Maisie's POV:

“What do you think you are doing?” She yelled at me.

My eyes burst open to see her storming straight over to me. I was still lying there on my pad of a bed on the cold, hard dirt floor that got wet when it rained. She reached up, drew her arm back, and slapped me with her claws. I moaned as she caused several scratches to appear on the soft skin of my face. This is something she did practically every time she saw me.

“You are supposed to start cleaning up before breakfast is served to the rest of the house!” She continued to rant at me. “Get up and get going before I come back and really have at you!”

I bowed toward her, my hand still pressed against the side of my face, waiting for her to leave. I knew better than to say anything at that precise moment. She would take my tone as a perceived attitude when the only attitude I had was that I was in pain.

I was waiting for her to leave before I stood back up. Anytime sooner, and I would undoubtedly be struck again. Once she was gone, I quickly rose and walked over to a hook on the wall by the door, where I hung my one and only garment. I was to wear this single item anytime I was supposed to leave this very room.

I grabbed it, quickly put it on over my undergarments, and rushed out of the room as I headed toward the kitchen to start my duties. I made my way there as quickly as I could manage, as I had a bit of a limp from an older injury.

I quickly reached the back door leading to the kitchen and went inside. I headed straight for the broom closet, grabbing the bucket and a rag so I could start cleaning up the cabinets. I'm not sure who the cook is, but they certainly made a mess anytime they did something. It was evident they had no care to clean up after themselves. In the end, it was like they did it on purpose.

I am not allowed in there while they cook for some time now. So, there is no sampling of the various dishes that are prepared. I got severely punished for tasting a crumb from a biscuit I found on the counter while cleaning up after a meal. Matron walked in that day and saw me. She made sure and told Mother. I was severely punished for it, too. So, after that, I'm only allowed to eat what is left, which is only at the end of the day, after I have finished all the chores I was given.

Finally, when I finished the few dirty cabinets, I went into the dining hall to ensure everything was in order, as it was just before breakfast. Mother never wanted me to be seen, so I had to start early. Today, she got me up before sunup. I guess it was a big day or something. She does not want me around anyone, let alone to have others see me.

I am the youngest in my family, and I tend to the needs of my other five siblings. I either clean up or do everyone else's laundry. Therefore, no one tells me anything about the importance of special events, especially.

Once all the chairs were wiped down, I walked over to the window to look out. I had only wanted to admire the view. I did not have a window in my room, so there was no view like this one, as this view looked out over the front of the castle I cleaned. However, I didn't realize Mother had just entered the room.

I heard something behind me and turned at the exact moment she walked up to me, slapping me across the face once again with her claws out, scratching me on the face once more. I immediately placed my hand over my face and bowed before her as she spoke.

"You know you are not to be seen!" She yells at me harshly.

"I... I'm sorry, Mother," I said without even thinking that I was speaking at that moment, as I was truly caught off guard.

"How dare you address me in this manner!" She said in shock, and after she said that, I received yet another slap on the opposite cheek this time. "You are to go to your room at once. Until I had best decide what to do with you."

I stood back up from my bowed-over position and picked up the bucket and the rag I was carrying. When I walked past her around the end of the table, she tripped me, and I fell onto a chair, which caused it to fall to the ground. At the same time, I dropped the bucket, which was partially filled with water, causing it to spill all over the floor.

I gasped as the garment I was wearing was now nearly soaked. However, the most important thing about falling when I did was that the arm railing broke when the chair fell, crashing to the floor. I tried to get up, but my weakened state made it difficult as I was slipping along with the water puddle, which is now very evident.

"What is all the commotion?!" Asked the Alpha of our pack. He walked into the dining hall and looked directly at me, then looked over at Mother.

"I am so sorry, Alpha," Mother said in a harsh tone as she scowled at me. I knew she would surely punish me if I said anything to him. She did not want anyone to see me, him, especially of all. "The servant was clumsy and knocked over the chair, causing it to break."

I looked at her, shocked by her words, and then immediately looked back down at the floor. I kept my gaze on the floor as I looked over at the feet from where Alpha was currently standing. I had hoped that he was not going to take part in my punishment and just let Mother take care of it.

I remember something she previously told me. That being, he used to punish one of his servants who spilled his coffee on his desk of papers, and he had her beaten so badly that she later died from her injuries. I have been beaten pretty severely, but not yet to the brink of Death.

