Tale Of A Cursed Alpha

Luna’s Pov

Outside the tall rooms and passageways of the palace, the world looked large, golden and endless under the touch of glowing sunlight. Or perhaps, it was just my happiness at being free that was tainting my vision. Outside the palace, the courtyard sprawled before me, all a glowing shade of white. Apart from the three main buildings that took main focus in the palace, there were a couple other buildings on the other end of the enormous courtyard. Smaller and less impressive but beautiful nonetheless. Most were honorary buildings, only ever used when some guests visited, Jamil would not tell me who. Others though were used by the part of the army that was not stationed at the borders, a fancy term for palace guards really.

“I see you are finally out and would you look at that. You are in one piece!” My eyes widened as I wheeled into Jamil who seemed to have materialized out of nowhere.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed breathlessly, the breath knocked out of my lungs from being startled so suddenly.

He shrugged as he helped steady me on my feet before moving back. “I thought you might need my help.” He murmured as he stared at the place I had just come out from. I followed his eyes and noticed for the first time the parapet that stood above the building, casting a shadow over us. It jutted out over the building like a stray lock of hair but on closer look, I observed that it looked like a snout. It was framed like a wolf’s snout which was rather ingenious, considering that the parapet was about as wide as the building which, by the way was very large. The building wasn’t very tall with it being a one storey building and all but it more than compensated for that in length and breadth. The building was constructed in a pretty interesting way. It started as a rectangular structure then became smoother as it rose, giving the impression of turning into a cylindrical domed building before suddenly expanding into a rectangular structure again, wider than it was at the bottom. This went on to become the upper part of the building. Unlike the ground floor, this tapered into a cylindrical shape which seemed to slightly tilt forward. At the top of this, instead of a roof, sat the parapet. For a moment, I couldn’t help wondering if their builders had taken care of their task with one hand while the other had tended to a bottle of beer.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Jamil commented wistfully. I did not reply, probably because I could not figure out if it was impressive or crazy. It was beautiful though. I had to give them that. The building to the right, ours seemed to have gotten the leftover material from this one with it being a plain rectangular building. Didn’t mean it wasn’t impressive though. The one on the right looked something like a cottage with its round shape and a roof that looked like fern leaves. I figured that was just another crazy design. “Earth to Luna!” He snapped his fingers before my eyes, interrupting my thoughts.

“Mm-hmm!” I mumbled as I turned my attention to him. “You were saying?” I questioned absentmindedly.

“Hunting is good in the daylight when the moon is shining bright as the constellations.” I nodded then almost choked on my spit as my eyes grew wide.

“What?” I spat, trying to make sense of what he had just said.

He chuckled, looking pleased with himself. “Works everytime! Now, we had better get out of here before our brains get all sun fried.”

I didn’t realize how uncomfortable the sun had been making me until I stepped into the comfort of our building. I could barely wait to get to my room so I could kick off the sandals that seemed to be growing hotter by the second.

“Gosh! You look awful!” Jamil clicked his tongue. I could believe that. I was starting to perspire and my dress was feeling like it had added a few more kilograms. I felt like a stuffed chicken right now. “You should go clean yourself up and maybe, get some rest while you are at it.”

Clean up? Sure! I wouldn’t be able to bear the discomfort if I didn’t. What I wasn’t so sure of was getting some rest. I had so many things I had to hash out. Thoughts I had to put in order. I nodded nonetheless. “Sure. See you.” I hate to admit it but I almost felt sad to see him go. It had been ages since I had last had someone I could call a friend. I brushed off the thought as I reminded myself that I wouldn’t be staying here for long so getting attached would not be a very good idea.

He nodded and waved as he went back the way he had come. I frowned as the thought dawned on me that I had never seen him enter a room even though he clearly lived here. He seemed to be a busy person. Even more reason to appreciate him for always making time for me without which life here would have been nothing short of hell with the rabid Blaire and toxically silent Ulo.

I made my way to my room where I got out of my uncomfortable attire and for a moment just stood in the middle of the room, enjoying the feeling of being free from the burdensome load of clothing hanging heavily on my shoulders. I took a quick bath after which I collapsed on the bed, a wide contraction that was almost as soft as the material used for the dining chairs. Almost.

As I lay there, my conversation with the Beta, (if it could be called that) came back to me. Of these, something he had said to me stood out the most, making me feel very uncomfortable. Like there was something I was missing. Of course, there was a lot I was missing but this….