Lycan King’s Captives novel Chapter 32

As soon as Xandros departs, Queen Adina springs into action, putting me to work. And no matter where I go or what I do, his Beta follows. It’s like having an additional shadow, one that refuses to detach even when the sun is gone. However, his presence I don’t mind, it is a distraction. I feel it around lunchtime, a guttural gnawing, not only from my stomach but the bond as well. It’s as if it senses Xandros’s absence, causing an uncomfortable throbbing.

Just as I sit to devour my lunch, a simple egg sandwich, Queen Adina waltzes into the kitchen. “Did I say you could eat yet?” Her voice is venomous, dripping with scorn. Her eyes feel like they could burn holes in me.

“I always have lunch at this time. It’s when it’s scheduled,” I protest, turning my gaze toward Javier, he remains motionless and impassive.

“You’ll eat when I say you’ve earned the right. Now get up!” Queen Adina’s words echo around the room. She leads me to the foyer, where a maid is waiting with a bucket of water and a toothbrush. She points to the driveway lined with a rock wall. “You are to scrub every rock and boulder. When you’re done, you may have lunch,” she dictates, leaving me outside, the enormity of the task sinking in. The driveway is over quarter mile long from the front door to the iron gates!

All day all I can hear is the metallic clank of my buckets hitting one another, the slosh of water from the scrubbing, the grating of the toothbrush against the rocks that is nearly down to its plastic base, its bristles nearly worn completely. Glancing around, I am barely halfway around the horseshoe that moves around the outside of the fountain. The sun is slowly disappearing behind the forest.

The wind whistles through the trees, carrying the sound of the forest. Like a horde of hungry animals, their hoots and growls sounding as if they are waiting for night to fall, so they can hunt, planning to gobble me up.

By the time I finish scrubbing the horseshoe part of the driveway, it’s late into the night. My skin is blistered from the sun, and chapped from the wind. My fingers bleeding, my lips cracked, my hair matted with soap from my bucket, and knees aching. Queen Adina stands in the doorway of the castle, watching me. “Lazy girl. Well, no point cleaning in the dark. You can finish it at first light in the morning.”

Reluctantly, I get up, each movement sending fresh waves of pain through my body. “I suppose I should let you eat,” Queen Adina snaps, pointing toward the kitchen before sauntering off. The thought of walking the distance to the kitchen seems too much. I decide to forget food for the day and head back to my room, Javier steadying me a few times as I sway on my feet climbing the staircases. I make my way across to the other side of the castle.

“Ignore her. You really should have eaten. You’ll feel worse tomorrow,” Javier whispers, his voice low and concerned. I dismiss his advice, making my way to the room. The moment I step inside, I’m enveloped in Xandros’s scent. It makes the bond ache more, if that’s even possible. Staggering to the bed, I collapse onto it, the smell of him providing a guise of comfort. I pass out, exhaustion taking over me.

I barely feel like I’ve shut my eyes when a loud rap on the door startles me awake. “Slave, get up! You’re late!” Queen Adina’s voice booms from the other side. Javier unlocks the door, and Queen Adina barges in, halting abruptly as she takes in the state of the room and Javier’s hand stopping her crossing the threshold. “Look at this mess. You live like a pig. You’ve destroyed his clothes,” she snarls at me as I rub my eyes, trying to wake up.

Javier steps in. “Xandros had them sent here so she doesn’t fret. I’m sorry, my Queen, but his orders rank above you. I can’t let you enter this room,” he tells Queen Adina. She looks like she might explode. Yet she doesn’t enter, tapping her foot impatiently as I stumble around, changing into fresh clothes, gulping down water from the bathroom sink, and splashing some on my face.

Once again, my day is filled with laborious cleaning, working under the harsh sun, and the bitter cold. Snow fell last night, so it sinks into my flats making my toes numb. My every movement echoes the pain of his absence – along with the pain of working from sun up to sun down.

I can barely contain the searing pain in my body, a hundred needles piercing through my muscles with each movement. My stomach is so empty it feels like it’ll eat itself alive, while the wound in my soul rips and tears deeper every second, its raw agony, too much for me to bear. Even with a deep exhaustion weighing heavy upon me, sleep refuses to come. Just when I think it can’t get worse, Queen Adina pulls me out of bed for yet another day of tormenting labor. I drag myself through another nightmarish day under Queen Adina’s care. Every breath I take is pure agony as I struggle just to keep going.

It’s like the queen takes pride in punishing me further without Xandros here to protect me. However, my physical pain is nothing compared to the gaping wound in my soul—an agonizingly intense burn. The bond feels like a bleeding scar that won’t ever heal.

I am at my breaking point, brought to it by the weight of exhaustion and hunger, coupled with the agony that comes from having one’s freedom taken away. Javier’s voice is like a lifeline, offering me strength in a moment when I feel none. He holds out his lunch to me, his insistence that I need it more than him overpowering my reluctance. Every bite feels like a laborious chore, as if the muscle fatigue in my body has now extended into my mouth. My stomach continues to growl angrily, yet hesitation lingers until finally I give in and eat. The small morsel does nothing for the emptiness inside me, but Javier’s words fill its place, an assurance that Xandros will hear of his mother’s dreadful treatment, imparting a tiny bit of solace into my overwhelming despair.

“How can she despise me so much? I didn’t do this to her sister,” I say out loud, silently hoping for a response.

Javier clears his throat and replies, “And the baby.”

