Chapter 3. Princess Switching

Mirabelle’s POV

The stable was shining perfectly clean as I breathed hard through my nostril almost growing faint with work and wiped the beaded sweat that formed on my forehead. This is a result of working for far too long as the sun scorched in on me from my vigorous hard work for the day.

I pushed back the strand of my long metallic blonde curly hair and tucked it behind my ears and faced the pail of water as my reflection stared back at me.

My honey brown eyes had a trace of weariness and my high cheekbones were with a blush of red from rubbing at them.

My pink lips were slightly chapped from lack of balm.

“The princess demands your presence.” A guard crept in on me, making me jolt and mistakenly hitting the wooden bucket containing water and scrub.

“Oh, mother!”

The guard did a lazy rolling of his eyes before walking away with his sword resting on its sheath.

Wars, death, blood, and tools that bring one to an end were things I didn’t get involved with. Alphas, Warriors, the village gossips, and the terror that keeps every Pack member under fear-

Realization hit me. What was I thinking? The princess needs me. I’ve been here thinking about nonsense matters while I keep her majesty waiting.

I stretched my tired cranky limbs and picked myself up from the floor, my maid dress was ruined with water but changing can wait.

Biting on my bottom lip nervously at the sad reality of looking drenched and probably catching a cold. Nina would be disappointed with her hard work in making my hair ready as they dripped with water and her hot broth from the last time that sent the hands of ailment far away.

It’s taboo for a Wolf girl to be friends with an Omega like me. Her parents have been kind enough to give a homeless and Orphan girl like me shelter. Omegas weren’t meant to be part of a Pack or even to drink from the cup meant for the free-born. Omegas were no different from societal outcasts and we were never given benefits as the other higher wolves.

Shivering with cold as my hurried steps made it to the Pack house of the chief. His daughter was a princess in the kingdom. Weird but true. Each chief in Wolf Heart Pack was accorded as a king, their sons’ prince, and daughters princesses but under a supreme leader.

My knuckles connected to the doors of the princess quarter’s as I held my breath, unable to breathe waiting for her response before walking in. Princess Anabelle wasn’t the one to keep waiting; it was a taboo and it was rewarded with severe punishment.

“I won’t wait any second.” Her autocratic voice says from the corner of the room.

“Yes, princess.” I nodded to no one in particular and pushed the doors open and walked in with slow steps. The water on my clothes left a moist trail to where I stood and I looked back to see it had formed a large trail.

“It has been five minutes since I summoned you. What have you been doing?” Her hands came to rest at her sides. Her hazel long hair looked messy with the sides unparalleled and smudged due to sleep, her eyes swollen and she was on nothing but her nighttime gown made of expensive lacy material.

“I’m sorry ma’am…”

“Shut up and get me dressed. We have a meeting in an hour.” She stared at me with disdain taking in my appearance, “Why do you look like a drenched cat?” wrinkling her nose. There was a pile of clothes all over her dresser. Oh, she wanted to get dressed and had not gotten to a conclusion.

“Yes, princess... It wasn’t intentional but I fell and got wet.” I replied and on getting to the dresser a sting hit my right cheek.

Wham.

A tear slipped from my tear duct and came crashing down my cheek with my palm rubbing the burns.

“Next time look presentable when coming to my quarters you forbidden slave!” She gritted out in rage.

“As you wish my majesty.”

“Get to work!” She barked.

With trembling hands, I walked to the exquisite bathroom and started preparing her bath. She loved lavender and rose oil and other essential oils that glowed her skin and when the bubbling golden extravagant tube sprung to life, creating large bubbles with steam. I left the bathing room and walked into the main bedroom.

“Your bath is ready princess.” I bowed and heard her snort as she pushed me to the side roughly and slammed the doors of the bathroom shut. The push earned me a slight cut at the side of my head as I bit hard on my bottom lip too hard that I tasted the metallic taste of my blood, bittersweet clamping down on the cries that threatened to rack my throat.

