able to speak. The telephone fell out of her hand and fell on the ground. And the servant boy took up the cellphone and crept away, leaving the close door ajar behind him.

Sienna huddled up, clapping her hands over her ears, and rocked herself back and forth the room as her breath of short gasps came in. Every thought crashed into the next.

Zane had won.

He had taken everything, her body, her title, her home. And now, even her bloodline is gone.

The next morning, the staff was gathered in the main hall. Sienna stood off to the side, still in her stained uniform. Her feet were bare. She had a pale face.

Renna was standing on the marble steps and glow in a gold-embroidery silk robe. She smirked.

"I have an announcement," Renna said, her voice sweet like poison. "As Luna, I expect full respect from every servant in this house. And that includes Sienna."

Gasps rose around the hall.

"She will be assigned to me directly," Renna continued. "Only I will give her orders. She is not to speak to the Alpha. She is not to enter his chambers without permission. She is not to raise her eyes in my presence unless spoken to."

Zane stood behind her, arms crossed, looking smug.

"Bring her forward," Renna said.

Two guards grabbed Sienna by the arms and dragged her to the front. She didn't resist. Her legs barely worked.

"Now," Renna said, "let her declare herself."

Sienna looked around. The room spun. The floor felt like ice. The pressure on her chest was unbearable.

"Say it," Renna whispered, stepping closer. "Say what you are."

Sienna closed her eyes. Her voice shook.

"I am Sienna," she said, barely louder than a whisper, "daughter of no one, mate of no one, servant of this house. I have no blood rights. I exist to serve."

The silence that followed was worse than laughter. It was an agreement. It was final.

Then the door behind her opened. She didn't need to turn. She knew who had entered.

Ryder. His footsteps were slow, measured. She felt him watching. She hoped foolishly that he would stop it. That he would say something. But he didn't.

He said nothing.

He had walked past in front of her as though she had not been there, or had never existed.

Just then Sienna, shuddering, with shallow breaths, heard Renna make the last order.

"Tonight, she will serve in my bedroom."

The guards pulled her back, but just before the door shut, Sienna glanced at Ryder one last time.

He met her eyes. He was burning. But he still didn't move.