By the Light of the Silver Moon

Chapter 22 Marigold

I yawned and rolled over, burying my face in the soft pillow. For a minute, I forgot where I was. I had to remind myself that I wasn't dreaming when I woke up in a soft, comfortable bed instead of on a lumpy mattress in Alpha Torrin's servant quarters. I blinked against the light that was shining in the balcony doors and took a second more to remember that I wasn't in my hotel room in California, either.

I looked around my room, the room of the Luna, and sighed. I had no idea how my life had led me to this.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stretched out. When Finn and I first said goodnight, I had trouble sleeping. I was restless, tossing and turning in the overly comfortable bed. After an hour or two, I felt a wave of calmness roll over me and I was suddenly at ease. I quickly drifted off to sleep.

I crawled out of bed and to the bathroom. I stripped and jumped in the shower. I could have done gymnastics in that thing. There were two shower heads and a bench along the back side. It really made me wonder what the expectations were for shower activities here.

I used whatever I could find in the shower to rinse off my body and hair. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back under the warm water. The first thing I did in California was take a shower so long that eventually the hot water ran out. I hadn't showered in days, maybe even weeks, before then. Ever since, I made sure to take a blazing hot shower everyday.

I stepped out of the shower and eyed the vintage looking tub. I decided that my next mission was going to be experiencing a bath. I couldn't remember ever having a bath before. I wrapped myself up in the fluffy gray towel and walked up to the sink. There was a newly packaged toothbrush in the draw and an unopened tube of toothpaste.

I found a hair dryer and brush, and made myself look presentable again. I realized that I had not showered or washed my hair since I came to Washington almost a week ago to save my mate's life. I frowned at myself in the mirror thinking about how gross I must've been to Finn and the others.

I walked into the closest where my backpack was still on the floor. I pulled out a pair of jeans and a mustard yellow sweater. Even after I settled in at Laguna Beach, I didn't do much shopping. I only had enough clothes to get me to washday. Thinking about laundry had me looking around the closest for a washer and dryer. There were none.

I gathered up all my clothes and went back out to my bedroom just as someone tapped on my door.

"Luna? It's your housemaid!" A soft voice called from the other side. I sighed at being called Luna.

"Come in." I replied. The door slowly opened, revealing a young burnette who couldn't have been any older than me.

"Hi, Luna, I'm Zoey." Zoey bowed her head in submission, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Good Morning, Zoey, please, call me Mari." I said. Zoey raised her head and blinked at me, surprised.

"I'm not the Luna yet and I'd feel more comfortable if we were familiar with each other." I clarified. Of the many things I didn't miss about the Fae kingdom, having servants was certainly at the top.

"Yes, ma'am." Zoey nodded. I grumbled under my breath.

"The Alpha sent me here to introduce myself and see if I can help you with anything." Zoey explained.

"You could show me the way to the laundry." I said, holding up my pile of clothes.

"Oh, you can just leave them anywhere. I'll collect your laundry everyday, if you could just tell me a good time to come so I do not disturb you." Zoey said.

"Really, Zoey, I can do my own laundry." I laughed. I was a slave for so long that I knew I would never be comfortable treating anyone else that way.

"Ma'am, it's my honor to serve you." Zoey argued.