Lorelei POV

The hug caught me so off guard that I just stood there for a moment, completely frozen.

My heart started racing.

Was it because this was the first time I had ever seen someone cry for my sake? I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had cared whether I lived or died.

Yet this girl barely knew me.

Why did she care this much?

Slowly, the tension drained from my body, and I found myself wrapping my arms around her in return.

"I’m okay," I said quietly, feeling my own eyes begin to sting. "I’m okay."

"What happened?" Skye asked as she finally pulled back enough to look at me. "I heard the guards took you away, and then Chelsea started telling everyone you were going to be executed, and I didn’t know what to think. I thought..."

"Skye," I interrupted gently, squeezing her shoulders to ground her as the words tumbled out of her mouth. "I’m really fine."

That seemed to calm her a little.

She wiped at her eyes with the back of her sleeve and took a shaky breath.

"But what happened?" she asked again. "Where did they take you?"

Hearing that, I glanced around at the other maids, who were all still staring. Some looked shocked, some looked curious, and a few looked disappointed.

I shook my head.

"Not here," I whispered. "I’ll tell you later."

Skye nodded and bent down to gather the linens she had dropped.

I crouched beside her to help.

But the moment I straightened back up, my eyes landed on Chelsea.

She was standing off to the side, watching us.

Her face was a mess.

One eye was swollen nearly shut. Her lip was split. Dark bruises covered her jaw, and her nose was still slightly crooked from where I had hit her.

Despite all of that, her glare hadn’t softened in the slightest.

Her eyes were locked on me, and her fists were clenched so tightly at her sides that her knuckles had turned white.

If looks could kill, I would have dropped dead on the spot.

The sight almost made me laugh, but instead, the corner of my lips slowly curled upward.

"Don’t," Skye said, immediately grabbing my arm. "Ella, don’t."

I looked down at her hand before gently pulling my arm free.

Then I started walking straight toward Chelsea.

The other maids immediately stepped aside as I approached. Their eyes followed me cautiously, and I could practically see them wondering what I was about to do.

After all, the last time Chelsea and I had been in the same room together, I had lost my temper and left her face looking like a battlefield.

And honestly?

Just remembering it made me feel a little more confident.

Chelsea, on the other hand, didn’t move. She didn’t flinch or step back.

Her eyes followed me as I closed the distance between us until I was standing only inches away from her, close enough to hear the slight unevenness in her breathing.

"You look a little pale," I said, tilting my head. "What is it? Did you see a ghost, or is it because of all the blood you lost?"

Chelsea’s face immediately flushed a deep shade of red beneath the bruises.

The contrast was almost impressive.

White bandages were still taped across her nose and cheek, making her anger even more obvious.

For a second, she looked like she wanted to scream.

Or punch me.

Or throw herself at me and finish what we’d started yesterday.

But whatever she was thinking, she kept it to herself.

Maybe she remembered what had happened the last time she underestimated me.

"You might think you’re clever because you got lucky," she hissed. "But I know what the Alpha King is like. I know your days here are numbered."

The words hit harder than I wanted to admit, causing a small knot to tighten in my stomach.

I mean, she could be right. What if the Alpha King really had figured out who I was?

But there was no way I was letting Chelsea see even a crack in my confidence. If I backed down now, all these women would see it.

If I stood my ground, none of them would dare mess with me again.

So I kept my expression calm and met her glare without looking away.

"I think you should be more worried about yourself," I said quietly. Then I leaned in a little closer. "I might decide I want revenge."

Chelsea’s jaw tightened, and my smile widened slightly.

"And if that happens, your head might be the next one hanging from the eastern gate," I said, letting the words hang there for a moment before lowering my voice even further. "So if I were you, I’d spend a lot more time watching my back."

That did it.

The color drained from Chelsea’s face so fast it was almost funny, and her lips parted as though she wanted to say something back, but nothing came out.

For the first time since I’d met her, I saw genuine fear flicker in her eyes.

Though it only lasted a second before she forced the expression away.

Without another word, she shoved past me, deliberately slamming her shoulder into mine as she pushed through the crowd.

Knowing Chelsea, I knew she would never back down.

Her pride had been bruised in front of everyone who had once feared her, and she was probably already planning her next act of revenge.

But for now, the Alpha King was still my biggest concern, so I honestly didn’t care.

The second Chelsea disappeared from sight, Skye hurried back to my side.

"I think you just made an enemy for life," she whispered near my ear.

"Wasn’t she always my enemy?" I asked, causing Skye’s lips to curl into a smile.

"I really did underestimate you," she said, and the pride in her voice made my chest swell.

Me too, I admitted silently.

I had underestimated myself for far too long.

I had spent so much time playing the victim that, somewhere along the way, I had forgotten how to be anything else.

"I bet they wish they were me right now," Skye added, her gaze drifting toward the crowd of maids who were still sneaking nervous glances in my direction.

The thought caught me off guard.

Before I could stop myself, I burst out laughing.

Skye stared at me for a second as if trying to figure out what was so funny, but then she started laughing too.

****

When we were finally alone again in our room, I sat Skye down and told her everything that had happened after I was taken away.

I told her about the dark cell.

I told her about the chains.

And most importantly, I told her about the beast.

I explained how I had been certain it would kill me, but it never did.

Instead, it had befriended me.

The more I talked, the more her expression shifted from curiosity to confusion, and then from confusion to outright disbelief.

"Wait. Wait. Wait..." she said, cutting me off. "You are telling me you saw a wolf the size of a horse?"

"Yes."

"And then you spent the entire night cuddling it like some giant teddy bear?"

My brows drew together.

"Yes."

Before I could say anything else, she suddenly leaned forward and pressed a palm against my forehead.

"What are you doing?" I asked, swatting her hand away.

"I am checking to see if you have a fever because none of what you are describing makes any sense," she said. "I have been here for two years, and I have never heard of anything like that."

That completely threw me off.

"You don’t believe me?"

"I really want to," she admitted, "but it just does not make any sense. Then you say it disappeared this morning. That is not exactly a logical explanation."

She had a point.

A beast that large could not simply vanish without a trace, especially without waking me up.

But I knew what I had seen.

I knew what I had felt.

And it had all felt far too real to be a dream.

"So what do you think the explanation is?" I asked.

Skye fell silent, her face scrunching up as she thought. Then, a moment later, her eyes suddenly widened.

"Witches," she gasped.