"Get this issue taken care of before I do," he growled as he took a step closer to my position. I flinched when he took his first step. His Highness is coming today, and I do not want anything out of place."

"Promptly, Alpha," Mother responded to his words, waiting for him to leave. Once he was out of sight, she turned her fury to me and exclaimed, "I am not dealing with this today of all days!"

Mother walked over to me, grabbed a handful of hair on my head, and pulled me up to my feet. I slipped a few times, causing her to pull on my hair even harder, and I could feel how she pulled some of my hair out completely. As she started pulling me out of the dining hall and walking down the servants' corridor, she spoke once more when she was sure no one else was listening.

"Finally, one of your siblings will take their rightful place at His Highness's side," she said, speaking harshly to me. "Then we can forever be rid of you and your clumsiness."

I whimpered under my breath as I did not want her to know that I made a sound as we kept walking down the corridor. I thought she would take me back to my room by the garage, but we passed the door that led outside. She kept walking to the stairs at the end of the hall that led down. It was then that I knew exactly where I was being led.

Still holding on to my hair, she pushed me in front of her as we walked down the stairs. When we were just a few steps from the bottom platform, she shoved me forward with massive force. I fell forward and did not have enough time to place my hands in front of me and catch myself. With the force of being shoved and traveling down the stairs, I landed directly on my face, and I could feel the delicate bones in my nose crack as my face collided with the floor.

I whimpered in pain a bit louder than before, and this time, I am sure she heard me. I rolled onto my side so I could get off my face, and I reached up and covered my nose. My eyes closed at that point. I could not see due to the water running away from my eyes and the pain in my nose. As I had my nose covered, I felt the sudden gush of warm liquid rushing from my nose right after I attempted to touch it softly. I knew I would have to clean the floor, as I was sure it would be a mess when this was over and done with.

"Get up, you clumsy girl," Mother shouted when she walked over to me.

"Kyle, I'm so glad you came. Would you care to take her? I am far too busy to deal with her." Mother said to the Master who worked on this level. "She broke a chair in the dining hall, and His Highness is coming by today."

"Promptly, Ma'am," he said, then he walked over to me and grabbed me by my arm, pulling me up to my feet as my hands were still covering my nose. "Get moving, and keep yourself quiet!"

We walk down the hall a decent distance, and then he stops and turns to face a door on the side of the hall. I can not see as my eyes are still watery, but I hear the jingling of metal, and then the door creaks open. He walks me inside and leaves me standing in the middle of the room.

I knew better than to sit down at that point. Master Kyle walked away, and after a few seconds, he returned to stand before me. He grabbed one of my wrists, causing me to hit my nose, and I whimpered due to the pain shooting all over my face. He put something over my wrist and then reached for my other wrist and did the same thing with it. I tried to blink to see what he was doing, but everything was exceptionally blurry at this point, which made it difficult to see.

He then lifted my hands over my head and lifted me by the item that was bound to my wrists. I whimpered as I was no longer standing but hanging up in the air. I heard more metal jingling, then he just dropped me, and then I was caught by my wrists. The jerk in my arms almost popped my arms right out of their proper position on my shoulders. I gasped for air at that point. He then tightened his grip in mid-air, pulling his arm back, and hit me in the center of my chest. I could not breathe at that point as I was gasping for air.

"This will teach you to break something you can't replace," he said as he pulled his arm back again and punched me in the stomach this time. “Your lucky Alpha isn't here to take part in all this! I had a hand in the last time. The time when he put that miserable servant out of her misery.”

With each blow I received, I tried to pull my knees up to my chest, but due to the weight of my legs, I could not hold them up. All I wanted to do was block the hits that just kept coming. I was already exhausted, even before all this began. I did not know what to do. A part of me wished that my life would just come to an end.

Was Mother going to allow Master Kyle to serve this treatment to the brink of having me land on Death's very doorstep? I whimpered as I received yet another blow. With each hit, I could feel it was getting harder and harder to catch my breath. I tried pulling up with my wrists, but that was useless as each hit knocked me back down to the same position.

That was when I started to see black around the edge of my vision, and the black was making it harder and harder to see. There was no point in trying to count how many times I had been struck up to this point. I had already lost count of how many. I was not sure what was happening, but pretty soon, black was all I could see. Soon, it was not all that much longer before I sadly did not see or feel anything else at all.