The Blade

Chapter Seven - Emelia

Emelia

She sat in silence as he rounded the front of the car, coming to her side, and opening the door for her. He held out his hand to assist her but she rolled her eyes and departed on her own. Damien didn’t say anything but Emelia caught the look of distress on his face.

“I knew you lived in a castle, but do you really need it to be this extravagantly large?” Emelia turned toward him halfway through her question. The stone castle looked as if it could take up thousands of her house and she scoffed at the thought.

“A lot of people live inside these walls and I want them to live as luxuriously as they can,” Damien was quick to defend his home, but she wasn’t having it.

“So where do your human servants stay?” She raised her eyebrow accusingly. In return, his face scrunched in confusion.

“What do you mean?” He shoved his hands in his pockets as he started to walk towards the front door. She followed, not knowing what else to do. The people she passed barely noticed her and she wondered if this scene was normal for them.

“Do you keep them in dungeons? Or do they have their own filthy wing?” She faked enthusiasm and watched as the alpha’s warm brown eyes came down on her.

“Contrary to your beliefs, Emelia, we werewolves don’t make it a priority to harm the humans. Granted, we are superior to them, but that doesn’t mean we want them to be miserable. Their rooms are quite nice,” Emelia was shocked into a short silence while her mind shouted questions at her.

“The humans,” she paused, “they sleep in rooms similar to your own?” The girl couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea. The world outside of the palace was repulsive for humans. They were given nothing; it wasn’t a possibility that humans were treated with respect here, especially since it was where the ruling power lived. Emelia shook her head.

“The humans tend to stick together. They all chose to sleep in one area; it was never assigned to them, though. Over the years it has been deemed the ‘servants wing’, but not all of them are servants. As for your question, though, I would have no problem with sleeping in one of their quarters. It is kept clean and it is overgenerous just like every other room in the palace,” Damien didn’t hesitate with his answers and Emelia reluctantly believed he was telling the truth.

“Is that where I will be staying?” She asked as their feet climbed the stairs to the wooden door. Damien intertwined their fingers, much to Emelia’s dismay. She ripped her hand away and avoided his disappointed gaze.

“Nonsense,” Damien stated, “You’ll be staying with me.”

The door opened wide, distracting Emelia from disputing the sleeping arrangements. He led her into the large foyer which was decorated with stone walls and floors. She couldn’t deny how beautiful everything was, but most of her hated the sight of it. This was her first time being in a room this big that didn’t belong to the government. Emelia felt small, like she didn’t belong there. In fact, she knew she didn’t fit in.

“Damien, who is this?” Emelia’s eyes were drawn to an attractive man that seemed to be in his early twenties. His build was thin, yet still muscular. Emelia tried to profile him, but he didn’t seem anything but cheery as he questioned the alpha.

“I’m Emelia,” She answered before Damien could speak up. The way people talked about others while they were in the same room had always angered her. The young male’s eyes flickered to her and he grinned happily. It was not sadistic or sarcastic; it was a genuine grin and she couldn’t help but smile back.

“Nice to meet you, Emelia. I’m Colten, the beta,” He held out his hand and Emelia took it in hers, shaking his hand for a second before the two were broken apart by a rough force. The alpha had pulled her away from Colten as quickly as he could and Emelia looked at him shocked.