Tears were pooling at my tear duct. Today was one of those days but a more lenient day because she had a meeting in an hour.

Princess Annabelle was a no-nonsense princess and failure to follow her orders she demands your head or you end up in a dungeon with a hungry stomach and have the guards carry out the blood whip, which leads to death or a near-death experience that had ones skin extremely battered and peeling.

She is that mean. The meanest of the seven princesses in the kingdoms and she’s very beautiful, during the moon festival she was crowned head princess and it truly got into her head.

Sometimes I imagine what it feels like to live like a princess, eat exotic food, drink the best of wine, wear fancy dresses and attend Royal balls. I’ve never experienced all of that and most importantly love. Being an Omega doesn’t make me cursed or any less to receive love but it was my fate and I’ll humbly take the pie.

I rose from the floor wiping the tears unbeknownst to me that had been spilling to my cheek and walked to the dresser to pick an outfit. There was a lot in her box of expensive and valuable stones of jewelry that was on the trunk left open.

I took my time sorting out the outfit that would interest her and outshine the other princesses, even possibly the Queen. The Queen was another vain and materialistic woman, Annabelle must have learned her vivacious attitude from her. Two narcissistic individuals.

There was a blue ball gown with precious blue stones to the sides in a horizontal stripe and on the layers. The corset had white pearls on them covering every part, perfectly crafted and meant for her kind, not omegas. The next thing was getting the perfect jewelry to work with her dress. I picked a large blue diamond necklace and placed it atop her outfit while I waited patiently for her to leave the bathroom.

She came out with a dry shawl wrapped around her frame. It was customary to dress her so without her ordering me around like a puppy I went to work.

The dressing session was a hurried but careful one. She would have my head if I screwed up her dress or forgot an important part of the dressing process. The dress draped perfectly over her figure, now seated I began to work on her hair using golden pins to wrap it into a tight ponytail.

When I was done I stepped aside and let her take in her appearance in the mirror. She was a self-absorbed princess, too In love with her physical attributes.

“Your tongue must be itching to say something?” she furrowed her brows at me.

“No princess.” I shook my head negatively as my lips formed a thin smile looking as polite as ever.

She turns to face me with a scowl. “You stupid fool! You should complement me, my outfits, my hair, and my beauty!” She snarled, her hands turned into a tight fist.

“There’s none with skin as smooth, glassy, and olive, lips as red, far redder than roses, and blue eyes far bluer than the sky and more enchanting like you. Your beauty drives unmated wolves with the desire to conquer kingdoms and bring the spoils and treasures to your feet and with heartfelt supplication to the moon goddess to be your fated mate.” I sang her praises.

When I said self-absorbed she was everything and more. She hasn’t found her mate and I pray to the moon goddess her mate is everything she hopes him to be, she wasn’t born to be a farmhand like me, or clean the dirt off the table and eat off the crumbs and benevolence of powerful people.

“Lead the way slave.” She smirked.

***

When we got to the meeting hall to meet the Chief there was a far more important issue I could smell in the air. Her bulky gown had me staring at it attentively so she doesn’t fall as she ran to hug her mother and bowed to her father. I was the princess’ personal maid so I was always by her side ready to run or crawl on her demands.

There were six of the other princesses from the kingdoms present and the other ruling chiefs each allocated a royal chair with their daughters by their sides.

Dressed to kill, filled with so much luxury and riches. The chiefs were rich but not as rich as the Head Empire over the seven kingdoms. They have all given birth to a daughter each amongst others with fewer sons.

“We all know about the terror that has befallen the kingdoms and all our efforts to curb the beast has proved abortive.” Annabelle’s father, known as Alpha Dean, speaks. He invited the other chiefs over to his kingdom.

“He’s a ruthless monster. I wish I had the power to destroy the prick!” One of the Alpha exclaims his eyes are growing dark with rage.

“Alpha Dargan is pissing on us and has spat on our faces with his requests. I would never let my daughter be touched by the CURSED!” Another says.

