by T. A. Grey
Once she left the room, Broderick chased after her, one of the servants chuckled. “Did you see the way she runs out of here? Wonder what got up her craw.”
Another girl leaned forward whispering conspiratorially. “I heard she got a late night visitor last night.”
“From who?” gushed another girl.
“I don’t know. Didn’t hear that part.”
One of the guards shouldered in with the group. “It was that Xavier Carbon fella.”
“Not Xavier,” one said.
“No wonder she’s in such a tizzy. Come on now, we best get back to work.”
Hanna had been listening with some interest. Curious at their conversation she couldn’t help but ask, “Who’s Xavier Carbon?”
Faces glanced at her then looked away. No one answered. The girls turned their backs on her, whispered some more, then parted ways to begin work.
Hanna didn’t like this “murderer” business. People didn’t take kindly to murderers.
Margaret, the woman in charge, was a tall lady, as tall as Alex was. She severely towered over the women in the room and half the men. She had a pale, unattractive face, fingers long and dangly, lipstick too red for her skin tone, and she desperately needed a new hairstyle. Trimmed short at her chin with straight bangs across her forehead, the party planner looked severe and uncompromising. Her heavy mules thudded across the floor as she strode over to Hanna and Alex.
“You two.” She didn’t bother hiding her disgust. “Start setting up those tables over there. Can you read?”
When neither of them answered, she scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“I take it at least one of you are intelligent enough to read. Here, take this.” She handed them a blueprint for a design. “Set those tables up according to this chart. Think you can manage that?” At Hanna’s nod, the woman looked pleased. “Good, begin work now!” She clapped her hands twice.
The woman walked away and Hanna stared after her.
“You should close your mouth so she doesn’t see you gaping at her.” Alex’s commentary was certainly not welcome as far as Hanna was concerned. She turned to face him, a glare in her eye.
“Excuse me? Did I speak to you?” Hanna didn’t wait for his answer, but headed over to their work area.
The blueprint was easy enough to read. Tables had to go in certain positions, then be covered in a specific layer of items: table linens, center pieces, vases that would later hold flowers, and then plates and silverware.
“I think we can manage this.” It was certainly easier than calculating sums, subtracting percentages, and remembering state tax laws like her accounting job had her doing.
Alex snatched the design blueprints from her hand. Hanna’s temper had been edging ever skyward all morning. Having him steal that piece of paper from her so rudely left her reeling.
“Calm down, suga’,” he said in that country-boy voice of his. “Just checking things out for myself.”
“Mmmhmm.”
Hanna started to work.
Perhaps the best way to go about finishing the workload would be to work together. However, that obviously couldn’t happen now.
“I wish they would’ve taken you outside again,” Hanna muttered.
Alex’s scowl suddenly filled her line of vision. “What was that?” He watched her with keen eyes.
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything at all.”
“Bullshit.” This time Alex turned around and started pulling tables together. Hanna’s glare followed him the whole way.
They did manage to work alongside each other--if one could call it that. Hanna refused to speak to him and Alex seemed just as happy to ignore her. Even though, every now and then, she caught him grinding his jaw with a far-off expression.
Good, she thought. He deserved it for what he did last night. Or, rather, what he didn’t do.
Half the day passed and they steadily worked. When Margaret stopped by to assess their work, she merely gave a single nod. Hanna supposed that was her version of “a job well done.”
Margaret had the tone of voice like an elementary principal. Stern and no nonsense. “Broderick is on his way for you, Mr. Thompson. I believe you have other duties to attend to. As for you, Ms. MacKellen, you can follow Ariel down to the laundry room. You have linens to clean and press for these wonderful tables.” Clap, clap.
Hanna glared at the woman. Her superior tone of voice, down to the mocking way she looked at the both of them, had her teeth gnashing. The audacity of the woman to speak to them like they were no more than slaves. It made Hanna want to take Margaret’s ugly little head off. But, instead, she plastered on a tight smile and nodded.
“Of course.”
