Owned By The Alpha Brothers

Ciara.

My eyes were red and swollen which was understandable, seeing how I had cried myself to sleep last night. I certainly wouldn't consider Joan a friend, however; we had been friendly with each other and I still considered what she did as an act of betrayal, and then there was Blake who didn't even want to set his eyes on me.

A knock sounded twice on my door and I dreaded seeing Joan, even as I answered with a quaky voice. "Come in."

When the door opened, it wasn't Joan. It was another maidservant, a mature lady whom I had never seen before now.

"Greetings, Lady Ciara. My name is Katrina, and Prince Alden has directed me to work as your personal maid," she introduced herself.

I smiled instantly. Oh, Alden. He had probably guessed already that seeing Joan around me would be too triggering and uncomfortable for me. May the Goddess bless his kind heart.

"Greetings, Katrina. It is indeed nice to meet you," I said, getting out of bed with excitement.

My stomach rumbled with hunger and that was expected because I had failed to eat anything the previous day. We exchanged glances and then she began to laugh.

"It's a good thing breakfast will be served in a few minutes," she joked.

"Thank you very much. You can join me for breakfast," I said.

She seemed surprised. "That won't be possible since it would be served in the dining hall. The Alpha has ordered the whole family to have breakfast together," she explained.

I remembered the last time we had all gathered and how unpleasant it had been. I had even thought I could fix the messed up family, but now, I knew it was best if they just stayed apart from each other, so why exactly was the Alpha King insisting on having a family breakfast?

"I see. I'll freshen up and be down soon," I told her.

"Okay, my lady," Katrina said, bowing low before leaving the room.

I hurriedly brushed my teeth and had my bath before slipping into a floral pinafore, paired with a white shirt and a pair of fancy white slippers. I left my hair in a messy bun and wore light makeup so that it wasn't obvious that I had been crying.

When I opened the door to leave, I was stunned to see Alden outside just about to knock.

"Good morning, princess," he said.

"Good morning, prince," I said, imitating his accent which put a smile on his face.

"You always look so good. Ever thought of going into fashion designing?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I can't remember what my life used to be like," I lied.

"The good thing is you have a new life now and you get to decide what you want out of it. I think designing and making clothes would suit you and you could learn from the Royal Designer... if you want to." "I'll think about it. Thank you, Alden. Also, I saw Katrina. She seems nice, thanks. Hopefully, she doesn't stab me in the back like Joan did," I said.

"You don't have to worry about that. She's married with two kids," Alden told me.

"Wow. Explain to me why I feel relieved," I said, and we both laughed.

The laughter died when we got to the dining hall to see everyone was waiting for us already.

"Greetings, father, mother," Alden said, taking a seat beside Blake.

"Greetings, Alpha, Luna," I said, having no choice other than to sit beside Liam.

"Greetings," they said in unison.

"Did you sleep well? You kind of disappeared yesterday and when I eventually found you, you were fast asleep in bed," Liam said.

"Oh, I didn't realize you came to check up on me while I was sleeping last night. Sorry about that," I said.

"It's okay. Yesterday must have been rough for you," he noted.

"Yeah, I was stressed out after returning from the tailor's place."

"I'm not talking about that. The whole palace has been talking about how you found your maid in bed with Blake," Liam said, and I couldn't tell if he was mocking me or actually pitying me. "Blake, you didn't tell me you've gone back to being a Casanova. What maid did you play around with this time around?" Alpha Rowland asked, eyeing Blake with a disappointed look.

Blake didn't say a word and just picked at his meal, visibly annoyed.

"Luna, I'm sure your maids must have told you everything. Do you know who this lowly maid is?" Alpha Rowland inquired.

At that point, Joan walked into the dining hall haughtily with a kettle and I guessed that she had retained her serving duties. "Speak of the devil," the Luna said, rolling her eyes as she bit into her waffles.

"I'm no devil," Joan mumbled, but clearly enough for everyone to hear as she began to pour tea into our cups from the kettle.

When she got to me, she hissed under her breath and in a bid to pour the tea into my cup, she ended up emptying the kettle contents on my thighs.

"Ouch!" I screamed in agony, and Liam immediately came to the rescue. He grabbed some cold water and poured it on my thighs to cool down the sting from the hot tea. The guard who was present handed a balm over to him and he applied it on my thighs.

"Are you okay?" Alden asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks," I said.

"It's not even that hot. Why is she being so unnecessarily dramatic?" Joan muttered, going about her business like nothing had happened.

"Aren't you going to apologize for what you just did?" Liam yelled at her.

"Sorry," her voice was barely audible and she didn't even look at me when she said it.

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"You must be sick or something! Apologize properly or "

"She doesn't have to apologize if she doesn't want to," Luna Vienna said, cutting him off.

Everyone looked at her in surprise, except for Joan who was grinning from ear to ear.

"My Luna, I think it's right that she does so," the Alpha said.

"People apologize when they've made a mistake, not when they've acted foolishly on purpose," she said, throwing a deathly stare at Joan who appeared frozen.

"I know you poured the tea on Ciara on purpose. I also heard of how you acted rudely to her yesterday. Why? Do you think you've been elevated to a high status just because a prince had sex with you? For your information, you're not the first he's doing that with and you won't be the last. You're just another piece of trash he'll use and throw out when he gets bored," the Luna stated.

Tears fell from Joan's eyes and she clenched her fists in anger. "You also started as a servant, but you're a Luna now," she retorted, brazenly, much to everyone's shock.

"You should rot in the dungeon! How dare you utter such hateful words about the Luna?" the Alpha was upset and it showed, but Joan remained unfazed.

Surprisingly, the Luna began to laugh hysterically and didn't seem to be annoyed by what Joan had said. "No, Alpha. We can't imprison her for telling the truth. It is true I started as a servant, however, the Alpha made it clear that he wanted me to be his mistress which isn't a sin. Also, I didn't disrespect the then Luna nor the Royal Concubine and just stayed in my quarters, minding my own business and tending to my son. Did Blake promise you anything? The answer is no, yet you've been going about with your shoulders raised high like you are going to be the next Luna of the Silver Crest Pack," the Luna concluded.

"I'll fire her this instant, what do you say?" Alpha Rowland asked.

"I don't agree with that. She should be sent to work as a servant in the refugee camp. I hear they are understaffed," the Luna said, wearing a smirk.

"It is done then! Guards, take this wench to the refugee camp at once. She shall resume working there immediately and in case she fails to do her duties properly, give instructions to the guards over there to flog her a hundred strokes of the cane," the Alpha commanded.

"Yes, your highness," the guards chorused and grabbed Joan's arms then began to lead her out.

"Please, I'm sorry. I will never disrespect anyone in the palace ever again. Prince Blake, please, help me," Joan screamed as she was led away, and soon, her voice trailed off.

"Good riddance," Alden said, heaving a sigh of relief.

Blake opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it and just stood up aggressively, then shooting a glance at each and every one of us, he turned around and left the dining hall, ignoring the call of his father ushering him to come back.