Offered to the Triplet Alphas

Chapter-52. The embrace

[Xanthea]

A very old memory flashed in my mind at Ezra's question.

I was five-year-old back then and had a caretaker who looked after me. And by looking after, I mean it was her duty to make sure I never crossed paths with luna Meesa and her family. Once, she failed to do her duty, and I began pondering around the Virgo palace. That was when I ended up in the dining hall.

I was hungry, and the table was brimming with delicacies I had never seen before.

Enticed by the food and captivated by their scent, I walked closer to the table. The scents that bewitched my senses that day were quite similar to the scents that surrounded me right now.

Standing on my tiptoes, I gaped at the dishes, my mouth watering. With a hungry gulp, my eyes lit up when they fell on a bear made of pancakes and berries.

I picked a blueberry from the bear pancake and put it in my mouth. I reached out for another one when I felt a sharp sting on the back of my hand. Someone swatted my hand away from the pancake. Before I could withdraw my hand, I felt a rough grip around my wrist and I was thrown on the floor, face-down.

Tears stung into my eyes at the pain. I lifted myself and sat on the floor and just when I turned around to see who it was, a plate shot right past my ear and crashed on the floor.

"How dare you come here!" Luna Meesa snarled, and I froze under her penetrating scrutiny. "Ugh! She's defiled all the food. Where is her caretaker?"

I sat on the floor, trembling as she clutched my upper arm. While she dragged me out of the dining hall, through my blurry vision, I saw the bear pancake lying among the shards of shattered plate and crushed berries on the floor. By then, my caretaker ran to me.

"If I see her anywhere near my family or the dining hall again, I will make sure neither of you ever see daylight again!" Luna Meesa pushed me out of the dining hall. I stumbled, but somehow stopped myself from falling. "It will never happen again, luna," my caretaker said.

"Make sure you give this filth a good lesson about her place in this palace. She should be grateful we give her food and a place to live." Her every word dripped with venom as she glared at me.

A glare that was imprinted on my mind forever, like a nightmare. I had never seen eyes so full of hatred ever again.

"Someone who belongs on the streets is living in the palace. The least she can do is know her limits. Now, take her out of my sight!" Luna Meesa spat.

And that day I learnt the first lesson of my life with every strike of my caretaker's stick; I should be grateful I was given food.

And ever since, I have disliked blueberries and pancakes.

***

Sitting at the same table with the royal family and eating? I smiled at the thought.

I didn't even belong in their dining hall or anywhere near them.

I lifted my eyes to meet Ezra's gaze, but found that all three of them were looking at me, awaiting an answer from me.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I lowered my gaze.

"I preferred eating alone," I mumbled.

Ezra slammed his hand on the table. Flinching, I shut my eyes. His eyes darkened as he clenched his jaws.

"You were never invited, never welcomed, never accepted," Ezra snapped. His words stabbed like daggers in my chest, reopening the wounds that never healed.

I lowered my head, clenching my fists over my thighs, holding myself from falling apart. There was a scream rumbling in my chest and I knew if I spoke a word right now, I would end up crumbling into sobs.

my eyes, Xanthea," Ezra commanded. I lifted my gaze to meet his bloodshot eyes. "Truth."

skin as I fought to hold back my

the quiver wasn't far from betraying me.

knit not in anger, but

fist, feeling my heart

a rough inhale, clenching and unclenching his jaws, looking outside the glass walls at the sea

in silence for a while before Asher began serving me

I can-" I said, getting up from the chair slightly, almost panicking at this

in a while, you can allow others to do things for you,

I peered at him.

in my chest and my words were at the tip of my tongue,

do things for me,

so patient

do, your silent gestures, the little things you say here and there confuse me. I don't know what to

lowered my bleary gaze and looked at

you care, Raven? About my

answers to all my questions yet... my heart wants to

Why?

clothes I always desired to wear? What selfish reasons did you have behind

feel my pain.

Just treat me like you did before, so that I can

please... excuse myself?" I

said. "Stay

"Please," my voice quivered.

said in

through

and I got up and locked

tap in the sink, I splashed water on my face and kept splashing until I was

left the tap running as I peered at myself in the mirror,

do this to

Inhaling deeply through my nose and I exhaled through my

nor their care," I warned myself. "Don't get

inner lip to

or the faint whispers of my profound feelings - they could just as easily take it

I shouldn't-

Oh goddess!

mouth with my hands, I locked my cries within, bottled up my emotions, swallowed it all like

But it hurt.

I gasped.

hurt like I was drinking molten glass and it was solidifying and clogging in my chest, shattering within me at the same time. Its shards turned into a storm, stabbing me from within, threatening to

Gasping, I clenched my belly, sliding down the sink to the

my chattering

help, looked at

the sound of the running tap and water dripping down the drain and on the marble floor

was drowning. The pain spiked inside me for a few seconds and then

I thought I had lost the grasp on myself, I felt a gentle grip around my upper arms and I

you feel is valid, and it's not your fault in any way. It's ok." Ezra stroked my