Lilith's POV

Again, just like the first time I found myself in this room, the strong scent of herbs drifted me from sleep. Instead of candlelight stinging my eyes, it was daylight.

“Lilith.” Mira's voice came ringing at me. “You're awake.”

I managed to sit up, gazing at the door of the room as though I expected Sebastian to walk in at any moment. The thought of last night still played over and over again in my mind.

It was a loop.

Just three days of being sold out, and all these?

“You didn't have lunch,” Mira said, her face smiling at me. “And I'm so sorry about that.”

I shook my head. “I don't intend to eat. I’m not hungry.”

“I’m sure you are.”

“I’m not.”

My stomach growled.

“You see.” She winked. “Your stomach couldn't stand to watch you lie.”

I heard a knock on the door. The door opened, and a girl of about my age, perhaps eighteen years old as I was, stepped inside. She had a tray in her hands. There was a jug on it, two mugs, and another small plate containing… Was it sugar or some kind of sweetener?

I had no idea, but from where she stood, the smell of coffee hit me.

“Morning tea,” Mira said. “And feel free to enjoy.”

She placed the tray on the table beside the bed, and gestured for the girl, or a maid, to leave. She didn't ask if I cared for it before filling one of the mugs, and passing it to me.

“This will strengthen you, make you feel alive again.”

“I don't want to.”

Her brows furrowed, a slight frown already taking a place in her face. “Why?”

She looked into the mug, took a sip from it, and gave me a kind of frustrated look.

“This isn't bad. Everyone takes this, even your late parents–”

She stopped herself. Then covered up with a smile.

“Just have it.”

“Concerning my late parents… you knew them, didn't you?”

She sighed, turning her eyes from me. She placed the mug on the tray. And just like that, silence took over the room. She wouldn't speak, and all I did was wait, staring at the back of her head.

She sighed a second time. No words left her lips.

“You don't care to tell me about them… do you?”

She didn't answer.

Her silence only made me travel down memory lane. The scene of my parents’ death taking the broader part of my mind. It always did come to haunt me, always came to steal the little ease I always felt.

But this time was different.

It didn't come because I felt a bit at ease. It came to add more weight to the uneasiness already pricking me like needles.

“I saw them…” My voice was starting to turn into a sob. “I saw their dead eyes staring at me… in their pool of blood…”

My eyes weren't tired of letting out tears.

The tears came warm on my jaws.

“Lilith!” Mira pulled my fingers off my thighs.

That was when I noticed the blood I'd caused on myself. I didn't realize I'd been digging into my flesh.

“Stop!”

She took the towel beside the table, rushing to clean my fingers with it. When she cleaned just my index finger, she stopped, her hands shaking, her eyes not fixed to a spot. She was restless.

“You were self harming…” She got off the bed. “I need to treat that wound before it gets infected. Oh Lilith!”

“I–”

She stormed out of the room before I could make a sentence.

Soon, over a minute later, she returned with a box that had a cross sign drawn on each side of it. She opened it and brought out a cotton wool and a bluish substance.

All these… What for?

When she was done cleaning up the wound, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“The moment I saw you.” Her fingers were going through my hair like a comb. “I knew it was you.”

“It was me?”

She nodded. “And it was a huge grief that Alpha Sebastian wanted you as his cure.” She seemed to lose focus trying to express herself like a long poem was set before her to read. “Oh! How I would have been mourning by now if Sebastian hadn't decided to stop.”

“Mira?”

“Oh…”

She sat on the bed, leaning my body against her shoulder. She went on to pat my back. I was lost in this action of hers.

“About my parents…”

“Not now.”

“Why?”

“Well, I knew your parents. It's time you ate something.”

I left her arms to lie in the bed, facing upward, and for a start, she stared intently at me, trying to read through me.

“I’m not hungry,” I said.

She remained mute. It became my turn to try to read through her. It has always been my turn, but I could get a grasp about her.

The supposed tea we were supposed to drink was left untouched, probably cold by now. She must have lost interest in it. Silence followed between us, and this silence was strong, neither of us saying anything to each other.

It was just our thoughts.

“He insists I'm his mate.” I broke the silence. “And… And I don't know what that should be about.”

“What do you feel about that?” She wore that eager look on her face again.

“What am I supposed to feel?”

She leaned her chin on her knuckles, muttering words I didn't hear.

“Mira?”

“Well…”

But she wouldn't speak, even for something not involving my parents?

“You told me you have a lot of things to tell me… You said I should silence every emotion.”

“Lilith,” she started. “You shouldn't believe those words from him. You shouldn't be caught up with anything about him.” Her hand got a hold of my lower arm. “You're human, and he’s a werewolf.”

My brows furrowed. “Is that all there is to know?”

She averted her gaze from me. “For now.”

“For now…”

The sound of the door caught our attention.

It opened slowly till we could see outside the room.

“Rhea!” Mira gasped. “You've been outside the door?”

She didn't answer, but walked to the bed, staring hard at me like she did the previous night. This time was worse. Her eyes were like a bottomless pit designed to swallow me whole.

“Lilith,” Rhea called.

Her eyes were still wet.

But what's all these for?

Everything was too vague for me to understand.