The Princess Swap

2.

“You! Girl! What d'you think you’re doing taking off your apron? We have standards here. They don’t include serving without an apron! Put on your apron and get the gentleman over there a refill!” Beta Moses' mate screamed at me. She was a dumpy woman with small eyes and a mean glare.

She nodded her head at an Alpha before going back to her mixing. Only Alphas could afford the luxury of these parts. The men were always dressed to the nines and the women dripped in extravagant jewellery. There was an abundance of wealth in the Capital but Aeris stood out as the capital of wealth.

I walked over to the Alpha, ignoring the bite of terror I felt in this space filled with so many superior men.

For a split second, a man raised his head and I felt he saw me. Our eyes locked before his unfocused and slid away from mine in a way I had grown accustomed to. I wondered what he saw. What did a man such as himself, an alpha with golden locks and expensive clothes, what did he see when he looked at a person like me? Did he even see me at all?

“Enough now!” The Alpha’s voice boomed in time for my attention to come back down to see I had filled his cup almost to the point of it spilling over.

“I am so sorry! I did not –“

“Whatever. Be gone.” My bubble shattered.

Being in Aeris made me feel even more invisible. Beta Moses never whipped me. Xavier and his gang never made it here, but I hated these parts more than I hated mine. Men such as these would never see me. People of status only recognised people of status, not things like me.

“Where are you going!?” The Beta’s mate scolded again as I tried to take off my apron for the second time.

“It is my break hour,” I answered in my most docile voice even though I wanted to scream at her. Her mate allowed me an hour to rest. Nothing more but certainly less if he pleased. She had already taken ten of my sixty minutes.

I had to see Beta Callan today. It was rare that I ever got so close to the castle but when I did, I made sure to visit it. For Callan.

I had no dreams. A girl like me did not get enough sleep for those. I only hoped to be seen, to be more, someone that had a bit more value than an old coin. If I did dream, I would choose to dream of Beta Callan.

“Alright?” He had asked once. A day my Alpha had forbidden me from staying in the pack house for something so trivial, I could not remember. That day, I walked till my legs gave out a small distance from the king’s cathedral.

He walked by and he saw me. He saw me and he stopped. He had been shirtless that day, sweat pouring down his thick biceps after a run. He stopped and he asked about me. I had been too stunned to do anything but nod.

“Here, buy some food.” He mistook me for a street beggar then as he put some money in my hands. As he stood, a lump had lodged in my throat, another settled in my stomach. My heart had beat wildly, a sensation Ryker had pronounced as ‘love.’

All I noticed, was that for once, someone that was not Ryker had seen me. The darkness had not swallowed me up in his eyes. He saw me and felt something. He saw me and reached out. He saw me and made me feel, for one second, that my well being was important.

If I spared myself any dreams, they would be of Beta Callan.

“Break? Break!? Don’t be silly now! Look at this place. Does it look like we can spare anyone on a break! Get back to work!” The screaming lady brought me back to the present. A vein throbbed on her forehead, sweat rolled off her cheeks as she glared at me. With a sigh, I turned back to grab my apron.

“Girl! A refill!” Someone called me. I hurried over with my pitcher of the strong-smelling alcohol, casting a glance at the clock.

My first mistake.

It was early noon but the inn seemed more popular that day. Almost all the tables were occupied. Rich wolves like these had nothing to do with their time. Alphas born to alphas, born into wealth. They did not need to work. No, their concern was to spend and look good as they did.

I tripped on polished black boots that cost more than the house my pack lived. I tripped and the entire pitcher of liquor flew out of my hands and poured all over a brooding man.

“I am so – pardon me, sir!” I rushed to wipe the boots I had tripped on, dread setting. The man jerked his leg away from me and stood.

They both shot up. The man whose legs had tripped me and the man who stood drenched in liquor. A pin dropping could be heard in the silence that followed. The hammering of my heart stood out even to my ordinary ears.

Beta Moses stepped forward, his pallid skin flushed, jaw ticking. He stepped forward and I remembered the lashing from this morning. The scars on my back twitched.

Blood rushed to my head with a loud roar as I stood, taking an involuntary step backwards. The Alphas glared at Beta Moses with set jaws and cold eyes.

“You need better help, Moses!” The Alpha closest to me snapped. He grabbed his coat while everyone watched, and pivoted on his nice shoes.

The other Alpha still stood, his glare directed at Beta Moses who tried to keep me and the gentleman in his vision.

“What is the meaning of this?” He hissed. “I stopped here because I have heard good words about your place and you humiliate me like this?” Beta Moses' eyes finally left me.

“I am –“ Beta Moses began but I cut in.

“I am at fault. Please forgive me, Alpha,” I muttered, bowing my head away from his face.

