Quiet Visits and Quiet Plots

Kharzak

The servant quarters were quiet.

One oil lamp. The smell of crushed herbs. Her breathing — slow, deep, the sleeping mixture still holding.

I stood in the doorway for a moment.

Then I stepped inside and closed the door behind me.

She hadn't moved since Torvak laid her down. Face turned to the side. Lashes still stuck together with dried tears. The herbs covered most of her back — the headmaid's work was careful, thorough.

I pulled the chair beside the bed and sat.

Studied her.

Pale. Exhausted even in sleep. The kind of exhaustion that lived underneath the skin.

Fragile.

The word arrived without permission and I disliked it immediately.

I had seen torture before. Ordered it myself. The dungeon had never bothered me.

This bothered me not just me my wolf too.

I leaned forward slightly.

She had lied to me. About her origin. About her past. I had known it from the first night I questioned her — I could read deception the way my wolf read fear. She had fed me careful half-truths and I had let her because watching how she constructed them was more useful than stopping her.

But she had never once begged.

Not during questioning. Not in the dungeon.

Most humans broke quickly. Tears. Bargaining. The desperate performance of people who believed mercy could be negotiated.

She had simply endured.

I leaned back.

"You're becoming a problem," I said quietly.

She didn't move.

I sat for a while longer. Watching her breathe.

Then I stood. Adjusted the blanket carefully over her shoulders — away from the herbs. Turned and walked out.

---

**TORVAK**

The training yard was loud with clashing steel.

I stood at the edge of it and heard none of it.

Lord Varent appeared at my shoulder eventually. Silver in his hair. Straight-backed despite his age. The man had been reading court politics before I was born.

"You look like you're carrying stones in your chest," he said.

"You heard about the dungeon."

"Yes."

I lowered my voice. "She nearly killed that girl."

"So I've been told."

"Used the shock collar too." My jaw tightened. "If we'd arrived an hour later—"

"But you didn't."

"That's not the point." I turned to face him fully.

"June has too much influence. She commands servants. Punishes them without authority. Some guards obey her before they obey the king's direct orders." I exhaled. "And now she's torturing people in the dungeon."

Varent stroked his beard slowly. "You believe she's grown dangerous."

"I know she has."

He was quiet for a moment. Then — "The king is already distancing himself from her."

I looked at him. "You noticed."

"I've been watching court politics longer than you've been alive." A faint smile. "But that also makes June more dangerous."

"She'll fight to keep what she has."

"Yes." Varent's eyes moved toward the palace tower. "And if the cause of her fall is a human maid—"

He didn't finish.

He didn't need to.

My stomach tightened. "She'll try to destroy the girl."

"Most likely."

I looked back at the palace.

---

**JUNE**

Mira kept her head down when she entered.

My good Mira.

I dismissed the other servants with one look and waited until the room was empty.

"Well?"

"She woke yesterday, my lady." Mira's voice was careful. Measured. "Still weak. The headmaid changes the herbs every few hours."

"And the king?"

She hesitated.

My eyes sharpened. "Speak."

"He visited her room." Mira swallowed. "Late at night."

The room went very quiet.

"How long did he stay?"

"Not long, my lady."

"Did they speak?"

"No. She was still asleep."

I turned to the window.

So.

The king of the Wolf Empire. Sitting in a servant's room in the dark. Watching a sleeping maid.

The jealousy hit so hard it felt like a physical thing.

"Continue watching," I said. "Every movement. Every visit. Every word she says about her past."

"Yes, my lady."

"Go."

Mira hurried out.

I stood at the mirror for a long time after she left.

Beautiful. Composed. Still the king's chosen companion.

I had been beside him for years. Through campaigns. Through court upheaval. Through every woman who had tried and failed to take what was mine.

I would not lose it to a slave, a mere Whore in waiting.

---

I knocked softly on his chamber door that evening.

"Enter."

He stood at the window. Back to me. The dark forest spread beyond the palace walls behind him.

"My king."

He didn't turn. "What do you want, June?"

I stepped inside. Kept my voice soft. Controlled. "I came to apologise."

That made him glance over his shoulder.

I moved closer. "I went too far." My eyes dropped. "I lost my temper. It won't happen again."

He studied me the way he studied everything — not looking at what was presented but at what was underneath it.

I held still and let him look.

Finally, he turned from the window fully.

"You lost your temper," he repeated.

"Yes."

His gaze was steady. Too steady.

“With a chained slave.”

When he stopped in front of her, the air felt heavier.

“Tell me something, June,” he said quietly.

“Yes, my king?”

“Why her?”

I blinked.

“My king?”

“Why that maid?”His eyes searched her face.

“There are hundreds of servants in this palace.”

“Yet you chose her.”

I swallowed.

“She disrespected me.”

Kharzak’s eyebrow lifted slightly.

“Did she?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

I hesitated.

That moment of hesitation did not escape him.

“You see,” the king continued calmly, “I asked the headmaid the same question.”

I felt a flicker of unease.

“And?”

“She told me the girl barely speaks.”

Kharzak tilted his head slightly.

“Hardly the behaviour of someone insulting a royal mistress.”

June’s heart beat faster.

“She looked at me strangely,” I said quickly.

The king’s lips curved faintly.

“That is your reason?”

June forced herself to remain calm.

“She is human.”

His expression hardened slightly.

“And?”

“They are naturally disrespectful to wolves.”

Kharzak studied me again.

But something about the explanation clearly failed to convince him.

“You whipped her twenty-seven times.”

I froze.

He knew the number.

My eyes widened slightly.

“And used the shock collar four times.”

His voice was calm.

Too calm.

I forced a small smile.

“I may have… misjudged the situation.”

The king’s gaze remained cold.

“Yes.”

“You did.”

He stepped past me.

I turned quickly.

“My king.”

He stopped.

I took a breath.

“I was jealous.”

The confession slipped out softly.

Kharzak looked at me again.

I stepped closer.

“You called her to your chambers.”

My voice trembled.

“You spent the night with her.”

Something flashed briefly in the king’s eyes.

“Careful,” he warned.

But I continued.

“I thought she was replacing me.”

Silence filled the chamber again.

The king stared at me.

Then he gave a quiet, humourless laugh.

“Replacing you?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

Kharzak walked toward his chair near the table and sat down.

“You have a very creative imagination.”

I slowly approached him.

“My king…”

“You assume far too much.”

I stopped beside him.

“You called her twice.”

“That does not make her important.”

“But you visited her last night.”

Kharzak’s eyes snapped toward me.

I immediately realised my mistake. I hadn’t meant to reveal that.

His voice turned sharp.

“How do you know that?”

My heart skipped.

“I… heard the servants talking.”

The king leaned back in his chair. Watching me carefully.

The silence stretched long enough to make me uncomfortable.

Finally, he said,

“You are spending too much time worrying about a slave.”

I quickly shook my head.

“No, my king.”

“Good.”

His voice hardened again.

“Because if I ever hear that you laid a hand on her again…”

He let the threat hang unfinished.

I nodded quickly.

“I understand.”