The Alpha's Hunt Chapter 134

We took Mathilda through every level of the castle starting from the bottom and working our way through every single room, many of which I hadn't been in myself so that was fun.

The gym, locker rooms, and Royal Guard sleep halls were especially unsettling but we closed those doors fast enough. At first, I thought that the Guards lived here permanently but Nora explained that the rooms are there for temporary stays and are reserved for the Guards, not their permanent residence.

Mathilda was in awe of everything her eyes fell on and she reached out to touch every painting and vase and table with the maids glowering at her from around the corners- I wanted to tell them to relax and that I'd make sure she didn't break anything, but where's the fun in that.

We strolled down the hallways and over the bridge leading to the adjoining tower.

Once there we pulled every door and poked our heads into the ones that weren't locked, except for a few unlocked rooms where the inhibitor would yell at us to 'fuck off'. Not appropriate language for a thirteen-year-old but the old grouch sat in his white stained pajamas with a bonnet and lit candle, like a painting from the 1600’s.

“How rude,” I laughed after having closed the door and my sister rolled her eyes and looked at me like a judge about to sentence me for a crime. 

“Would you like it if someone barged into your bedroom unannounced?” She raised a brow and her eyes were burning with judgment.

“Yes, I would welcome the company,” I said as a matter of fact and Mathilda scoffed. 

“Please, you would throw the closest book at them,”

“And the biggest,” I winked and hooked my arm in hers while we skipped down the hallway with Nora giggling profusely. Mathilda reached out her hand for Nora to grab and she looked at it at first, paused for a beat, and then grabbed her hand.

“Let’s continue!” I called and raised the binoculars I'd found on a table in a den in the palace.

I’d carried it with me, it made me feel like a pirate about to raid the castle and kidnap the princess.

Oh, indelicate, the princess really was kidnapped. Okay, I felt like a pirate about to raid the place and give the princess a treat.

Much better! Good job, Hazel. 

I giggled as we ran up the spiraled staircase and gazed at the land around the palace from the top window in the tower. You could see everything from here and it was glorious.

The grass stretched lusciously around the buildings and the leaves were fluttering to the ground one after the other, it looked like a rain of colors.

Fall was coming and I couldn't wait but while I was being filled with anticipation and longing, I looked at my two lesser enthused companions who were frowning at the beautiful scene in front of us. 

“No grouching when looking at falling leaves, Mathilda you know the rules,” she hurriedly tried to smile but when you try to smile with a frown it comes off as though you've smelt something bad. 

“Nora?” I said and tried to get her on board with my longing love for the brewing fall but she turned her head and wrinkled her nose. 

“No thank you,” she said.

I sighed and grabbed their hands. 

“Onto to next!”

Mathilda laughed and we ran down the stairs and into another addition of the palace, one much more lively than the last. 

This one has furniture with lively colors of cold and powder-pink, lamps with green glass, and glass-blown flowers adorning the walls.

The frames of the portraits were gold as they always were but the people were fascinatingly stoic except for one of a Phoenix with its wings spread out wide and the beak raised towards the sky.

It was glorious, it must've been something someone ordered because I had never heard of the existence of the Phoenix.

The tables were spotless, a thick coat of protective glaze to keep from any scraping and it was clear that the housemaids worked here as well but it wasn't until we made it into the big living room that I started hearing chatter. Maids came and went with buckets and big smiles, they whispered in what I could assume was shared gossip based on the way they leaned forward and held their hands up to cover their lips; because that helps around werewolves.

There were doors to rooms that were made, as though people still lived there and each room had a plaque outside stating who they had belonged to; Kings and Queens, previous rulers of Valeria as well as Elders who had permanent stay at the palace.

I couldn't believe how much history this palace held and how much of it was preserved. Offices and playrooms from earlier rulers and their children were also fully intact. There was a thick silver plaque under a portrait in the hallway.

’The first royal palace, built for King Lewi’ 

This was the very first thing they built, this stood before anything else so every other building was an addition to this one.

The main building hadn't even been built yet when they lived here.

It was eerie to think about, what if their ghosts still lingered in these hallways, watching their rooms and drinking tea with the other ghosts.

A shiver passed through me and I froze. Could that have been a ghost?

“Hazel,” Nora’s hand on my shoulder made me scream and I fell against the wall. My poor heart was slowly weltering away in my chest.

When I turned around she was holding her hands up beside her head and her eyes were wider than I'd ever seen them. 

“I’m sorry,” she squealed, “I found something I think you’ll want to see,”