#3 By the Light of the Silver Moon

Chapter 22: Marigold

I yawned and rolled over, burying my face in the soft pillow. For a minute, I forgot where I was. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t dreaming when I woke up in a soft, comfortable bed instead of on a lumpy mattress in Alpha Torrin’s servant quarters. I blinked against the light that was shining in the balcony doors and took a second more to remember that I wasn’t in my hotel room in California, either.

I looked around my room, the room of the Luna, and sighed. I had no idea how my life had led me to this.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stretched out. When Finn and I first said goodnight, I had trouble sleeping. I was restless, tossing and turning in the overly comfortable bed. After an hour or two, I felt a wave of calmness roll over me and I was suddenly at ease. I quickly drifted off to sleep.

I crawled out of bed and to the bathroom. I stripped and jumped in the shower. I could have done gymnastics in that thing. There were two shower heads and a bench along the back side. It really made me wonder what the expectations were for shower activities here.

I used whatever I could find in the shower to rinse off my body and hair. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back under the warm water. The first thing I did in California was take a shower so long that eventually the hot water ran out. I hadn’t showered in days, maybe even weeks, before then. Ever since, I made sure to take a blazing hot shower everyday.

I stepped out of the shower and eyed the vintage looking tub. I decided that my next mission was going to be experiencing a bath. I couldn’t remember ever having a bath before. I wrapped myself up in the fluffy gray towel and walked up to the sink. There was a newly packaged toothbrush in the draw and an unopened tube of toothpaste.

I found a hair dryer and brush, and made myself look presentable again. I realized that I had not showered or washed my hair since I came to Washington almost a week ago to save my mate’s life. I frowned at myself in the mirror thinking about how gross I must've been to Finn and the others.

I walked into the closest where my backpack was still on the floor. I pulled out a pair of jeans and a mustard yellow sweater. Even after I settled in at Laguna Beach, I didn’t do much shopping. I only had enough clothes to get me to washday. Thinking about laundry had me looking around the closest for a washer and dryer. There were none.

I gathered up all my clothes and went back out to my bedroom just as someone tapped on my door.

“Luna? It’s your housemaid!” A soft voice called from the other side. I sighed at being called Luna.

“Come in.” I replied. The door slowly opened, revealing a young burnette who couldn’t have been any older than me.

“Hi, Luna, I’m Zoey.” Zoey bowed her head in submission, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Good Morning, Zoey, please, call me Mari.” I said. Zoey raised her head and blinked at me, surprised.

“I’m not the Luna yet and I’d feel more comfortable if we were familiar with each other.” I clarified. Of the many things I didn’t miss about the Fae kingdom, having servants was certainly at the top.

“Yes, ma’am.” Zoey nodded. I grumbled under my breath.

“The Alpha sent me here to introduce myself and see if I can help you with anything.” Zoey explained.

“You could show me the way to the laundry.” I said, holding up my pile of clothes.

“Oh, you can just leave them anywhere. I’ll collect your laundry everyday, if you could just tell me a good time to come so I do not disturb you.” Zoey said.

“Really, Zoey, I can do my own laundry.” I laughed. I was a slave for so long that I knew I would never be comfortable treating anyone else that way.

“Ma’am, it’s my honor to serve you.” Zoey argued.

“Listen, Zoey, I was a beaten and abused slave for half my life. I don’t want to do that to anyone else.” I tried to explain. Zoey’s eyes widened,

“No, ma’am! I’m not abused or beaten! It’s a great honor to be a housemaid in the packhouse. We are paid extremely well, if I may say so, and we are provided with the best living arrangements, outside of the ranked members, of course. The Alpha gives us and our families cottages behind the packhouse so it’s just a short walk to work. And, when the weather is bad, they have the guards pick us up in golf carts,

"My great-grandmother was the first housemaiden of the Alpha and Luna when they first established a pack here. It’s been my family’s honor to serve the Oxford’s for generations.” Zoey spoke very proudly of her ancestors and her job.

I realized then that servitude here was much different. In fact, it wasn’t servitude at all, it was a job. I was suddenly very proud of my mate for how he treated his members and the staff.

“Okay, Zoey, you win. You can do my laundry. But, I promise you, my room will never look like the Alpha’s.” I teased. Zoey cracked a smile,

“His room is in quite a disarray.” She agreed.

“Ma’am, is there anything I can get you?” she asked again,

“Perhapes bath supplies from the store? A new bed set? The Alpha wants you to make this room your own, however you’d like.” I sighed, realizing that Zoey wasn’t going to leave me alone until she had a task to do.

“Oh, I’m not picky. I like the room the way it is. I actually really like the shampoo and body wash in the shower, could I get some more of that? And maybe a razor?” I asked, remembering my prickly legs from the shower.

“Of course! What else?” She asked eagerly.

“I think that’s it for now, Zoey, but if I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”

“What schedule would you like to keep, ma’am?” She asked.

“Schedule?” As a princess, I was kept to a very strict schedule of lessons and duties. As a servant, my schedule was equally as strict to service my masters. I had never been asked about my own schedule before.

“Yes, ma’am. Would you like a wakeup call? When would you like me to retrieve your laundry and clean? Are there times you wish to be undisturbed?” Zoey clarified.

“Well, I can tell you that a wakeup call is not needed, in fact, the only time you shouldn’t come here is in the morning. I am not a very pleasant person before noon,” I confessed,

“But, otherwise, it’s up to you.” I shrugged. Zoey looked around the room, seeming very overwhelmed with my lack of instructions.

“O…okay.” She stammered.

“It’s alright, Zoey, we’ll figure this out.” I laughed at her, grabbing her hand and startling her with physical touch,

“We’re going to be good friends, I know it.” I gave her a quick hug.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Zoey smiled, blushing, before leaving the room.

“What did you do to poor Zoey?” A new voice surprised me from the doorway.

“Ferra?”

“Zoey looks frazzled.” Ferra laughed.

“I think I was nicer than I was supposed to be.” I shrugged.

“Hm.” Ferra made a noise like she was thinking,

“Anyway, I have been sent for some sister bonding!” She announced.

“Finn has been sending a lot of people today.” I sighed.

“He’s afraid that you won’t adjust well and run away.” Ferra said honestly. An expression of hurt flashed across my face but Ferra said nothing. I deserved that. I did run away once already.

“That’s not going to happen.” I replied stubbornly.

“That’s good to hear. But, I’m not just here for my brother. I want to spend some time with my new sister.” Ferra said.

“Doing what?” I asked nervously. Ferra pulled something out of her back pocket,

“Fox may have mentioned something about an empty closet and gave me his Visa.” She waved around Finn’s credit card.

“He really doesn’t need to keep spending money on me. I’ve already taken enough. I have enough clothes.” I sighed, feeling embarrassed and upset. Ferra walked across the room and towards me,

“He wants to take care of you, Mari, and this is one way he can right now. I know you’re adjusting and that we all need to be patient, but you can let him care for you like this and give him some peace, can’t you?” Ferra’s tone was sweet but her eyes were threatening.

I knew she was genuine and that it was coming from a place of love for her brother. She did have a point, though. I was giving Finn a hard time and the least I could do was allow him to provide for me.

“You’re right. Where are we going?” I smiled, trying to ease the tension between us. Ferra’s face softened.

“The mall, of course!” She grinned. Something told me she was having way too much fun with all this.