Out of ear shot from Margaret, Alex pulled Hanna aside. “Try to stay safe and not get into any trouble while I’m gone.”
“As if I need you.”
Dang, she didn’t mean to sound so angry, but she was mad at him. His actions had made her feel bad about herself. It’s not as if she could help being on her breeding cycle. If she could, she wouldn’t be having it right now, while secluded in a territorial pack that wanted them dead.
On top of all that--now the man had seen her naked body, had touched her in ways--she shuddered to think about.
“Listen I know you’re having a hissy fit ‘cause I won’t fuck you, but you gotta get over it.”
Hanna sputtered, trembling with rage. She got in his face, a handsome one which glared down at her. “How dare you?” she half whispered, half shouted.
Alex grabbed her by the shoulders and backed them up away from the other workers. “We don’t have time to talk. Just be safe and we’ll talk about this later.”
“Like hell we will.” Hanna felt a blush come in full bloom. Normally she wasn’t so aggressive, but Alex had really ticked her off. “To think I let you...”
“Let me what?” he challenged. He leaned into her, daring her. Suddenly, he laughed, a sound that rankled her nerves. “Look at you, acting all put-out ‘cause I didn’t fuck you. Babe, it ain’t like I don’t wanna. But I ain’t about to be no daddy. The last thing I’m doing is putting my dick in you during your breeding cycle.”
“You are so crude.”
“Yeah, maybe I am. But at least I don’t pretend to be something I’m not.”
Hanna’s body trembled with anger. She wanted to reach out and shove him, or do something. God, she couldn’t even remember Tom making her this angry. Even when he cheated, she didn’t feel anger, just pain and heartbreak. “God I want to hit you, Alex Thompson.”
Alex bared his teeth at her in a feral grin. “Do it.”
She very nearly did. Truly, she almost let herself succumb to the anger and shove him back. It wouldn’t even hurt him, per se. But somewhere in the back of her mind where she still remained logical and sound of mind, she knew it was wrong.
“No.”
“Ah, good to hear the princess is back. Could you sound any more pompous, really?”
“Insults now, Alex? Really?” Hanna crossed her arms, prepared to do battle.
“Yeah, princess. Really. God...you’re unbelievable. You know that?”
“Insufferable oaf.”
“Like the world revolves around your pussy or something. I ain’t sayin’ it wasn’t good. ‘Cause it was, babe. But you got some delusions if you think I’m gonna put my dick in you during your breeding cycle.”
A muscle near her eye twitched. Then did it again. Great, now he was giving her facial spasms.
“Do you have to be so crude?”
Alex’s voice dropped an octave. “I didn’t hear you complaining last night.”
“Listen here you insufferable, ridiculous man, I am not mad that we didn’t have sex!”
Too little too late, Hanna realized she’d shouted. The entire room just heard her statement about not having sex with Alex, and the whole room seemed to find that news quite interesting as they stared openly at them.
“Shit, look what you’ve done.�
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“Oh, piss off.”
“Never heard you curse so much, babe.”
“Never been so mad before.
“Whatcha mad about if it ain’t ‘cause I didn’t fuck you?”
“I’m mad, Alex,” she spoke slowly so his pea-sized brain could follow, “because you seem to think the only way to have sex with a woman is to orgasm inside her, for one. For two, I’m mad that you ended things last night, which had been fun for the time, without my say so. Three, I’m pissed because you seem to be under the ridiculous impression that I want a kid from you. Like, not no, but hell no, Alex. I’m not a kid person.”
There, that apparently put a stop in his craw.
“Wait, you’re saying— ”
Alex never got to finish. Margaret marched right up to them looking furious. “What is this talk of--? Never mind! Stop it at once. You Hanna follow Ariel there down to the laundry room; you’ll work there for the rest of the day. Alex wait here for Broderick to fetch you. I believe you have more logs to chop for the festivies.”
Alex grumbled beneath his breath. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“No, we won’t.” Hanna smiled sweetly at him, then gave him a finger wave and left.
