Clara.
My legs felt like water, but I forced them to move. I had to get out of the cellar before someone found me. Before Boran came back to finish the job.
*My, my. This decor is simply dreadful. So much grey stone. It screams ‘tyrannical regime with no artistic taste’.*
The voice was back. It was clear and sharp in my mind, like a bell ringing in an empty room.
I flinched, pressing my hands to my head. “Who are you?” I whispered, my voice raw.
*Who am I? Darling, I’m hurt. You pray to me every full moon. Though usually for less bleeding and more food. I’m Selene.*
Selene. The Moon Goddess. I must have hit my head harder than I thought. I was going insane. That was the only explanation.
“You’re not real,” I muttered, fumbling my way up the stone steps.
*Oh, I’m as real as the ridiculous patch on your face. Speaking of which, good thinking. A bit pirate chic, but it works for now. We’ll get you something in silk later.*
I ignored the voice. I had to. If I started talking to myself, they’d lock me away for good.
I crept through the back corridors, keeping to the shadows. My goal was the kitchens. If I could just get back to work, blend in, maybe no one would notice I’d been gone for hours.
The head cook, Greta, saw me the moment I slipped through the door. Her face, already a permanent scowl, deepened.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” she sneered. “Finally done with your punishment? What happened to your eye? Did the Alpha finally pop it out?”
“I fell,” I mumbled, keeping my gaze fixed on the floor. It was the safest place for it.
*You should tell her you fell on your fist and it accidentally broke her nose. Just a thought.*
“Quiet,” I breathed, so low no one could hear.
“What was that?” Greta barked.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “I said nothing. What do you need me to do?”
She shoved a bucket of potatoes at me. “Peel. And if I find a single eye left in one, you’ll know what it feels like to lose one of yours.”
I nodded and scurried to a corner, sinking onto a small stool. My hands were shaking as I picked up the peeler.
Then the noise started. It wasn’t the usual clatter of the kitchen. It was more. It was everything.
I could hear the hiss of the roast in the oven, the bubble of the soup in the cauldron. But I could also hear the frantic scratching of a mouse in the wall behind me. I could hear Maya, all the way across the room, whispering to another Omega about my eyepatch. I could even hear the low rumble of a conversation from the Great Hall, words about a patrol and rogue wolves.
It was too much. A wave of dizziness washed over me. I dropped the potato and clutched my head.
*Ah. The hearing. That’s a new feature. A bit overwhelming at first, I grant you. Think of it as an upgrade. You’ll get used to filtering out the nonsense.*
“What is happening to me?” I thought, squeezing my eyes shut. My good eye.
*I told you. You’re waking up. The universe decided you’ve had enough of being a doormat.*
“Stop it. Just leave me alone.”
*That, little one, I cannot do. We’re in this together now. For better or for worse. Now pick up that potato before the old hag sees you slacking.*
I forced myself to focus, to block out the cacophony of new sounds. I picked up the peeler, my knuckles white. My hand was unsteady, slick with sweat.
The blade slipped.
It sliced deep into the fleshy part of my thumb. A sharp, stinging pain flared, and blood immediately welled up, a bright crimson droplet against my pale skin. It dripped onto the potato.
Panic, cold and familiar, flooded my veins. Greta would see the blood. She would scream about contamination. It would mean another punishment.
I frantically looked around for a rag, for anything to stop the bleeding. My heart hammered in my chest.
*Oh, don’t be so dramatic. Just watch.*
I looked down at my hand. My breath caught in my throat. The cut was closing. Right before my eyes, the skin was knitting itself back together. The bleeding stopped. Within seconds, it was gone. There wasn’t even a scar. Just smooth, unbroken skin.
I stared, dumbfounded. I poked the spot with a finger from my other hand. It was real. It had healed.
Just like the beating.
“This isn’t possible,” I whispered.
*With me, darling, all things are possible. You heal now. Instantly. It’s one of your… perks. It’ll be very useful, considering the company you keep.*
“What am I?” I asked the voice, my terror finally overriding my denial. “What have you done to me?”
*I haven’t done anything you didn’t already have inside you. I just unlocked the door. You’re a vessel, Clara. A battery for divine energy. My energy, to be specific.*
“A vessel? I’m just an Omega. I’m nothing.”
Selene’s voice lost its sarcastic edge. For the first time, it sounded serious. Stern, even.
*You will stop saying that. You will never call yourself nothing again. Do you understand me?*
The power in her mental voice was so immense it made me feel small, like a speck of dust in the cosmos. I couldn’t have spoken if I’d wanted to.
I just nodded, my eyes wide.
*Good. Now listen to me very carefully. Your life here is over. You cannot stay in this cesspool of a pack.*
“I can’t leave,” I thought desperately. “They would hunt me. Alpha Boran would kill me.”
*He can try. But he won’t be the biggest monster in the woods for much longer. That’s you, now. Or it will be.*
I shook my head, peeling the potato with a mechanical motion, my mind reeling.
“I’m not a monster.”
*No. You’re a goddess. Or close enough. It’s time you started acting like it.*
Her voice softened slightly, a hint of the earlier sarcasm returning.
*But we’ll work on that. Baby steps. For now, just peel your potatoes and keep your head down. But be ready.*
“Ready for what?”
*A great change is coming, little one. It’s on its way to your front door right now. Your old life is about to be shattered. You need to be prepared to walk out of the rubble and never look back.*
The finality in her tone sent a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold of the kitchens. Something was coming. And for the first time in my life, I felt a tiny, terrifying flicker not of fear, but of anticipation.
