"Father, please, he is too weak. He will die." Maya cried as she knelt on the floor.
"Good!"
"Father, please," she wept. Tears streamed down her face, and her knees hurt from dragging over the hard floor.
"What?" Vilhelm yelled, hitting his cane on the floor.
Maya jerked, every inch of her body trembling. She had done everything they had asked of her. Everything. This was bound to kill him; she had to stop it.
"Or do you intend to go in his place?" Vilhelm asked with a sneer.
"Yes!" Maya didn't think as she spoke. All she wanted was some alternative that would save him. If it meant going in his stead, she was willing to do it.
However, as soon as the words left her mouth, Maya regretted them. His disappointment was instantaneous. Vilhelm's nose flared, and his expression contorted. She felt her heart stop as he stared at her with disdain and contempt.
He marched toward her and grabbed her hair. Maya screamed. The sound reverberated through her throat, threatening to tear her throat, but the pain was nothing compared to the pain in her scalp.
Vilhelm grabbed her hair with all his might, lifting her off the ground. She tried to reach for it to ease the pain, but it was suddenly hard to breathe as a distant memory overlapped.
"Picking a stranger over your family that picked you from the slums. You traitor! After I took you in."
Vilhelm tilted her head so she had to look up at him, and he spat in her face.
"Father, I am sorry," Maya mumbled as tears and snot poured down her face. Her scalp hurt, her throat hurt and the tremor in her bones made it hard to think.
"No, you're not! A traitor should be punished!" He then pulled her across the ground by her hair.
Maya woke up with a jolt. Her heart was beating so hard she feared it would leap out of her chest. She bent her legs, pulled them to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, rocking back and forth.
It was the first time she had gone against Father to stop him from sending Marcus to the war. Maya closed her eyes; she didn't want to remember. Father made sure she didn't dare defy him after that and now she had done it again.
Maya's face felt wet; she didn't realize she was crying. She buried her face in her knees. She hated the dark. She didn't know why, but as long as she could remember, the dark scared her.
She shivered from fear as she huddled tighter. Maya was cold, she didn't mind the cold; in fact, she quite liked it. The cold was familiar. The cold was something she was used to. It was the dark that terrified her.
There are no monsters in the dark, and even if there are, I will protect you.
Maya gave out a sad laugh at this memory. It was hard to tell if Marcus had actually said these words to her when they were younger or if she had simply conjured them up. It didn't matter which, because years later, those words were still comforting.
Maya felt her heart slow down. Her breathing was less frantic, and the effect of the memory wasn't as crushing as when she first woke up. It didn't get brighter, and she was still scared to look around the cellar. She didn't even move from where she sat at the top of the stairs.
But it no longer felt as though her heart would crush, and it was slightly easier to breathe.
She knew she was scared of what Father would do in retaliation for what she had done. She was not only worried for herself but also for Alpha Keenan. The Alpha King was the only one with enough power to stop Father, and with the Alpha King on Keenan's side, Maya feared that Father might resort to underhanded tactics.
She frowned and slightly lifted her head as she recalled the words Maelle had said to stop Father in his tracks.
"I know what happened to Mother."
Maya still had no idea what it meant. Mother had died of a rare illness, so rare it didn't have a name. However, one thing was odd about the illness: it had the same symptoms as silver poisoning even though Mother hadn't come into contact with any silver.
She had died not long after being diagnosed. She died when Maya turned eleven, and that was when everything changed.
Maya hugged herself tighter. She hadn't thought about Mother in a while. She could still remember her face clearly, perhaps because she and her sister had the same features as her: black hair and blue eyes.
Mother would often say Maya was the daughter she didn't birth.
She felt the tears run more as she remembered Mother's warm hands and her gentle smile. She had made it easy for Maya to forget the orphanage, and for the first six years after she was adopted, she truly believed she was an Olsten.
Maya jerked as she heard the door unlock. She had fallen asleep again. She lifted her head just as the door opened, and the blinding light made her raise her hands to her face.
Someone was holding a lantern. She could make out their feet, but because of the angle, the light made it difficult to see their faces.
She heard laughter, then a voice spoke. "Are you sure she is really the High Alpha's daughter?" one asked.
"Of course, Alpha Keenan wouldn't make a mistake, and Lady Alaina confirmed it!"
"What is that smell?"
The two women scoffed, and one held her nose. Maya bent her head, unsure what to do in this situation. So she kept still and pretended the women weren't there.
"Get up!" one of them yelled. "Alpha Keenan commands it."
Maya lifted her head. She had wiped her face earlier, so she hoped there was no trace of her crying. She placed her palms on the ground and propped herself to her feet.
She planted her hand on the wall as a wave of dizziness hit her, and she feared she might fall, but Maya knew she couldn't dare.
The women scoffed again and, without saying anything, started walking away. Maya took the hint and followed behind them.