Offered to the Triplet Alphas

[Xanthea]

Ezra stood motionless. His knuckles cracked as he curled his fingers into a tight fist. A chill quavered down my spine as he turned around, his glare stripping nerves right off my skin. The surrounding air grew thick with an ominous tension.

"This has never happened before. I warned you, didn't I, Xanthea? You plant discord among us again, and I will kill you," he snarled as his growl sunk deeper and deeper into my bones. Feebly clutching Asher, I felt a tremble run through my entire body.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." I mumbled in half daze and half dread.

Shadows erupted around Ezra, consuming him in a swirling spiral of pitch-black flames. A daunting gravity collapsed around me, pulling me into the depth of my grave.

Tearing through the curtain of dark flames, emerged a figure - a manifestation of nightmares. A demon? A wolf? I couldn't tell. A glimpse and my blood had frozen in my veins.

My breaths caught in my lungs, my heart screamed at me to run. But my body was paralyzed under his scrutiny. Predatory scrutiny. His eyes glowed a murderous red.

Fangs, sharp enough to shatter boulders. His wolf form, darker than the void itself, bore intricate crimson patterns that pulsed with a mystical glow.

The red trident pattern at the center of his forehead glowed like a third eye, resembling an unholy trinity of eyes.

I stared at Ezra's transformed self. There was nothing I could feel in my complete existence except primal fear freezing the marrow of my bones.

My lips quivered, but I had lost the speech completely.

My heart was in my throat as the otherworldly wolf lurked closer to me. There was nowhere I could run to where he wouldn't hunt me down.

My breaths hitched as I gripped on the air. Asher was gone. I crawled back onto the bed. In a blink, I crashed on the bed. A screech tore through me as his claws sank into my chest, tearing through my skin, ribs, and lungs like blazing daggers. My eyes stretched out in horror. His fangs tore into my face-

"NO!" I sprung up on the bed, panting.

I sat on the bed, numb, cold sweats breaking throughout my body. My violently beating heart was the only sign that I was still alive. My mouth and my throat were dry. I gulped hard, clenching my chest as I curled my knees to my aching chest.

A nightmare. It was just a nightmare. I caressed my heart, feeling its erratic beats beneath my palm.

Last night...

I shut my eyes and Ezra's transformation replayed in my mind with every detail, the same as it was in my nightmare.

I intertwined my shivering fingers, bringing them to my lips. Ezra would have killed me had Asher not stopped him.

***

Asher stood between me and Ezra's wolf fearlessly.

"I will have her and I will keep her as my own. You can't touch her if I don't allow it."

'A week. A week is all she has. If even after a week, Raven refuses to touch her, you will see how easily I can touch her and tear her apart with or without your permission,' Ezra's wolf's hoarse warning resonated in the room.

***

I let out a sigh, running my fingers through my hair.

A week.

"I hope your nightmare wasn't too night-merry."

I flinched at the voice.

"Oh. Seems like the mission wake-you-up-dreadfully was a success," said the girl standing beside my bed.

I quickly reached out for the blanket to cover myself. I had been so occupied within my head that I didn't even notice her presence, nor that I was already wearing a slip up black silk dress.

The girl bowed a little.

"I am your lady-in-waiting until I am no longer waiting for you to wake up. Or you stop waking up all at once. Because it seems like you love making people wait while you have your beauty sleep, your highness," she said in a one-breath-

monotonous tone.

I blinked at her blankly until the meaning of her words sank in.

"I-I am sorry. I didn't mean to sleep this long," I said and her clearly fake smile wiped right off her face.

She contemplated me.

"You don't need to apologize to me, your highness because I am sorry for you," she smiled again, but it wasn't genuine either. "It's time for you to get ready for the day. The demon lords' family will soon be at the breakfast table and we cannot make them wait for you."

"F-family?" I asked. "Their family... wants to meet me?"

I flipped the blanket off me and got down from the bed. A sharp pain bolted through my hips and back. My body was sore. I bent, grabbing the edge of the bed.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be too excited about it. Not after what happened last night. And the way you are right now..." she analyzed my body. "Honestly, I don't blame you. All earthly princesses have been the same, but you seem the most timid, out of place, malnourished, weak and tiny, out of all the brides my lords brought home."

My cheeks instantly flushed up. I didn't know how I would look at myself in the mirror after going through everything I went through ever since I met the triplets.

I still couldn't believe how fast my life had made a backflip, somersaulted all its way until it jumped off the cliff.

"By the way, I am Mavka. You can call me Mav or Avka or whatever you feel like. It's not like I matter much," she shrugged.

"Umm. Miss Mavka, will they... be there... as well? The... demon lords?" I asked.

Sha gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

"What's wrong, d-did I say something wrong?" I asked, perplexed.

She stared at me again as if I was an alien.

"First of all. Miss Mavka? Miss? To me?" she exclaimed, staring at me with her wide eyes.

"Uh... uh..."

"Oh my devil! I have never been this respected before. I am sorry. I am really flabbergasted. And second, it's ghastly to even imagine demon lords spending time with their family until someone dies or they are about to kill someone," Mavka said, her pitch black eyes still traveling all over my body. "They don't even live in this castle. They have their own separate palaces. They visit this castle once a week, only when they have a bride."

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"Once in a week? Does that mean they'll come back to this castle... after a week?" "Precisely," Mavka said.

"Oh no. What am I supposed to do now?" I mumbled, tensing my brows.

"Sit in your room like a dutiful wife and wait for your husbands to return after seven days and pray to your moon goddess that they don't kill you," Mavka forced another smile on her face.

She was dressed in a black and white maid dress, her hair was tied up in a neat bun. From the way she stood to the way she carried herself spoke of nothing but daunting elegance.

She gracefully gestured her hand towards the dress on the couch.

"This is the dress you will be wearing today. I have cleaned you up. But if you feel any discomfort anywhere and want to take another bath, we don't have time for that. Just bear with the discomfort, wear this dress and get going," she almost rapped those words out of her mouth.

"Uh, ok. Wait, w-w-what do you mean by you... cleaned me up?" I asked as she guided me into the red dress.

"Maintaining your sexual health and hygiene is one of my duties, and cleaning you up exactly means exactly what you are thinking. So I cleaned you up. Let's just leave it at that. Don't overthink it. It's not a big deal. I do it all the time with all the brides." The smile on her face stayed for less than a second.

She made me sit before the intricately designed black wood vanity. I looked at myself as Mavka styled my hair and did my make-up.

I wore a red long tunic-styled corset dress that flowed down the curves of my body. Mavka adorned the corset and my body with golden body chains, necklace and armlets.

Lifting the hem of my dress, I slipped my feet into the golden heels. I got up and looked at myself in the mirror. The dress revealed the marks and bruises they had left behind on my neck, collarbone, and arms. "Can I..." I asked.

"Before you ask for some change in your look, let me tell you that this is how lords want you to look. From what dress you wear to what food you eat and what water you drink and who you meet and don't meet is all strictly controlled by my lords. Everything needs to be the way they want. So let's not make it difficult for either of us."

I didn't say another word because I knew she was only following their orders.

I was decorated just like a doll. Nikolai had called me a doll all my life and maybe now I understood why. Because from the inside out, I felt like a non-living doll whose only purpose was to be played with until my owners either broke me or discarded me.