The maiden named Ariel had a long, blonde braid she wore pleated down her back. Her voice was soft and lilting, thick with her French accent. English sounded like a second language to her, and likely was in fact.
“Hi there, I’m Ariel.” She held out her hand and Hanna shook it.
The girl was rather pretty, but had the hands of a hard worker. Pink and roughened, callouses on her palms.
“Hanna MacKellen.”
Ariel smiled at her. Hanna couldn’t believe it. She was the first person to show any kindness towards her since being locked up here.
“Just forget Margaret.” Ariel rolled her eyes. “She’s a tough body, that’s for sure and loyal to boot. You can bet anything said around her will get back to the queen.”
Great just what she needed, the queen knowing about her argument with Alex.
Hanna followed Ariel down the main hall to the back of the castle. Hanna was actually beginning to recognize the layout of the house. Maybe she could even get around by herself if she had to.
At the end of the hall, they turned a sharp right, then ducked down into the stairwell that led to the basement. All the while Ariel chatted.
“If some of the laundry girls get snippy with you, just ignore them or tell them off. They’re busybodies, the whole lot of them.” She snickered. “I may not be much better.”
As they entered the room, Hanna was bombarded by hot steamy water, a cloud of it hung in the air like fog. The great big baths were already steaming and ready to go. The women wore their aprons over their long servant’s gowns, hands scrubbing dirty garments up and down old-fashioned padded laundry-machines.
“Why don’t you use laundry machines? Wouldn’t it be quicker?”
“Ha!” Ariel laughed. “The queen believes in keeping things old school. A laundry machine? Seriously, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. This is more efficient, costs less money, and keeps pack member employed.”
They walked past a woman with copper, fiery hair that was in tight curls. She grinned at them. “What’s so funny, mermaid?”
Ariel walked up to the woman and put her arm around her. “This fine girl here is Lydia Meyers, the greatest laundress that ever was. She could clean a bloody stain out of satin, take oil out of silk!”
Lydia playfully pushed Ariel. “As if that’s any skill to boost about.” She spoke with the lilting English of Scots or Irish. Her letters flowing beautiful together in way that made Hanna envious.
“You have beautiful hair,” Hanna told her. The poor girl blushed almost as red as her coppery hair.
“Why thank you. That’s very nice of you to say indeed.”
“What’s all this chatter!” The large bosomed manager barged into their group. Hanna recognized the older, gray-haired woman from last time. “Get back to work!”
Begrudgingly Hanna parted ways with Ariel, wishing she could continue her conversation with Lydia. She looked like such a nice lady. They got to work at one of the steam tubs, stirring large sheets into soapy water and scrubbing out stains.
“You’re not so bad, you know.”
Startled, Hanna looked over at Ariel. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “I thought you’d be a mean person, you know? Since you killed Remi and all.”
She talked about the murder so easily, Hanna felt herself do a double take at her audacity.
“Remi, though...” Ariel seemed to have something to say but was hesitant. “He wasn’t always very nice, you know? I mean, don’t get me wrong. He could smile at ya and make your heart skip a beat if you know what I mean. But he had a thing for...pinching girl’s bottoms.”
Hanna’s face scrunched. “He grabbed girls when he shouldn’t have?”
“Yeah, pretty much. He got me once. On my way down here to work actually. And he passed me by and boom just like that. He grabbed me by the bottom as I was walking by, real hearty like. Gave me a big surprise. Lydia over there, happened to her too, and a few other girls. He was known as the kind of fella you didn’t stay around alone with, you know? Didn’t like to keep his hands to himself.”
Hanna’s heart was racing, a heavy thud quickly gaining speed. “He touched other girl’s inappropriately?”
She couldn’t believe it, and yet, it made perfect sense.
“Oui, but don’t tell anyone I told you! I could get in trouble for speaking poorly about the dead prince!”
Hanna nodded. She would have to tell Alex though. Maybe even the queen. What if Remi’s previous deviant behavior could be used as evidence against him? This news sent a surge of renewed energy trough Hanna. Maybe this could help her and Alex’s case against the queen.