It wasn’t as if I could look any Alpha in the face. Alphas looked Alphas in the face. Not Betas and certainly not urchins like me. In fact, there were Alphas who dared not look at other Alphas in the face.

This man reeked of power. An alpha among Alphas. And I had gone and spilt liquor on him.

His eyes passed across me, looking at me from covered head to dirty shoes. He sneered before turning his attention back to Beta Moses. And that hurt. It hurt more than any verbal lashing I could have endured from him. He turned his attention away from me, seeing me as nothing but vermin, undeserving of his attention. Why waste breath on something like me?

“I will have this place shut down. I swear it. Just wait until Zion hears of this nonsense.” A deeper hush descended in the room. Beta Moses shrank into himself. I took another step back.

He dropped the Prince’s name with a careless arrogance. I never heard anyone speak of the Prince without a title preceding his name. It was impossible that this man told a lie with such audacity. He knew the Prince and Beta Moses shop would be shut.

By the moon, I knew the end had come for me. If Beta Moses did not strangle me on the spot, my Alpha certainly would! I had just cost a man his business!

“Tell me of what nonsense?” The door opened. Everyone stood. The Prince walked in with two guards.

I escaped through the backdoor.

I hyperventilated as I burst out through the backdoor of the inn, my heart in my throat. I sprinted like my life depended on it. Which it did.

Before I died, I would like to sit in the king’s garden one more time. I would like to behold the beauty of Beta Callan one more time. I would like to have a meaningful interaction with someone other than Ryker one more time.

Oh, I knew death awaited me just at the corner. At the corner after the Prince shut down Beta Moses' inn by royal decree. Beta Moses would report to his Alpha and his Alpha would confront mine. Then my life would truly be over.

A raindrop in an ocean. A life that brought happiness to no one. A person that had no importance, no relevance to even herself. My Alpha would surely kill me this time and I can say I would not be missed.

The castle stood tall, an intimidating building flanked by nothing but tall trees. The king's gate was always open. A lot of women dripping in jewellery, men that wore only the finest materials, the latest and most expensive shoes, trooped in at every hour. As I approached, a plump woman led a group of six pupils, followed behind by a girl my age with dropped jaws as she admired the grandness of the castle.

I walked in, keeping my eyes away from the guards at the gate. It was not difficult to get through the open gates. It was impossible to get into the castle. But it did not bother me. I didn’t need to enter the castle to see Beta Callan.

A simple glimpse of him would do. I could get that glimpse from a particular spot in the garden which was a short walk to the left of the looming castle.

I picked up a watering can close to the gardens and pretended to water the plants. Two men stood around the entrance but paid me no mind as I approached with a watering can in hand and ragged clothes on my back.

From the garden, I could strain my eyes to see a corridor in the castle. As a king’s guard, Callan had duties that put him on the move all the time. I could see him walk past the corridor from the polished windows sometimes. On days I counted myself lucky, he would stand and look out the window and I would imagine he saw me.

Maybe he did. He had better eyesight than I did.

Luck did not shine on me that day as I caught no glimpse of him. I knew it was pathetic to do something so stupid and dangerous just to catch a glimpse of a man who did not know me. I knew but seeing Callan gave me hope. I needed every last bit of hope to continue the dreadful life I led.

However, a second after I decided to leave, someone stood at the only window I could see from my position in the garden.

Princess Ariana. The Prince’s betrothed. The daughter of the most powerful Alpha in the South.

I watched her for a moment. I watched her and felt my skin tingle as if she watched me too.

For a moment, I stopped to imagine what it would be like to be her. The Princess Ariana. I dreamt of her status, her influence, her name. People bent over backwards to please her. When she walked into a room, people saw only her. Their worlds faded away and she became the sole interest of whoever stood in the vicinity.

I wished I was her. I wished I could walk into a room and command attention just as she did. I wished for even a small bit of her relevance.

I sat on a bench with my head downcast. Gloom clung to my skin. I accepted my fate as I had it. If my Alpha did not commit murder when the news of what I had done got to him, then he would kick me out of the Pack. My life was miserable and wishing never changed anything.

I had done a lot of wishing. Under the stars, under the full moon, under the rain. None of them worked. If wishes ever came through, then I would not be Selene.

I stood to leave the garden in a worse mood, my mind in turmoil. My head downcast, my mind bursting, I did not watch my steps and I knocked into someone.

I experienced the worst sort of migraine as I fell the second time that day. It felt like a fist slammed into my skull. I realized then that I had nothing in my stomach. It took a while to gather my wits and when I stood, I almost collapsed again.

The person I knocked into was – myself!?

“Princess Ariana! Your prince is here!”