Chapter 10

Earl quickly made his way to the healer's room, he just hoped his intuition was right. He had a lot on his mind and going out of his way to look for Nellie was the last thing he wanted to do now. He'd barely gotten to the door when he kicked it open, Charlie and the three guards were following behind.

The first person he saw when he opened the door was Nellie, she sat there in one end of the room looking at Ma'am Dodda with so much pity and remorse in her eyes. Earl breathed in relief on seeing her.

"Your Highness" The healer bowed.

"Nellie!" Earl shouted, he couldn't control his temper. He'd thought he'd lost her.

"Earl…" Nellie began but was cut short by the healer.

"You will regard the Alpha with respect!" The healer growled.

Nellie rolled her eyes, She was tired of the healer's temper already.

"It's okay Astrid" Earl said to the healer, he turned to Ma'am Dodda who was lying on the bed still oblivious of her surroundings, her face as white as the sheets covering the pillow where her hair was placed. She looked pale, it was probably from losing too much blood.

"How is she holding up?" Earl asked, referring to Ma'am Dodda.

"She has lost a lot of blood. Right now I can only guarantee that she is stable now, it took me a while to stop the bleeding because it was a deep wound. It will take a miracle to save her, I'm afraid" The healer's voice was a sad one.

"Earl, that's what I was trying to tell him, I can try to heal your Nanny. I just need the right leaves. She's lying there because of me and this is the least I could do for her. please let me help'' Nellie moved to Earl and held his arms like a child requesting a favor from his parents.

Earl moved away from her, he could perceive her strong scent… she smelt like spices. He found himself wondering if she tasted the same. Earl quickly slapped himself out of that thought, he was not supposed to think of such absurd things when he had very important things to take care of and especially not when Ina had left him barely 5 days ago.

He turned abruptly and dragged Nellie by the arms out of the healer's room, he only released her hand when they got to his chambers.

"What's with the strings you pulled earlier?" Earl asked immediately he released her hand.

"What strings?" Nellie blinked innocently, rubbing the spot he had held.

"I thought you were scared of the Rogues getting you? What is with you being here one minute and the next minute you went off wandering alone in the castle?" Earl looked too angry.

"Well that was last night, I am no longer scared, besides I had to go freshen up in my room and you were sleeping a bit too peacefully, I did not want to disturb you" Nellie pointed out flatly.

"That doesn't explain why you wandered off to Astrid's chambers on your own '' Earl's tone was equally flat.

"Astrid?" Nellie tried to act confused.

"The healer!" Earl thundered "Don't try to play dumb" He added.

"Fine! I told you you are too grumpy for your age, it's just a matter of time before you grow white hair" Nellie taunted

"Haha. Not funny" Earl glared at her.

"Ofcourse" Nellie glared back. "Well I was about to come back here to check if you were back from the land of the dead when I saw two of your maids, they do a good job at gossiping you know, they were talking about your Nanny so I decided to visit her" She finished.

Earl looked at Nellie as she made her way to sit on the bed, she was dangerously beautiful today. He had ordered a maid to get her new dresses, she was dressed in one of them now and she looked so beautiful in it, he wondered why he couldn't stay mad at her. Even Ina, when they were together, feared him most of the time. But Nellie was different, she talked to him like he was just another person and she had a strong wit. He could say she was too arrogant, he liked the fact that she was fearless and he secretly admired the fact that she was not scared of him.

"I expect you to be more careful, I don't want you out of my sight until I'm sure the Witchers are done rekindling our senses of smell, we may never know if the Rogues are still lurking around" He finally said.

"You sound so worried," Nellie observed.

"You are my captive, and if you must die under my watch it should be by my hands" Earl replied coldly. It was an attempt to frighten her.

Just then a maid knocked on the door and Earl ordered her to come in. She came in to inform them that breakfast has been served.
•••••••••••••••••

Nellie stood up and followed the maid, she felt pissed beyond reason, Earl kept reminding her that he was going to kill her. But why was he still keeping her if he was just going to kill her eventually. When the maid noticed Nellie had followed her she paused and bowed.

"Do you need anything… Ma'am?" The maid's hesitation to address her with a title clearly showed she did not know what to address her as.

"Nellie" Nellie supplied.

"Huh?" The maid looked confused.

"I can't address you as that Ma'am" The maid bowed.

"Very well then" Nellie was not going to tell her what to address her as because she didn't even know what title she held in this castle. She could as well be referred to as a servant since she was Earl's captive.

"Do you need anything Ma'am?" The maid asked again.

"How long before everyone arrives for breakfast?" Nellie asked instead.

"Any moment from now Your honor" The maid bowed again.

"Stop bowing already, what's your name?" She was tired of the formalities around here, back in her pack she could talk about a lot of things with Bella for as long as they wanted, most of the maids were comfortable around her and she could talk to a lot of them too.

The thought of Bella stung Nellie straight in the heart, they had been best friends for what? Seventeen years. And she threw all that away for what? Greed. That was the only logical explanation Nellie could come up with, she felt more hurt that Bella had betrayed her than she had ever felt in her life.

She could never have imagined that Bella wanted what she had. She had always sought Bella's counsel for any decisions she made, from the pack to her relationship with Piere, it still surprised her how her best friend of seventeen years could turn against her to the extent of wishing her dead.

"Ma'am?" The maid touched Nellie gently.
Nellie was shaken back to reality, she'd zoned out.

"Uh .. I'm sorry" she began

"No, are you okay? You seemed lost and… you have tears in your eyes?" The maid asked affectionately.

"I'm fine, what's your name and how old are you?" Nellie liked the girl.

"Ariel, I'm 28 years old Ma'am" The girl answered, bowing again.

Nellie made a mental roll of her eyes.

"Ariel, I want you to be my personal maid for as long as I will be here. Stay close to me and take orders from only me" Nellie didn't wait to seek permission from Earl.

Just then, Earl appeared at the top of the step,he looked from Nellie to the maid and back to Nellie. He had heard the last thing Nellie said, he had no problem with that but he made a mental note to taunt Nellie a bit. Then he recalled he had probably pissed her off earlier. He dismissed the maid with a wave of his hands but the maid seemed reluctant to leave, she kept looking at Nellie for approval, Nellie only nodded.

"You can go now Ariel, I'll call for you" Nellie said softly. The maid bowed and left.

When Ariel left, Nellie tried to walk away but Earl held her back. "I'm sorry about earlier" he apologized.

"What part of earlier? The part where you said the truth?"

"I won't kill you Nellie"

"I know. Even if you wanted to, I won't let you" she said this so confidently that it made Earl chuckle.

"Well that's a consolation. Breakfast is getting cold, let's eat"

"I was serious about healing ma'am Dodda" Nellie's voice was as confident as ever.

"I'll accompany you to look for whatever you'll need after breakfast" Earl finally said.

"Good. So let's eat"