The Devils Bargain

Chapter 24

I couldn't sleep at all.

Since Keial said those words to me, I had been awake thinking about what he said, with such raw emotion filled with seriousness, it made me scared, but also made me think that Keial might like me more than I had thought.

I thought this whole time that this arrangement was just business only, but what Keial said last night didn't feel like he was telling me that as a business partner, but as someone who meant something to him.

What was I going to do?

I couldn't answer him, instead after what he said, he moved with me in his arms and then fell asleep whilst hugging me, something he had never done before.

I had slept with him in bed before, but he had never stayed long enough for me to see him wake in the morning, the whole thing felt weird.

It was almost like we were real lovers.

How deep have I fallen to think those thoughts? But it wasn't like I hadn't tried, every boundary I set was destroyed by a simple gaze from him.

I needed to end this arrangement, or more so, I needed to find out how to get what we both wanted as quickly as possible.

Before I can no longer ignore this feeling I get when I look at him.

Even now, as I looked at him with his arm over me, with his face in my direction as I watched him sleep, all I wanted to do was to reach out and touch his angelic handsome sleeping face, and kiss him on his lips.

*****

Someone cleared their throat behind me, making me turn around to see who it was.

"Hey." Ash smiled awkwardly before sitting down next to me.

"I uh, I owe you an apology." He started to say, as I noticed the other servants around us staring at our table in interest, and curiosity.

"If I knew you and the King were together... I never would have said those things to you the other day." He said, making me shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"Look, it's no big deal." I mutter out, stabbing my fork into a piece of meat on my plate.

"You... didn't know."

Ash didn't need to do this, and part of me wishes he never found out, or anyone else, but there was no escaping this awkwardness, especially since it was part of my job to make people believe that Keial and I were lovers.

Ash and I had become good friends, but deceiving him with this made me feel strange.

He was the first real friend I ever had, that didn't leave at the first inconvenience like the rest did at my old pack.

"Yeah, but... I feel like I've been a bad friend the past few days but with the gossip... I figured you needed some space to uh... I don't know." He rambled, his eyes everywhere but on me.

Space because of gossip?

"What are you talking about?"

Ash looked at me like 'You don't know?' and then sighed and leaned forward slightly to whisper.

"That the King is taking you as a lover to get out of marriage, and to piss the council off further." He whispered, a grimace on his face.

"Since the last personal servant to the King went missing due to similar rumors, I didn't want to uh... jinx it, I guess..."

The last personal servant went missing?

Right.... I remember Keial had mentioned that the last servant had lost his head, and Vicrim also said I wouldn't be here long... due to what happened to the person who had the job before me.

I had completely forgotten about it because of the trial and agreement with Keial, that I didn't bother asking any questions about it.

Well, until now.

"What... happened to them?"

"Nobody knows." Ash shrugs and then starts digging into his food.

"A maid friend of mine, overheard Stellia and the King fighting one day, then the next day Stellia disappeared, her family left the forgotten valley and nobody knows where they went, but one thing I know for sure is that Stellia is dead."

"Even if people think she's still alive somewhere." He snorts, as I stare at him.

Stellia?

How did I not hear about any of this? But most of all, why am I only hearing this now?

I knew Keial had women, and plenty of them from what Ash told me, but did he have his... lover, another maidservant die from a single argument?

....Who was I kidding?

Not only ten hours ago, Keial had said he would do the same thing to me.

This shouldn't surprise me... given who Keial still is, a dangerous person.

Even Gregor had warned me, but only now am I realizing just what Gregor meant that day.

"Were they lovers?" I asked Ash, as he looked at me guiltily and nodded his head.

"Rumor was she was pregnant and the King found out before she could leave with the child... which of course is treason if you're carrying the King's offspring, but there were other rumors too about who the child's father may be." He sighed as my eyes widened.

"She was a mated wolf." He cringed. "The whole thing was all anyone could talk about, especially after her mate disappeared and left the valley with her family."

I sat frozen in my seat and stared at Ash, shocked by what I just heard, and as surprised as I wish I was, I wasn't none of it shocks me anymore, not since I single-handedly learned it only hours ago.

The killing came easy to Keial, past wars, and seeing it up close and personal made that obvious, just from how easily he killed Vicrim, without batting an eye.

Keial will most likely kill me, just as bad as he did to this woman, if I were to ever leave him before the bargain was complete, that I don't question.

Yet, a mated wolf, breaking their sacred bond to lay with another? It was unheard of and very uncommon, she must've been a piece of work to betray her bond so easily.

"You shouldn't worry about it though... I think." Ash mumbled, making me snap out of my thoughts.

I wasn't worried about anything, I just wanted this messed-up relationship over more than ever.

I wanted to get my name cleared and live my own life, without bargains, deals, or propositions from dangerous, manipulative, yet crazily attractive powerful Kings.

I needed to find out just why Keial wanted my help, but in the meantime, I needed to figure out how I was going to do that, and when and where I was going to ask him.

Keial was not someone I could casually speak to, due to his ever-shifting mood, there would be no way to predict how he would react... I needed to be smart about this.

"I need to go." I get up from my seat, and grab my empty plate, as Ash looks up at me.

"Where are you going?"

I take a moment and look around, and meet eyes with those who were looking at us and watching as they turn their heads almost like they were trying to hide the fact they were glaring at me.

Keial had always said he wanted loyalty, so... how can he expect me to trust him, if I don't know the full story?

"Just... something, I'll see you later for dinner, okay?" I smiled at him as he frowned at me, I turned and walked away, my mind dead set on what I had to do next.

I was going to ask him, but first, I was going to do my part.

If my loyalty to Keial meant as much as he said, then he had nothing to hide, not about Stellia, or the reasoning for us pretending to be lovers.