My heart drops as I struggle to comprehend what Javier has just said.

“Her sister was pregnant?” He nods in confirmation. Despite desperately wishing it wasn’t true, all evidence points to Javier’s words being true.

“Yes, her treatment of you is cruel; I do not agree with it just so you know. We aren’t our parents, and she should know that better than anyone else; her father was a ripe bastard, yet she seems to forget that her father killed her father-in-law, yet King Rehan never blamed her. Despite what he did, he still loved her.”

“So she is not only a bitch, she’s a hypocrite.” I sigh, then cover my mouth at my words, glancing at him worriedly. He snorts, tapping my shoulder.

“You can speak freely; you’re safe with me,” he tells me, and I smile thankfully.

“So, what else can you tell me?” I ask, wanting to know more.

“What do you want to know?” he grumbles bitterly, his angular face chiseled with sharp edges. His gaze is fixed on the castle walls, rising high in the sky. He kneels with surprising swiftness and grabs my bristle brush, thrusting it into the murky bucket of soapy water. My heart sinks as I realize he’s taking over my task. I watch as he begins scouring the stone path that winds around the castle, quickly taking over my cleaning duties.

I move to set down my meager lunch when I feel his burning gaze upon me once again. “Eat. I’ll finish your work here,” he commands, his voice laced with a hint of exhaustion. I know he stands outside my door all night; I’ve heard him in the corridor. His dark brows are furrowed in resignation as he works, scrubbing the years-old stains from the pavement with a fast hand. “Hopefully we can be done before nightfall,” he mutters.

A war wages within me between staying put and protesting his takeover of my work or accepting his help and having enough time for dinner. I resign myself to the latter.

I hesitantly take a bite of his sandwich, my mind racing with questions.

“How far along was her sister?” I ask apprehensively.

Javier’s gaze falls and his shoulders sag. “Five months. They were expecting a little girl.”

“I don’t remember hearing about her husband. Did my parents kill him, too?” Juggling questions in my mind, I watch Javier’s face tense with agitation.

“Princess Neve was single; she hadn’t found her mate yet,” he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper, as if he didn’t want to hurt me further.

“You said she was⁠—”

“So all Lycans?” I ask, my curiosity piqued. I had never thought about what kind of power a Lycan would have; it seemed like a fairy tale granted to only the most powerful rulers.

Javier let out a hushed chuckle. “No, not all Lycans. See, royal bloodlines stem from the gods, and once they get into power, it goes to their heads. It’s why they need a mate around to share the burden with. That kind of power changes people.”

“What kind of power?” I inquire further.

“The power of command,” Javier replies darkly. “Lycan auras are stronger than even vampire compulsion, and with a mate, that command is shared between them both. Xandros has had the command for over two hundred years, yet despite being under constant oversight by the council, he’s managed to remain mostly sane…so far. That’s why you’re so important; once you mark him, you’ll be just as strong as him,” Javier explains, his eyes boring into mine.

“So why doesn’t he just command his parents to accept me?”

Javier shrugs. “Guilt, he has some stupid guilt over his aunt and sister. Xandros pretends he doesn’t have a sister; most say it’s easier. Not only that, his mother will pitch a fit if you’re stronger than her. Carina and he are already legally married, there are rules around mates and wives, and divorces when it comes to treaties. I know Xandros is worried that if you challenge Carina for his hand, she’ll kill you.”

“What do you mean?”

“A challenge is to the death, Sienna. If she kills you. Xandros’s hand will be forced, he’ll have to mark her to keep his sanity and ensure the treaty.” I chew my lip nervously. I am definitely no fighter, especially against a vampire. I might as well offer her a vein, she’ll take it, anyway.

“So why does he feel guilty?”

“Because he gave your parents the key to Neve’s quarters. Your mother said she was taking lunch up to her. He mistook her as one of his own servants. Neve was on bed rest, and paranoid; her quarters were always locked down. Anyway, Xandros gave your mother the key to her quarters, yet when she didn’t return it, he went looking for her and found his aunt dead, and your parents had fled the castle grounds.”

I swallow, sick to my stomach.

The questions die on my lips as I leap off the rock that had been my refuge for far too short a time. Gripping my toothbrush, I drop next to Javier and get back to the never-ending labor from which there is no escape.

Hours become an eternity of pain and suffering, and when the sun finally begins to set, marking the end of another agonizing day, I trudge back to my room desperate for Xandros’s comforting scent. Instead of finding relief, all I find is bleach—an acrid smell that burns my nostrils and chokes me with anger.

I collapse onto the floor with a deafening thud, and Javier’s horrified gasp resounds through the air behind me. Immediately he summons a maid who trembles as she speaks. “Queen Adina… she ordered us to clean it.” Her words strike me like lightning bolts, hammering home the painful reality that my last source of comfort had been taken away. Xandros’s scent—my only source of comfort—is gone.

Hot tears cascade down my cheeks, blurring the reality I’m now forced to endure. A deep void surges within me, aching with loneliness and sorrow. I curl up on the cold floor, feeling even colder as the sterile smell of bleach fills my nose and lungs. Javier crouches beside me.

“It’s going to be alright; I can call him right now and he’ll come back,” he says in a gentle voice. My throat tightens as I attempt to swallow the lump that has formed inside it when he mentions Xandros. Rational thought clouds my mind as desperation fills my heart, yet I simply nod, unable to utter any words.