Alpha’s Tormented Seductress

The morning sunlight started to trickle in through the openings in the curtains. Alyssa’s legs were overheating in the spot where the sunlight directly fell on.

She remained on the bed, numb and not willing to move an inch. All she could think about was the strange man she had met at the garden last night.

A small smile curved on her lips, but transited into a frown the moment she remembered what her mission entailed. The earlier she laid her hands on the artifact, the faster she would regain her freedom and flee from the countless torments that came from her home.

“Morning, sleeping beauty!” Tiffany said aloud as she barged into the room, intentionally being loud to get Alyssa out of bed.

Alyssa let out a grumpy response and recoiled herself back into bed. She was clearly not ready to start her day.

“You have quite some things to do today. First, to clean the maid’s quarters and then, the garden as well…”, Tiffany was still explaining when Alyssa jerked up and glared at her with curiosity  dancing in her eyes.

She lived in the maid quarters. However, it was quite difficult to strike a productive conversation with the maids, because of how serious they appeared while carrying out their duties. Meeting them in their various rooms would trigger some mood that might make them divulge information about the golden artifact.

“Why are you suddenly beaming? What’s the matter?” Tiffany asked as she took closer steps to Alyssa, who was now sitting up on the bed.

“Nothing actually”, Alyssa replied and stood to her feet. There was possibly no way that she would tell Tiffany of her plot to get the artifact.

“I can perceive that it would be a great day”, Alyssa mumbled under her breath as she strolled into the bathroom to take a nice bath.

The garden was the spot where she met the stranger who she can’t get her mind off. And then, the maid’s quarters was a place she craved to explore; especially when she would be cleaning everyone’s room.

Just as she wore her clothes, her mind drifted away in thoughts. She wondered what the strange man might be up to and if he was thinking of killing himself again.

He had promised not to, but Alyssa wasn’t fully convinced. The only way to know was to meet with him, and that was where the problem laid; where to find him…

“You are lost in thoughts”, Tiffany observed, while Alyssa chuckled to conceal how anxious and worried she was.

“You look worried too…”, Tiffany added as they both made their way out of the room.

Alyssa made to talk, but the words got stuck in her throat. Tiffany appeared to be smart, and Alyssa feared that she would pick out details of her plans.

“Talk to me. I’m your friend now, and you can’t hide things from me”, Tiffany nudged on her while she broke into fake laughter.

“I won’t hide anything from you! I promise”, Alyssa said, and quickly lowered her eyes to the ground.

She felt a pinch of guilt the moment she made their utterance. She was making a promise built on lies, and it pierced through her heart. But then, she needed to do that if she wanted to get Tiffany off her sleeves.

***

Alyssa wiped off the sweats on her forehead as she let out a deep breath. She was truly exhausted, but still thankful. Mopping the floors of the palace as a maid was preferable to getting hit in her home, even though she was a princess.

She rounded up with the first maid’s room and just as she made to proceed to the next, the occupants strolled in.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Her heart raced in excitement as she thought of ways to bring up the conversation.

“I just got done with cleaning your room”, she said with a wide smile.

The two maids reciprocated with a soft smile, after which they sank into the bed and picked up a book to get busy with.

It was clear that they were exhausted, but Alyssa was not willing to leave without giving a shot.

“This palace is really a big place. I mean, it’s more like I’m living in those fantasy books I read when I was younger”, Alyssa commented and chuckled lightly.

One of the maid’s chucked as well, and Alyssa couldn’t help feeling glad. At least, someone wanted to have a conversation with her.

“You know, I’ve heard stories about this palace. Many of which I can’t help but think it’s true. I mean, like the story of the golden artifact that gives strength and power”, she started, wriggling her fingers to sound more authentic.

“There are many stories like that. I always shove them aside as mere myths and fairy tales”, the maid, who seemed interested, replied with keen interest.

“How sure are you that the golden artifact is not laying somewhere around this palace?” Alyssa pushed further, becoming excited that the maid was giving her an ear.

“And you think that if it’s here, people won’t come for it? Trust me, if it were here, there would be war. Or someone would have stolen it already”, the maid replied.

Alyssa gulped down hard and quickly nodded her head in understanding. If only they knew that she was actually here to steal the golden artifact…

She moved on to the next room, and it turned out to be worse than the first. They had dismissed her the minute she was done cleaning, and the fierce glares on their faces made Alyssa retreat.

“How about the King’s chambers? You usually take care of cleaning it up. Are you convinced that you caught no sight of it any day?” Alyssa asked another maid, who had told her that she was the most frequent person in charge of cleaning up the King’s chambers.

“Nothing of such is there. However, you need to lay eyes on the number of ornaments he has lying around his chambers. Most times, I imagined how being the queen would look like…”, the lady went on with blabbing about how beautiful the King chambers looked and Alyssa couldn’t help but feel exhausted.

“Thank you!” She said and quickly dashed out of the room.

That was the last maid’s room she was assigned to clean. She was done with cleaning up, but no glimpse of information showed up at any point.

She sighed in frustration as she slowly made her way to the garden, which was the last thing on her list.

Just as she approached the garden, she looked around for signs of Liam. Her heart craved to see him because she wanted to be sure that he was doing okay. Deep down, she wondered if he was still alive and unknowingly, fear gripped her.

She thought of asking some servants around, but she wasn’t lucky to meet anyone around.

Yesterday, they had planned to meet in the same spot in the evening. However, it was still morning and her eyes were itching to grace his presence.

She wandered into the garden, with a hedge shears in her hands. Her chore was to trim down the flowers, but it started looking as if it were to find the stranger.

Just then, she heard something dropping into the lake. Her heart skipped and with every strength she could find, she ran towards the lake in the garden.