Chapter EIGHTEEN
Deep below the castle, Jo MacKellen stepped quietly out of his bedroom. He didn’t trust the place to make the kind of phone call he needed to. There would be ears and eyes on his every move.
Jo checked up and down the hallway, before sliding out and heading quickly towards the exit. He shoved past a servant’s door used for porters and stepped outside into the fresh, wintry air. The temperature significantly colder, his body lurched, and fought to return to the comforting heat of his bedroom. But he had work to do, a specific phone call to make. His breath formed puffy clouds as he breathed.
Meanwhile, he kept his eye on the guards walking the perimeter of the castle. They all certainly had an eye on him as well, likely already calling into the queen to tell her he was outside the walls.
Jo dialed Gavin’s number on his cell when he got far enough away. His older cousin and alpha answered on the second ring. He’d been expecting the call.
“Gavin here. Dear God, Jo, tell me what’s going on. Is Hanna alright?”
Jo’s boots stomped into unplowed snow as he marched away from the castle. It was quiet out here in the harsh terrain, only the crunch of his boots and the sound of his breathing to occupy him.
“Yeah, she’s fine. Alex, too in case you’re wondering.” Jo waited till he was further out before breaking the bad news. “Listen, we got a problem.”
“Even bigger than my sister standing trial for murdering a lykaen prince?”
“Pretty much, yeah. Bigger than that.”
A heavy pause, then a tired sigh. “Tell me straight.”
Jo made sure he was isolated before breaking the news. “A man named Xavier Carbon came by. He seems to have it in for Lysette, some kind of history there, and he’s pushing for the executions of Hanna and Alex. There’s tension between him and Lysette; he makes her nervous. I think we need to move and get them the hell out of here. She hasn’t shown any interest in our peace offerings.”
“What the fuck does she want from us?” Gavin’s roar was immediately followed by the sound of a woman telling him to ‘keep it down.’ That would
be his mate Alicia, who was certainly trying to keep the alpha calm during these trying times.
“This Xavier guy, I got a bad feeling about him, Gav. He might try something. We need to get Hanna out of here. Soon before there is no time left.”
This was exactly what they’d feared--running out of time to figure out a solution where no one got killed. Easier said than done.
Gavin sighed, his tired voice heavy with strain. “We’ve already exhausted all possible solutions and all of them lead to war between our packs. You’re supposed to be in there trying to figure a way to get Hanna out of this. Haven’t you found anything?”
Jo’s eye twitched at the memory. “The queen...did say something to me.” He recalled the proposal she gave him during her bath. A kiss…but in exchange for what?
“Yes, yes, what was it? Something helpful for the love of god, please.”
“She hinted that...” Jo’s mouth failed to form the words, a bad taste in his mouth.
“Hinted what, Jo? Do I need to send Hart out there to replace you? If you can’t handle this tell me. This is bigger than we are. We have to save Hanna.”
And Alex.
Funny, but Jo didn’t ever hear Gavin pushing him to try to save Alex Thompson. Only Hanna, his sister. Made sense, but damn if Jo didn’t want to break them all out of this hellhole.
Jo shook his head and made himself speak the words. “I think the queen hinted that she might be interested... In me...” A long pause. Gavin spoke not a word. “Intimately.” The last word was the most difficult to speak. Like pulling his own molar of out his gums--a slow, painful process.
“Intimately?” Gavin repeated slowly, sounding dumbfounded.
“Yeah.” Even though he couldn’t see his older cousin, Jo felt his face flame in embarrassment. Fuck, he hated this. All of this.
“Well is that a method you’re going to pursue or what? You tell me, Jo, I can’t be there. I need your eyes and your brains on this. Figure it out. Whatever you gotta do. This is for Hanna, you hear me? Our Hanna.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jo gritted his teeth.
Boy did he fucking know what was on the line. He couldn’t fuck this up. He’d have a dead cousin and a dead soldier on his hands--and an unhappy pack to return to. Which gave him no choice. He couldn’t return empty-handed.