Babel Novel
Chapter 29
I jolted awake from the pain and the shock, I was met with a series of harsh slaps across my face, each one stinging harder than the last. My cars buzzed loudly and it felt as though I had lost my hearing. I was disoriented for what felt like ages but in reality was only just a few seconds,
I was still, trying to figure out what was going on. How I was feeling and where I f**g was. Everything felt like a dream, the last thing I remember was passing out due to the pain that I felt and now. Now what? I looked up hurriedly in full realisation of what just happened.
Anger coursed through my veins when our eyes met,
Mara stood over me, a condescending smirk spreading across her face. She looked tall and victorious like she’d just did something she’d been meaning to do in a while.
“Good morning, Kira. I see you’re finally awake,” she said, her voice dripping with malice. I tried to sit up, but the pain shot through me like a lightning bolt, forcing me back onto the floor
“You could have called my name.” I muttered, fighting the urge to punch her in the face, doing my best to keep myself in check because what I was feeling was a lot more than the stings on my face. The pain that I had felt where Dax had marked me before going to sleep was getting even more intense and it made me weaker by the minute. She would kill me without having to put in too much energy if I picked a fight and I didn’t exactly have the amount of strength it took to take her on.
1 called you but you didn’t answer and I’m not exactly a very patient person, you see. That being said, it was your fault and you should have woken up earlier.” She spat bitterly tucking her hands under her arm pits while I struggled to keep my next pret and stare at her.
Her maids stood nearby, their eyes cast down in silence. She had a s**t load of them at her beck and call but her day was not complete without making me miserable.
Mara handed me a list of tasks, her eyes gleaming with sa**c pleasure that made me just want to rip out her eyes with my claws and feed them to her.
“Get to work, Kira. You have a lot to do today.” I gritted my teeth and obeyed, trying to ignore the agony that coursed through my body. It felt like the pain was spreading even more and I was really struggling to keep it together. I was weak but I would be even weaker if I tried to show any sort of defiance today and I couldn’t risk putting my baby in danger, I was already scared enough as it was.
I unclenched my fingers and took the list from her as politely as I could but it was hard not to scowl when I took a look at the contents of the list. It was a really long list of unnecessary stuff like cleaning the pantry that I was sure as hell was cleaned only two days ago and dusting all the furniture that was cleaned only yesterday.
the garden, dust the pans, wipe the windows, hand wash the curtains, she was out to kill me for sure. There not one single urgent chore on the list that required her to wake me up as violently as she did.
But Mara took pleasure in making me suffer, sending me on ridiculous errands and making snide remarks about my humanity. I swallowed my pride and proceeded to do as I was told, but inside, I seethed with anger and resentmentCòntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org
I tried and failed a few times to get myself up. I kept falling back down but that didn’t make Mara feel any sort of pity towards me, she just stared in mockery and disgust
“Enough with all the fake shit. Get your a**up and get to work!” she screamed on top of her voice and I flinched.
I was vaguely aware of the pain in my body as I struggled to stay conscious, my vision swimming as I struggled to focus on the task at hand. Every movement was intense pain, every breath a struggle as my body cried out for mercy, for relief from the intense, excruciating pain. My cries fell on deaf ears though, they all thought I was doing it to get out of the chores.
I had to hold on. I had to finish my work, had to prove to Mara that I wouldn’t break, wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing me crumble under her cruelty because that would make her the happiest, I could tell that she was literally begging for a confrontation when she came into my cell, when she handed me that list and even when she came to check if I was doing the chores right for the umpteenth time while hauling insults all over me and yelling at me for working slowly.
I almost fell from the wooden ladder trying to clean the tall windows of the hallway and I was sure as hell that she would. have pushed me if she was close enough to
It felt like the chores were getting harder. I just wanted to hurry up and be done with it but my body was failing me. Each step was torture, each movement sending fresh waves of agony shooting through me. I was like a puppet, my strings cut, my hmbs moving with a jagged, jerky rhythm as I fought to stay upright.
Having a little something to eat seemed like it would have helped but Mara made sure that I had nothing to eat throughout the entire course of the chores and I didn’t exactly care because I didn’t have an appetite either.
“The Alpha has summoned you.” A guard told me and 1 nodded trying to make my way to his chambers with my wobbly legs.
Suddenly, the room began to spin. the floor rising up to meet me as I collapsed in a heap, the pain overwhelming me.
swallowing me whole.
It took a while for me to get back on my feet but I started to head to his chambers as soon as I did.
When I was summoned to Aston’s room, I already knew I was in for more humiliation. Nothing good ever came out of meeting him. I arrived late, my legs trembling beneath me, and Aston’s face twisted in anger.
“You’re lucky I need you to clean’my room, Kira. Otherwise, you’d be out on the streets,” he sneered.
As I cleaned, the pain intensified, my wolf urging me to seek help from Aston because only a bite from another alpha king could help numb the pain that I was feeling. But I would have rather died than ask Aston for anything. And besides, he wouldn’t have helped me anyway. He was enjoying my suffering too much.
I tried to sit up, but the movement sent a searing bolt of pain through my body, causing me to cry out involuntarily.
Before I could react, Aston was there, his large, powerful body looming over me like a mountain. His face was impassive, his eyes cold and unreadable, but I couldn’t see the faintest flicker of concern in his gaze.
What’s wrong with you?” he demanded, his voice sharp with impatience. “Why are yo
putting up this st**id show?”
I tried to speak, to explain what was happening, but the words caught in my throat, my voice raw and ho**e.
Aston’s expression darkened, his jaw clenched in frustration as he studied me, his gaze raking over my body as if he could see through my skin.
“You’re not sick,” he muttered, almost to himself. “And you’re not hurt. So what the hell is this nonsense that you’re doing?”
He leaned in closer, his breath hot against my car. “Are you trying to pi**me off, Kira?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous. “Are you trying to deceive me?”
The accusation in Aston’s voice sent a chill through my body, making me shiver even as I struggled to find the words to defend myself.
“N-no,” I stammered, my voice weak and trembling “I’m not trying to deceive you. I-I swear. I just…I just don’t understand what’s happening
Aston’s eyes narrowed, his gaze intensifying as he leaned in closer still, his lips almost brushing against my ear.
But the pain became too much, and I collapsed, darkness closing in around me once again. I was trapped in this living nightmare, with no escape in sight. Aston’s face was the last thing I saw before everything went black.
The last thing I heard before I slipped into unconsciousness was Aston’s voice, his tone sharp with anger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing Getthe f**k up before I make you regret it.”