Willow woke up that morning, and her eyes felt swollen shut from all the crying she had done through the night.
Every time she had tried to close her eyes and sleep, she kept seeing Dorian's cold face when he grabbed her arm and told her she belonged to him now.
She kept hearing his voice saying he would take her child away if she ever tried to run again and the words echoed in her head like a curse that wouldn't stop repeating itself.
She pushed herself up from the thin mattress and stepped out of her room, looking around the servants' quarters where the other slaves were already getting ready for the day.
Nobody looked at her or asked if she was alright even though she knew they must have heard her crying. The walls were thin and sounds carried easily in the cramped space.
They all had their own problems to worry about and none of them wanted to get involved with someone else's misery when life in the palace was already hard enough.
The cold water she splashed on her face did nothing to help with the puffiness around her eyes, and when she looked at her reflection in the cracked mirror above the washbasin, she barely recognized herself.
Her skin looked pale and drawn and there were dark circles under her eyes that made her look like she hadn't slept in days which wasn't far from the truth since she had been here.
The head servant was an older woman who ran the servants' quarters with an iron fist and she took one look at Willow before shaking her head.
"You look terrible, girl, but that's not my problem as long as you get your work done," She said as she handed over the list of chores that seemed longer than usual today.
Willow took the parchment and tried to focus on the words, but they kept swimming in front of her eyes because fresh tears threatened to spill over.
She had to scrub the throne room which meant being on her hands and knees for hours and then polish all the silver in the main dining hall which would take most of the morning.
After that, she had to wash the windows in the entire east wing and help with meal preparations in the kitchen. She also cleaned out every fireplace in the guest chambers before evening.
"Get moving before you're late." The head servant said before turning away to hand out assignments to the other slaves who were lined up waiting for their daily tasks.
Willow made her way to the throne room first because it was always better to get the hardest job done early when she still had some energy left.
The massive hall was empty this early in the morning, and her footsteps echoed as she walked across the marble floor, carrying her bucket of soapy water and scrub brushes.
She got down on her knees and started scrubbing while her mind wandered to places she didn't want it to go.
She thought about she had felt the mate bond snap into place when Dorian saved her from Carina's slap, and how for one brief moment she had felt hope that maybe things would be different now.
But then he had walked away without saying anything, and later, she had heard him talking to Magnus about how disgusted he was that his mate was a slave. How he only planned to use her for an heir before throwing her away.
The floor was cold and hard under her knees, and after an hour of scrubbing, her hands were raw and bleeding slightly.
She kept going, because stopping would mean having time to think, and thinking only led to more tears.
She moved methodically from one section to another, watching the dirty water turn black as she cleaned years of grime from the corners where nobody usually bothered to look.
Other servants passed through the throne room as the morning went on, but none of them spoke to her.
She was still new and the others had learned long ago that making friends in the palace only led to heartbreak when people disappeared, died or got sold to other packs.
She met Lyra on her second day in the palace and she thought they would grow to become friends, but she had not run into her since then.
It was strange, but she didn't even have the time to look for her around the palace as she had too many things on her plate.
It was better to keep her head down, do her work and try not to draw attention, which was exactly what Willow was trying to do, even though her puffy eyes made it obvious she had been crying.
By the time she finished the throne room and moved on to polishing silver in the dining hall, her back ached and her knees were bruised, but she kept working because work was the only thing that kept her from completely falling apart.
She polished spoon after spoon and fork after fork, until her reflection stared back at her from every surface and each time she saw herself, she looked a little more broken than before.
The kitchen was hot and steamy when she went to help with lunch preparations and the cook was a large woman who barked orders at everyone and didn't care if you were tired or sad or sick.
Willow peeled potatoes until her fingers cramped. She chopped vegetables until her arms ached and stirred pots until the steam made her dizzy, but she kept going because stopping meant thinking about her situation and that was unbearable.
"You're slower than molasses, girl." The cook complained when Willow took too long peeling a potato because her mind had drifted to wondering what would happen when she got pregnant with Dorian's child.
Would he really take the baby away from her like he threatened or was he just trying to scare her into submission?
The thought of carrying a child for nine months only to have it ripped away from her made her stomach turn violently and she had to run outside to vomit behind the kitchen.
When she came back inside the cook, just rolled her eyes and put her to work scrubbing pots instead and Willow was grateful for the mindless task that required no thinking at all.
The afternoon stretched on endlessly as she moved from the kitchen to the east wing where she had to clean every window from top to bottom. Her arms shook as she reached up to clean the high windows and several times she had to stop and rest because her body was running on no sleep and pure anxiety.
The guest chambers were her last task of the day and by then the sun was starting to set and casting long shadows through the hallways.
She cleaned out fireplace after fireplace and covered herself in soot and ash that mixed with the sweat on her skin to create black streaks down her face and arms.
Her whole body hurt and her head pounded from dehydration and exhaustion, but finally, she was done with everything on her list.
She returned the cleaning supplies to the storage room and stood there for a moment, trying to decide where to go.
She couldn't go back to the servants' quarters yet because dinner wouldn't be served for another hour and she couldn't stand the thought of lying on her bed and staring at the ceiling while her thoughts tortured her.
She needed somewhere quiet where she could be alone and maybe cry without anyone seeing her or judging her for being weak.
She remembered seeing a small alcove near the servants' quarters where there was a stone bench tucked away behind some pillars where nobody usually went.
She made her way there and sank down onto the cold stone with a sigh that seemed to come from the deepest part of her soul.
Her body was exhausted, but her mind wouldn't stop racing as she thought about everything that had happened since she arrived at the palace.
The tears came without warning and suddenly she was sobbing into her hands while her shoulders shook with the force of her grief.
She cried for her father who was dead and for the life she had lost, and for the mate who didn't want her. For the future that looked so dark and hopeless.
She cried because she was tired of being strong and tired of pretending everything was fine when nothing was fine at all.
"He's going to take my baby," She whispered to herself between sobs and the words felt like poison in her mouth. "He's going to use me and throw me away. He will take my baby and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm a nobody and he's the Alpha King. Nobody will help me."
She was so lost in her misery, that she didn't hear the footsteps approaching until it was too late.
When she finally sensed someone nearby, she looked up with tears streaming down her face.
Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the Alpha's Beta standing there, looking down at her with an expression she couldn't quite understand.