“Did the guard betray us by telling him of our plots to end him? How did he get to the bottom of things and figured us out despite how discreet we made everything appear?” An alpha with sandy brown hair with an oval face wondered.

Alpha Dean sighs and demonstrated with his arms after a long pause from thinking.

“Silence everyone. We don’t need to let our guard down lest he’ll think of us to be cowards and believe he has won. This is the time all chiefs, seven of us think of something better. Our daughters are the baits, but in these must be a calculated plan.”

“I would never send Emily into the den of a ferocious bloodthirsty blood sucking Alpha filled with deadly beasts.” Another Alpha argued and the host of others began to argue amongst themselves. What do you expect from a group of egoistic Alphas? A disaster that’s what to expect.

They went back and forth almost to the point of throwing punches as most of them refused but a few others were opinionated to do as the Alpha King suggested.

King Dargan. The thought of him and his name made goosebumps spread over the layers of my skin, my hands trembled, and had blood draining from my face like I had seen a ghost. I wish it was just mere ghost stories to scare little children into obedience but this was far more dangerous than a ghost scare story, it was real and it was living amongst us.

“This would be final!” Alpha Dean pounds his fist into the wall close to where I stood and I almost slipped to the floor in shock if not for my strong legs.

“Our princesses will leave for the Empire. We have no choice but there’s a twist.” Alpha Dean flicked his gaze from his daughter to me and back to his daughter before he faced the growling and grumbling Alphas.

Something in my guts felt it wasn’t anything pleasant and a hard knot formed in my stomach which had me curling up my toes.

My instincts never failed not for once something bad was about to happen just like the way I felt the morning years back when my parents were murdered by the rogues.

“Mirabelle!”

I fell to my knees with a bow. “Yes, Alpha Chief.”

“I trust you to fulfill and keep everything you’ve heard a secret and to protect whatever you’re going to be told with your life.”

Where is he driving at?

“Not like her life is valuable anyway.” Princess Anabelle clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth, eyeing me with contempt.

“Yes, Alpha.” I nodded as the humble slave I was.

“You are to follow the other princesses to the Supreme Alpha of Wolf’s heart as Princess Anabelle. You’re to look, dress, talk and even relate like a royal. I’ll get a potion to make you wolfless and hide the omega shit. Alpha Dargan isn’t an easy man to fool and for that, we’re getting you prepared and the same as the other princesses. You will be his undoing, especially you Mirabelle.” Alpha Dean had a proud grimace as he rubbed his stubbles.

“But father why is a lowly slave taking my place?” Princess Anabella poked a questioning glance towards the six princesses seated with superiority and an air of importance and grace accorded their status. She wasn’t friends with them because of how she acted like the sun shone from her ass.

“A plan is orchestrated. You’re to switch when it’s time. Mirabelle will learn of the Alpha’s weakness under the guise of a princess and relay every finding to us. Every man has a weakness and the same applies to Alpha Dargan and all his powers.”

Was I hearing correctly? I was going to be thrown into the mix of their schemes like a worm used in a hook to trap a catch but this time it wasn’t a catch but a mighty disaster. I must have heard wrongly there’s no way I’m going to the Empire. I rather work here and die a slave than get my heart eaten and my head his drinking jug. News and rumors of his cannibalistic love for human flesh and thirst for blood aren’t new to the kingdoms.

There are rumors of him killing maids and guards over little or no provocations. Alpha Dargan took out the eyes of his guard for being the first person he laid eyes on in the morning, a servant girl had her fingers chopped off for preparing his bathe mild warm and lots of cruel things he had subjected his servants to; he was a dark and twisted monster.

“Your majesty but..”

“There are no buts. You owe it to us for accepting an Omega in our kingdom. Failure to accept and follow my instructions will have your head at a pike.”

My fingers crawled to my neck. I can’t imagine having my head detached from my neck.

“I agree.” The words flew from my quivering lips before my brain could process the implications of what I am about to do.

There’s no way I’m coming back alive.