“Game addict.” I taunted.
She gasped in mock offense.
It still baffled me sometimes that she was mated to Lupercus and had been for five years. They were those lucky ones that found themselves earlier. He was mostly calm, brooding, and quiet. Hasmik was the exact opposite-brash, energetic, and filled endlessly with sarcasm. But it worked.
Somehow.
Which is why I’d asked her to be Narine’s lady-in-waiting. I thought her boldness would be a good counter to Narine’s quiet. That maybe, just maybe, Hasmik could help her adjust.
“Anyway,” Hasmik yawned, tossing her game console aside and standing with a dramatic stretch, “I made sure she’s well-fed and cozy. You’re welcome.”
I nodded in silent appreciation.
She grinned. “Bye, Narine. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? And if you ever want to ditch the gloomy Alpha and just goof off or escape this palace-sized prison, I’m the girl.”
Narine said nothing. Just turned her gaze toward the window.
Hasmik sighed fondly. “You’re so cute when you try to ignore affection,” she muttered under her breath, then vanished through the door with a wave.
Silence fell again.
“Sooo…” I tried, stuffing my hands in my pockets. “How was your day?”
She bit her lip and damn it, it made my ears burn at how innocent she looked.
She picked up her tablet and typed something quickly, then turned the screen toward me.
“I remember you once offered to take me to the garden. Does that still stand?”
I froze.
Not because of the question.
But because she asked it. Of her own will.
Hope fluttered inside me like the first breath of spring. And a slow, helpless grin spread across my face.
“Absolutely,” I reassured softly.
Narine’s POV
I followed him cautiously, keeping several paces behind.
The halls felt endless. I found myself glancing around every few seconds, my heart raced at shadows, the sharp angles of statues, or the glint of gold-veined marble catching the light. My fingers kept twitching, gripping the hem of my sleeve before switching to the corner of my shirt, then back again.
I was fidgeting.
He came to a stop so suddenly that I didn’t register it fast enough, and I bumped right into his back.
Hard.
I gasped softly, and my nose stung as it collided with his back. I instantly stepped back, clutching my nose.
“Hey, are you okay?” His voice dropped an octave as he bent slightly to look at me.
Of course, he had to be tall. Towering, really. The kind of tall that made me feel even smaller than I already did. And now he was crouching to meet my gaze, and I hated that my first instinct was to look away. I dropped my hands from my face and nodded quickly, trying not to flinch beneath his eyes.
He chuckled.
“You look like Rudolph with that red nose of yours.”
I blinked, startled. Then snapped my gaze up to him, surprised by the unexpected reference. Rudolph?
He grinned, amused by my reaction, and I quickly looked away again.
He stepped toward the wall and waved his hand over a smooth, silver panel. A screen blinked to life with soft blue light. My eyes widened slightly. How had I not noticed that? It looked just like the rest of the wall a moment ago. His fingers pressed a glowing symbol, and with a low hiss, a hidden door slid open seamlessly.
I stepped back, startled.
The door wasn’t like the others I’d seen in my entire life. It was shaped oddly, more like a cylinder or… a capsule. And it had moved. Doors weren’t supposed to move like that, were they?
He turned to me and gestured. “Come on in, Narine.”
I hesitated, staring at the open space. But I forced my legs forward.
The space was cleaner than I expected, almost sterile. A single brass bar lined the side, and a faint hum vibrated beneath the floor. Sargis stepped in after me. The door slid shut behind us with a soft thud.
I exhaled slowly. We were closed in.
He pressed the number five on the glowing screen.
My heart leapt into my throat.
The ground was moving. No, we were moving.
Down? Up?
I couldn’t tell. I gasped and instinctively reached for something, brushing my fingers against the brass bar just in time. My legs wobbled, and I pressed my back to the cool wall behind me.
“What..what is this?” I thought to myself.
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like things I couldn’t predict. The floor wasn’t supposed to move. Spaces weren’t supposed to close like this. My chest tightened.
“HEY! Relax, relax…it’s just an elevator.”
His voice came quickly. I looked up to see him facing me, with both palms raised in surrender, as if I were a skittish deer.
“You’re safe,” he whispered.
I forced myself to take a breath.
A deep one.
Then another.
The motion beneath my feet still made my stomach twist, it was like the ground had come alive, shifting ever so slightly under me in a way that made my brain scream that something was wrong. But I wasn’t falling. I was just… moving. Up. Or down. I couldn’t really tell.
I tried to plant my feet properly, but they wobbled like I was standing on jelly. I had to grip the brass railing again to stay upright.
I’d never been in an elevator before. That much was obvious. And it made sense, didn’t it? My cursed pack wasn’t the kind of place that invested in modern convenience. I had never even left my territory until… well, now. This palace was filled with more wonders than I could comprehend.
“You can hold on to me,” he said suddenly.
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