Chapter 5. The New Place

BRIANNA’S POV

He tried reassuring me but I was silent, not so convinced. I have crossed the borders to realize that most of the Alpha kings in that hall including the one standing before me were nothing short of Hermes replicas. All angelic on the outside but devilish on the inside.

Seeing how silent I was, he withdrew, huffing out a worrying breath like he cared. We arrived at his castle – a gorgeous Victorian house surrounded by exotic flowers, gardens and manicured lawns.

From inside the SUV, I sighted his uniformed servants and a happy-faced woman in a sea-green flowing gown. One thing was for sure, she wasn’t a servant. She wasn’t wearing the uniform and she exuded a demeanour higher than that. At once, I concluded she was either his fiancée or wife.

Hermes never fancied the idea of getting married. He believed marriage was like a leech that sucked away one’s freedom and pleasure, which I knew wasn’t true. He preferred changing women like clothes and it triggered bile in my throat to know I was one of those women.

One of the guards stepped down and opened the door for me, leaving me surprised. I never knew an Alpha king could have his guards open the door for one considered a slave.

His servants paid their homage and there, I learned his name was Sebastian. He ordered them to take me to an unoccupied chamber of the castle.

The servants were nice and welcoming but the woman wasn’t. Her once bright face turned sour the moment she set her eyes on me. I tried greeting her as I entered but she ignored me and simply flounced past us, her shoes clomping as she headed upstairs.

I was expecting to be taken into a rather plain or messy room with little or no furniture for a comfy living. But I was stricken to see it wasn’t the case. There was a sizeable bed, dresser, wardrobe, fireplace, a vanity table and a large standing mirror at the centre of the room. Plus the room was in a pristine condition, as though no one had confined it for the past few months. I sighed as I entered, Hermes last words “A new life awaits you,” echoing in my head. I was in another castle which could be the end of my suffering or the beginning of a more severe one coated in sugar.

Moments later, the door opened and a maid walked in, carrying a box. My brows furrowed at the sight of it. Why was she bringing a package? Who could have sent it and why at a time like this?

“The king has ordered you to prepare to have dinner with him,” she said like a programmed robot.

I tried calling her back to ask who the woman in the sea-green gown was. But she left as suddenly as she came.

A dinner with him? Swallowing a loud gulp, I trembled. That was the last thing on my mind after everything that has happened today. But who am I to decline? If I did, he might just punish me like Hermes always did. I had no other choice than to oblige. I just prayed it’ll be a dinner with everyone in attendance not the two of us alone.

I opened the box and drew in a deep breath on seeing a gown. I brought it out. It was a nude, tulle V-neck mermaid gown with different shades of blue sequins. Every layer of the gown gleamed as I mused over it. It was an expensive piece, so expensive it cost a fortune.

Seeing the gown made me question his plans for me. Was he planning on making me a maid in this castle, his sex slave like Hermes did or something more? I was okay with being a maid but I shuddered at the other options.

I showered and fixed my hair and face. Even though I hated the idea of the dinner, I still needed to brighten up my gloominess. Reluctantly, I got dressed but was stricken to see that it clung so perfectly to my figure, as though it was made just for me. I slid into nude-coloured sandal heels I found in the dresser just in time for the maid to creak the door open.

“Alpha King Sebastian will like to see you now,” she said with that same robot look. “Come with me.”

The maids that helped me into the castle earlier were warmer and welcoming, but this one wasn’t. It was as though she was told not to say any other thing to me asides the order given to her. After much thought to that, I concluded it was useless to ask her any questions.

I followed her down the hallway and we cornered to a rather secluded area of the castle. My heart pounded in my chest as I thought of the underground part of Hermes’s castle where he did the worst to female omegas like me. Hope she wasn’t taking me to another auction hall? She better not.

“Please where are you taking me?” I asked, panic dripping from my voice.

She didn’t reply. She only stopped by an open door and ushered me in. I almost stumbled on my heels on seeing Sebastian looking all blush and plush in a velvet midnight blue suit.

He was sitting at a beautifully draped, small table. The only light was from a few well-placed candles. He rose in an instant, closed the door and led me across the table. He pulled the chair and with a smile as broad as his shoulders, motioned for me to sit, which I did, awkwardly.

I noticed his eyes ravaged me and a wave of nervousness surged inside me. I couldn’t think of anything else to do than to avoid his eyes, looking into the empty glasses before me, reminding myself every two seconds of what all the Alpha kings were; devils in angels clothing. Nothing but Hermes replicas.

One of the maids emerged from nowhere and without saying a word, poured red wine into the glasses, leaving the bottle on a wine holder on the table. I took a sip and its coldness hastened my breath the more.

“So, what is your name?” He asked as he released his mouth from his glass, slightly wincing at how sweet or cold the wine was.

“I’m Brianna…my king,” I stuttered. He could sense my nervousness and it only left him chuckling as though he found it attractive or rather amusing.

The maid returned and there I learned there was a kitchen on the other side of the room. She dropped a dessert – a single simple plate of fruit and cheese with two forks poked into it and left at once.

“Eat up,” he said, sensing my reluctance.

I found it hard to eat from the same plate as him. At first, I wanted to insist but if I did, something I didn’t like might just happen, so I reached for the fork and dipped a morsel into my mouth, almost struggling to swallow it.

“So how did you end up in the auction?” he asked after he swallowed a chunk.

“I rather not talk about it, my king.” I said and it turned out like a plea.

“I understand,” he said, and I was surprised he did. He didn’t force the words from my mouth. “Hermes is a psychotic brute. And I would have cut all connections with him if he weren’t a fellow Alpha king.”

My mouth almost fell open hearing what he said. It puzzled me to think a fellow Alpha King also despised him as much as I did. But I couldn’t be so sure. Perhaps he wanted to deceive me into trash-talking his fellow and he might have a recorder to record it and then I’ll be punished like never before or at worse, executed.