CHAPTER 49: A MAID’Z SECRET

Time ticked by in a slow crawl even as Aria heard nothing but the sound of her heart thumping in her chest.

Her entire body was still pressed into the table hard enough for her to not be able to move a muscle. His large thighs lodged between her thighs, keeping them open even as she waited for him to get off her.

Only to feel herself be flipped over the very next second, her back slammed against the table. Zyren’s thighs still between her legs even as he lowered himself over the table, staring right into her eyes as he spoke.

His gaze was much more intense than ever, even as his red eyes seemed to drill into hers.

"Say it again!" he said in a cold and flat tone, one that Aria didn’t dare pull pranks about as she instantly responded without shifting her gaze away.

"I’ll sleep with you willingly in a few days!" Aria said with an anxious look on her face as she lied blatantly through her teeth.

She stared at Zyren, and all she could feel was fear and blazing anger that threatened to burn a hole through her very soul.

Her body shook, but even more so did her hands, which she squeezed tightly as she half-lay on the table, unable to get up.

"I’ll sleep with you and—" repeating herself only to hear Zyren cut her off as he leaned closer to her until their bodies were barely inches apart.

Speaking in a tone and with an expression that scared her as much as she pretended not to be.

"I will strip you and bend you over this same table, and you will cry out in pleasure, moaning my name!" he said, his tone deadly serious.

"You will beg, but I won’t listen until your legs can barely stand!" he continued even as Aria tightened her grip against the table, the only thing stopping her from raising her hands and slapping him across his face.

Her face was a mask of neutral emotions even as her eyes burned with angry tears, fixing her gaze on him as she slowly nodded her head to show that she agreed.

Only to feel him grab her neck and chin with his hand, lifting her gaze to him as he held her gaze until their lips were barely inches apart.

Aria pushed her head back, powerless even as Zyren slowly pushed her face closer to his until she could feel his breath right against her lips as he spoke.

"You wouldn’t hate it!" he whispered, his eyes burning with such intensity it was almost like he would see right into her very soul. But at this point, Aria simply shifted her gaze to the side even as she stopped herself from outrightly frowning.

’I would hate myself!’ Aria thought, aware that she would hate herself enough to kill herself. The idea that she was even that close to her father and brother’s killer and was yet to kill him or pull his eyes out was already bad enough.

’In two days! If I can’t kill him, then I’ll run!’ aware that in a few days he would indeed do as he said he would and sleep with her. Something she had no intention of ever taking part in.

But she had just shifted her head and gaze to the side when she was surprised to see him pull away, all the way back, going as far as to take a few steps back.

Aria instantly adjusted her dress, pulling the hem down even as she drew the arm of the cloth closer to her. The back was ripped, and she was just about to reach for the small jacket only to be surprised when Zyren tossed the blue coat he had been wearing to her.

It was a bit bloodied, but the size was more than big enough for Aria to see no reason to refuse, especially when it covered her body completely.

The moment Aria was done putting it on, she instantly showed her intention to leave the room and had just moved to walk past Zyren. At first, she expected him to stop her, only to be surprised when he did no such thing even if his eyes didn’t once look away from her.

Aria walked even faster until she left the hall, running straight to her room with her heart racing in her chest.

It wasn’t until she stepped into her room and slammed the door that her shoulders began to tremble as the weight of the burden she carried suddenly threatened to overflow.

Tears filled her eyes, and she slid down the door right onto the floor, completely ignoring Rymora who had been standing in the center of the room, her eyes wide, face pale like she had just seen a ghost.

Rymora had just moved towards the table about to pick up a pen when Aria spoke without raising her head or her voice as she sat on the ground, having thrown the coat she wore right on the floor the second she entered her room.

"GET OUT!" Aria said in a low voice but forceful enough for Rymora to see just how serious Aria was. Rymora didn’t hesitate to bow her head a bit before she headed out.

Her gaze was clouded, hiding the anger and fury she was trying to hold in.

’How could you? Do you have any idea what you have done?’ she wanted to scream at Aria.

’How foolish could you be to think that poison would kill him! Even if you wanted to kill him, shouldn’t you have done more research!’ Rymora wanted to snarl at her. She had been in the mansion for about three years, and she herself didn’t dare to make any moves, especially one as stupid as poison.

Rymora slammed the door behind her the second she left, leaving Aria who continued to sit on the ground with tears in her eyes. The memory of the people Zyren killed haunted her, and all she could say in response was three words, each one after the other.

"I’ll try again!" she decided even as she balled her fists together, a determined look on her face.

"In two days—"

"I’ll kill him!" deciding that the moment she couldn’t, she would instantly flee.

RYMORA’s POV

She was pissed! The thought that she could have lost her life in a blink of an eye for something she had no idea of pissed her off.

Out of all the servants there, she was the most liable to have been killed since it was clear to anyone with eyes that Aria had been the one to poison the wine.

It was stupid! Great if there was a poison potent enough to do the job, but Rymora was confident that all the silver in the world wouldn’t be enough.

’If it was so easy... do you think I would have been stuck here for years looking for his weaknesses!’ she grumbled deeply within herself.

Her heart thumped even louder in her chest the faster she walked out of the mansion, having grabbed nothing but her purse.

She was dressed in a servant’s uniform of black, and her black hair was tied in a bun. An intense expression of anxiety was plastered across her face.

Lord Drekh had ordered her to go to his house, and she didn’t dare refuse, aware that although Zyren held all the power, he barely used it.

The vampire lords’ influence was undeniable, and worse, Rymora trembled at the thought that Lord Drekh had discovered something about her which he shouldn’t.

Everything... from the bloody experience she had seen to what she was about to face but had no idea what it would entail—all these terrified her in ways she couldn’t explain even as she took a carriage and paid after giving the driver instructions to Lord Drekh’s mansion.

’Maybe he won’t remember me!’

’Maybe this is simply about sex!! With sex, she could easily turn him down and leave!’

’Maybe this isn’t even about me!’ she thought to herself as she clenched her fists in her lap and sat in the carriage, trying to gain control of her breathing even as sweat pooled on her forehead.

’Maybe this is about Aria! They all seem interested in her!’ she thought, but no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t figure it out.

The carriage continued to trudge on even as her panic increased with each movement. Her fingers clenched harder, and her breaths came in even greater gasps than before as she sat there, a bit dazed.

She had been so careful and couldn’t figure out what she had done to attract Lord Drekh of all people, whom all were aware was not particularly interested in bedding servants.

’I’m in trouble, am I not!’ she thought, aware that she could bolt if she wanted to, but it would also mean that she had failed her mission.

Yet there was only one thought in her mind that refused to leave the more she thought about it. Fear clawing along her veins.

’What if he knows? Does he know I’m a werewolf?’ something no one was supposed to find out since she was a runt.