Chapter 6

Alora POV

Butterflies swarm in my stomach as I wait for Anila to come to my room. I don't know what I will say to her. I am both angry and excited. She ignored me completely at dinner, but she is the only contact I have to my old life. Perhaps she can shed some light on the last three years.

Anila doesn't knock on my door. She steps inside, and her milky eyes scan the room until she finds me. I had once believed that she was blind, but her vision just works differently than ours. She is perfectly capable of seeing what she needs to in the world around her.

Anger fills the air in the room like a thick fog. It is dense and comfortable to sit in. I do not know what I have done wrong but I must have made a terrible mistake with the Lycan King.

"You should not have asked for me," she snaps at me.

"I did not as for you," I retort. "I ask for Sabrina and Evanora. You made it perfectly clear at dinner that you no longer wanted to associate with me."

"Did you ever think that I am protecting you?" She hisses at me. "It would be better if Leonidas believes that we don't know one another."

"How do you expect me to pretend like I do not know you?" I snap at her.

"Lie," she hisses.

"Have you forgotten that I cannot," I shout, getting angrier by the moment.

Anila is pacing the carpet in my room, muttering under her breath. "Did you mention me by name?"

"I believe I did," I begin.

"I thought you could not lie," she screams.

"It isn't a lie," I shout back at her. "I honestly cannot remember. His presence is so overwhelming that I find myself lightheaded."

"You are a foolish girl," Anila groans.

Anila never enjoyed having me at the cabin when I was younger, and she didn't pretend to make things easier on me. She ignored me for several years letting Eliane and Kaia do all the work of raising me. I have to remind myself that I am no longer a child. I am twenty-one years old, and I should be running the Fae Kingdom, but because of her I am not. I attempt to square my shoulders but I am still weak.

"Perhaps I wouldn't be a fool if you taught me what I needed to know to live in this world," I remind her. "Hell, I don't even know what it would be like to live in the Fae Kingdom. You taught me nothing."

"There was nothing you needed to learn. Your father would have taught you everything you needed to know when he came back for you," Anila says through gritted teeth.

"And did he come back for me?" I demand to know. "What happened in the three years that I was sleeping? How long after you poisoned me did you betray your sisters?"

"Your father has not returned for you," she says curtly.

Tears well up in my eyes. "I do not believe you."

"Only I can open the veil between the realms," she says flatly. "I did not open it after you turned eighteen."

"Did you betray him?" I ask.

"Which 'him' are we talking about?" Anila asks, and an evil smirk spreads across her lips.

"Was this ever about protecting me?" I ask my final question.

Anila shakes her head. "I have only thought about your well being for the last twenty-one years."

She leaves the room without helping me out of my gown.

My arms are heavy at my side. No matter how I try to raise them, they are lead. I flop backward on the bed and push my lip out in a pout.

The gown is hot and itchy. I do not think I will be able to sleep with it on. Still, I close my eyes and try to get some rest, but sleep doesn't come. I guess that is to be expected after three years of sleep.

Staring at the ceiling, I think about Anila and my father. I cannot help but wonder what their relationship was before the sisters took me. What is my part to play in all of this?

Someone clears their throat, but I cannot see who it is over this ridiculous dress.

"Can I help you?" I call out to whoever is avoiding my gaze.

"Are you ready for my help?" Leonidas's voice comes from the doorway.

"Do I have a choice?" I sigh.

"Of course," he says almost gently. "You can let me help you out of that dress, or you can stay in it until morning."

"I am helpless," I remind him. "How do I know you won't take advantage of me."

Leonidas strolls over to the bed. He is in nothing but a pair of pajama pants. His muscular chest is on full display. He does not seem a bit ashamed of his lack of undress.

Leaning over me, he pushes my hair away from my neck. I can feel his breath on my skin, making it difficult for me to breathe.

"I promise not to touch you until you are begging for it," he whispers into my ear.

Despite the odd feeling growing between my legs, I scoff loudly. "What makes you think I would allow you to touch me?"

"Just a hunch," he smiles.

His fingers are working nimbly against the fastenings of my gown. Within what feels like seconds, he has stripped me of the gown, and I am left in nothing but the corset and thin undergarments.

He takes a step back to admire his handy work, and a mischievous grin crosses his lips. "That corset looks uncomfortable," he says.

I grind my teeth together, knowing that if I let him remove it, I will be exposed. "It is."

"Do you trust me?" He winks in my direction.

"No," I admit.

"That's a shame," he replies.

He stares at me with a darkened gaze before he scoops me into his arms and lays me properly on the bed.

"Goodnight, Princess," he whispers as he tucks me into bed.

"How many women have you helped out of their dresses," the words fly out of my mouth before I can stop them. And much to my surprise, I sound jealous.

"Now, why would you want to know that?" He smirks.

"I don't know," I reply. "I just do."

Leonidas comes back to the edge of the bed. "More than you could possibly imagine."

His words leave me seething with unfounded anger. Why should I care how many women have been in his bed? I have to remind myself I am a captive, and he is my captor.