The moon, unsurprisingly, didn't answer.
I was pulling the pins out of my hair, which someone had tortured into an updo, when I heard voices in the corridor outside. Male voices. Arguing.
Oh no.
"...can't just leave her here unsupervised," someone was saying. It sounded like Theron.
"She's not a prisoner," another voice argued. Kieran.
"Then what is she?" That was Cassian, I thought.
"A problem," Darius said flatly.
"A problem we rejected," Zane added. "Therefore, it's not our problem anymore."
"The prophecy says..."
"I don't care what the prophecy says!"
I rolled my eyes and opened the door.
All five Alphas were standing in the hallway, apparently having followed me to continue their argument about what to do with me. They all froze when they saw me.
"Hi," I said. "Having fun?"
Kieran recovered first. "We were just discussing..."
"How I'm a problem?" I supplied helpfully. "Yeah, I heard. These walls are thinner than you'd think."
Theron had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. Slightly.
"Look," I said, leaning against the doorframe. "You all rejected me. Fine. I get it. I'm not exactly Alpha mate material. But can you please take your existential crisis somewhere else? I've had a really long day and I'd like to wallow in my humiliation in private."
"You don't seem particularly humiliated," Cassian observed.
"I'm an excellent actress."
His silver eyes gleamed with something that might have been interest. "Are you?"
"The best," I said flatly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if I can figure out how to work the bathtub in there because it has more knobs than any bathtub should reasonably have and I'm afraid I'm going to flood the palace."
Darius's lips twitched. It might have been a smile. It was hard to tell because his resting face was "bored aristocrat."
"We'll discuss this further in the morning," Kieran said, like he was dismissing a council meeting.
"Can't wait," I said, and shut the door in their faces.
I waited until I heard their footsteps retreating before I let out a long breath.
This was going to be harder than I thought.
I'd been planning to lay low, avoid attention, and work on stopping the Demon King from the shadows like I always did. But apparently, the Moon Goddess had other plans.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The dress was ridiculous. My hair was a mess from pulling out the pins. I had dark circles under my eyes because I'd been up until three in the morning last night dealing with a nest of rogue vampires in the eastern territories.
"What were you thinking?" I asked my reflection. Or maybe I was asking the Moon Goddess. "Why me?"
My reflection, also unsurprisingly, didn't answer.
I finally managed to get the dress off after contorting myself into several uncomfortable positions to reach the buttons. Whoever invented dresses like this hated women. That was the only explanation.
The bath was amazing, though. I'll give the palace that. The tub was huge and the water was hot and there were about fifteen different bottles of things that smelled nice. I used all of them. If I was going to be stuck here, I might as well enjoy the amenities.
When I finally climbed into the massive bed, wrapped in a robe that was softer than anything I'd ever touched, I stared up at the ceiling and tried to think.
The prophecy was real. I'd known it was coming, had known that the Blood Moon would choose someone this year. I just hadn't expected it to choose me.
The Void was growing stronger. That part was true too. I'd been fighting Void beasts for months now, watching them get bigger and more frequent. The barrier between our world and the demon realm was weakening.
And the Demon King was definitely trying to break through. I had sources. Information networks. I knew things that would make these Alphas lose sleep at night.
But I'd been planning to handle it myself. Quietly and efficiently. The way I handled everything.
Now I was in the middle of a prophecy, rejected by five Alphas who were supposed to help me save the kingdom, and stuck in a palace where everyone thought I was worthless.
I started laughing.
I couldn't help it. It was just so absurd.
The Moon Goddess chose the one woman in the kingdom who didn't need five Alpha mates to save everyone. The one woman who'd been doing it alone for years. The one woman who was powerful enough to handle this herself.
And those five idiots had rejected me without even knowing what they were giving up.
"Your loss," I told the empty room.
Tomorrow, I'd figure out a plan. Tonight, I was going to sleep in this incredibly comfortable bed and enjoy the fact that for once in my life, I wasn't sleeping in a basement with a leaky ceiling.
The Blood Moon shone through the window, painting everything red.
And somewhere in the darkness, I could feel the Void stirring, hungry and patient.
Let it wait.
I had bigger problems to deal with.
Like five Alphas who were going to be very, very sorry they rejected me.
Eventually.
