Chapter 2 Louisa's POV

I gasped for air as the cold water soaked me.

"Piper!" I called, sitting up from the bed immediately.

"Get your lazy ass up from there!" Piper shouted at the top of her voice as she stoned me with the empty bucket in her hand.

"I'm sorry to announce to you, but your princess days are over now sweetie. You have to wake up early and join your colleagues in the kitchen." She barked.

This had been her anthem since the day my father died and I got demoted to a servant.

I stood up quickly as I tried to cover the bruises from last nights beatings.

Last night was a mess. It happened to be one of those nights Piper was really mad and decided to pour out her anger on me. I barely slept because I was in serious pain from the brutal beatings she gave me. And because my wolf couldn't heal on its own, I had to suffer the pain throughout the night, up until this morning.

Now she's screaming my name as if she doesn't know what she did last night.

"Join your mates quickly!" She barked, "The Alpha King would be here any moment from now, we can't let him meet us unprepared."

Without saying a word, I took my bath and joined the others.

While we were in the kitchen, I couldn't help but notice from the window the shameless behaviour that Piper and Jude were partaking in, in broad daylight.

It's been two days since he rejected me, why the heck do I still feel the pain of him with another woman? I thought it would automatically die with the mate bond that had been shattered.

The heat of the kitchen reminded me of where I was.

"The Alpha King has arrived!" I soon begin to hear some whispers from around.

The news made my heart heavy. He was the one.

The man that gave the order for my father to be killed. He was the one that refused to give my father a chance to be tried. It was all him.

Anger rose inside of me. But I stood quietly anyways, just trying to calm the pain in my chest.

The dishes were spread on the big dinning table, they were over thirty dishes to be precise. We spent majority of our day on the preparations and then we waited for Piper and her mother to approve the meals before we presented them on the dining table.

Finally, everything was set. I stood face down as the Alpha King walked in. None of the maids dared to lift their heads except they were asked to.

We formed a train, ten maids at the left side of the room and another ten at the right hand side. We were also given numbers by which we would be addressed.

The moment the Alpha King entered, the aura in the room change drastically. His aura was distinct and very different from that of every other person. It got to me even before he got to my front. Not to forget the coldness that came with this presence. It was almost as if the coldness of his heart enveloped the room.

He stopped.

Yes... Right in front of me.

The pounding of my heart could almost be heard in the whole room.

Did he recognise that I was the daughter of the man he killed?

A lot of thoughts kept coming to my mind, but eventually, he moved on without saying a word.

Pheeew... I breathed out heavily in relief.

I almost died.

I barely knew what was happening because of course my head was down, but I remember vividly how this worked.

The Pack was headed by the Alpha King, but they were Betas assigned to head each region, more like a head of state. That was what my father was before his demise.

Towards the end of each year, the Alpha King goes around the regions, and a Royal feast is always held to welcome his arrival. The feast they said was a way for him to bond with the people. But I knew it was just a part of the pack's politics.

"Greetings everyone," Came the voice of Beta Gilbert, Piper's father. "Once again we are gathered to welcome the arrival of our Alpha, Alpha Reynolds."

"Your majesty, thank you once again for counting us worthy of your presence."

"I now declare the feast open." He said after giving quite a boring speech of how he appreciated the Alpha and a lot of other things I didn't quite register in my head.

That was where our work began. As everyone took the portion of food they wanted, we served the drinks according to their preference.

As I poured the drinks, I couldn't help but notice his heavy gaze on me.

The meal had barely even started when he said. "You there!"

"18!" He specified.

My chest tightened.

"Why me?" I almost blurted out, but thankfully, nothing came out of my mouth.

My knees were weak as I made my way to meet him. "Yes your majesty..."

"Refill!" He didn't repeat himself, neither did he make his orders clear.

It was absolutely abnormal for him to give clear orders. It was left for you to use your brain. But at this moment, both his wine and water had barely been touched.

I decided to refill both, starting from the water. When I was done I shifted it closer to him. My hand was still on the glass when he grabbed both my hand and the cup.

I withdrew my hand so fast, one would think I had been shocked by electricity.

"Anything else, your majesty." I asked, ready to leave.

His eyes met mine and remained for longer than necessary. "Stay." He said softly, shocking everyone.

From time to time, he kept requesting my service. It seemed way too intentional to be normal.

The moment my eyes snapped up, it was met with the angry Piper. Her hands tightly wrapped around her fork. I swallowed hard and tried to quickly move a little from him.

He caught my arm. "Did I ask you to leave?"

By evening, I don't know how it got to the ears of people outside that room, but people were already talking about it. I didn't even know how to feel or what his actions meant, but I'm sure as hell not interested.

Immediately I rounded off from work, I hurried to my room to shower and get a good night sleep ahead of tomorrow. A good night sleep was almost impossible to ask for, but I still hoped.

"Louisa... Louisa..."

"Hmm..." I muttered, still feeling sleepy.

"Do you hear those sounds?" Mary said, fear evident in her voice as she looked towards the door.

I tried to listen, but before my sleepy brain could make sense of anything, the door fell open.

"That one!" A man pointed.

Without any explanation, they bundled me up and forced me out of the room. They forced a clot into my mouth to stop me from alerting others with my screaming.

I kicked, fought... I did everything I could do to set myself free from them, but they wouldn't just let me go.

They soon began to slow down their movements. I looked around, I was dying to ask. Why did they bring me here? But the cloth in my mouth restricted me from saying a word.

I could sense an unwelcomed presence around. More like that of the rogues.

"Oh poor Louisa," Piper's familiar mocking voice cut through my thinking. "You must be thinking, what did you do that life is so cruel to you. Even I would have thought that if I were in your shoes." A devilish laugh followed her statement although nothing she said was funny.

I struggled against the restraints.

"How did you feel having the Alpha King stare at you like something interesting?" Piper sneered.

"Instead of letting him have you... I'll sell you to your new family."

Their disgusting smell intensified.

"All hail The Rogue Princess." Piper mocked with a loud cheer.