SWNOVELS Chapter 24
My heart felt like it was going to give out because it was working overtime. My limbs already gave up on me a long time ago. How i still managed to use them was a mystery to me. My spirit was really down and what I really needed even more than food at the moment was a really long nap
Mara had managed to cut my night time significantly into half and even the few hours of sleep that I got, she still found. way to forment me by showing up in my dreams and reminding me to wake you early when I’d only just started to sleep. It felt like she was messing with it head and I knew that it was probably just the sleep deprivation telling on me but she was the
main cause.
same
The tasks Mara assigned me became increasingly nonsensical and annoying as time passed. From cleaning the windows over and over again to organizing the pantry by alphabetical order and colour, I found myself drowning in an endless sea of menial work.
“Kira,” she snapped one day, her lip curling in a sneer, “the silverware in the dining room is filthy. Polish it until it shines.” I nodded, my jaw clenched so tightly that it ached, and I set to work.
As I polished each fork and spoon, the exhaustion from the endless tasks started to creep up on me, making my arms shake with effort. For every meal I ate, she overworked the shit out of me.
It was hard to work with a baby living in my stomach and trying to grow but I didn’t dare slow down, knowing that any hint of laziness would be met with Mara’s wrath. She just came and she was already wrecking havoc every where or was just me that felt the wrath of her presence?
it only
I didn’t get it, I couldn’t understand why she saw me as a threat. I had zero interest in her s**d relationship. In fact, I wished them long years together. I prayed that they would spend all their lives together and never left each other till they f***g died by each other’s hands.
Finally, I finished the last spoon, placing it carefully back into the silverware drawer. Just as I was about to leave the dining room, I spotted a single fleck of tarnish on the side of one of the forks.
I froze, my heart sinking into my stomach. I never thought the day would come that a stain on a fork would make my heart pound in fear. What had my life become? What was it that I was turning into? A sl**?!
“I worried for my baby is all.” I said to myself and walked back to the drawer. If Mara spotted the tarnish, she would surely unleash her fury upon me. I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t risk even more punishment than I was already going through. I could literally die from the way that she was treating me, my baby was my priority. I couldn’t allow myself die yet, especially not in the hands of that witch.
With shaking hands, I pulled the drawer open once again, praying that the others hadn’t dried yet. With practiced precision, I polished the tarnished spot away, my eyes burning with exhaustion.
When the drawer was once again closed, I let out a sigh of relief wiping the sweat from my brow. But my brief moment of respite was short-lived, as a familiar voice cut through the silence.
“Kira, Mara said, her voice dripping with disdain. “Is that the only thing you know how to do? Clean?
I turned around slowly, my gaze fixed on the floor. “No,” I murmured, my voice thick with exhaustion. “I do everything else that you ask of me”
She let out a humourless laugh, the sound echoing through the dining room. “Well, I certainly hope so,” she said. “Because I’m not even close to finished with you.” She stated and it was the first time that she was orally admitting that she was putting me through hell. She always just said that I was doing my job since Aston had asked her to use me as her personal maid whenever she wanted.
Over the next few days, Mara’s demands only seemed to increase in both frequency and absurdity.
“Kira, the dust on the chandelier in the grand hall is unacceptable. Climb up there and clean it u
“Kira, the linens in my bed are not soft enough. Go and find new ones.”
“Kira. I’m in the mood for a midnight snack. Bring me some fruit from the orchard.”
it sparkles.”
Each task was more impossible than the last, but I knew that defiance would only earn me punishment and not only from the witch but her mate too.
I could feel the anger and resentment building inside me, simmering just beneath the surface of my calm exterior.
Each day, as 1 trudged through Mara’s endless list of tasks, I found myself growing more and more resentful. Her demands seemed to be getting increasingly frivolous, as if she were testing my patience, probing for the slightest hint of insubordination so she could have my head on a f****g tray and she and her mate could feast on it.
“Kira,” she snapped one afternoon, her voice sharp as a blade. “The bedding in my chambers is unsatisfactory. Have it replaced immediately.”
I clenched my jaw, biting back the retort that threatened to spill from my lips.
“Yes, my lady.” I replied, forcing my voice to remain level and respectful. I retreated from the room, a bitter taste rising in my mouth-
Later that night, as I prepared the dinner table for Aston and Mar, I couldn’t help but watch them, the rage building in my chest like a wildfire. The way they smiled at each other, their laughter and stolen glances filled me with a white-hot fury. They were comfortably flirting with each other like no one’s business, like I was f**g invincible.
They deserved each other, I thought to myself, my hands shaking with barely suppressed anger.
As I watched Aston and Mara dine together that night, their laughter and intimacy twisting like a knife in my heart, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were perfectly suited for each other.
Their cruelty and selfishness meshed together in a cold, merciless tapestry of ambition and power, their shared hatred for anyone beneath their station the glue that bound them together
And yet, despite my hatred for them both, I could not deny the creeping dread that crawled across my skin at the thought of what lay ahead. Who knew what was going to end up becoming of me if they continued this way?
It was house chores for now, what would to hey have me do later? If Mara was just half as deranged as Aston was then I was in a whole lot if trouble. Insane scenarios flashed thought my head.
Aston had me watch him while he had sex, who knew what sick thing Mara would come up with. I couldn’t even imagine having to watch the both of them exchange body fluids, it would be more traumatizing than watching your own grandparents have sex. I only watched them flirt and feed each other grapes and I could barely hold back my puke. I couldn’t imagine watching them do a whole lot of other things.
My face must have reflected my thoughts because I earned myself a glare from Mara. She looked at me like filth and 1 seriously considered walking up to her and stabbing her with a fork or just strangling her with my hard hands and living to deal with the consequences later. If she died by my hands, I would gladly accept whatever punishment came after it. Later that night, after Mara had retired to her chambers, Aston called me for me. I was p**ed. I just wanted to clear the plates and retire to my cell not hear whatsoever the **k he had to spill from his vile mouth
“Kira,” he said, his voice grave. “I have an important task for you
1 remained silent, my gaze fixed on the floor, waiting for the axe to fall
“You will accompany me on a trip and I need you to get prepared.” He said and my confusion grew. Prepared for what? Since when was I in charge of accompanying him to trips and even preparing for it? Why couldn’t his mate go with him. What the