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THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 29
There is laughter and music.I feel an alcoholic content in the thick, hot air.A maid passes between the pools with trays of fruit and small, round bread rolls.I retreat back to the door, skittish.I think I can handle my mess a little longer, but I stand where I am when a maid approaches. She gestures to a pool further away from the others that is empty, as if she notices my embarrassment.It's just a little dirt. Come on, encourage me.Reeina has informed me before that wolves always bathe in groups, like me and my sisters. It's not like it's possible for me to do this in a private place. There are no private locations. Can I demand this? Can I ask them to build a pool just for me?My body is sacred, I think.No one should see him other than the other Handmaids of the Goddess, or a man during the fertility ritual. But none of that will happen again, will it?Conformed, I follow the maid to the distant pool.She brings me a small tray with fruit, bread, and a towel for my bath and
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 30
I wonder if wolves have books in my language.For the first time I think that perhaps I could learn your language to occupy my days until the best moment presents itself for my plan.I need to wait until my blood stops flowing before receiving visitors, but after all, when the door finally opens, it is not the pleasant Reeina who appears, but the stranger, the Prince of wolves.I'm in bed, braiding my hair, when he walks in.His stature is even more imposing and menacing than I remembered. Maybe because he was covered in so many dark, metal-filled clothes.He looks at me and I look into that single blood-colored eye.For no reason I remember seeing him in the bathrooms. I remember his slender, strong body... and the women helping him bathe...— Follow me, Kim.The accent is strong and harsh, but firm.I swallow my surprise.- Where?The Prince looks at my legs.— There's something I want-... — he stops for a moment. — show you — the tone is more hesitant here.The possibility of leavi
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 31
— I need your help, Kim — he confesses, even in that dry and harsh tone of voice. — I need to know who attacked my family.I open my mouth, but the Prince is faster.— I'll give you whatever you want. Even if your wish is my death. I know you hate me. I know he blames me for the loss of his people—his confession is a torrent of words that I suspect he memorized, as they are spoken in a clearer tone than the others. — If you help me find those who attacked my father and me, after I take revenge I will let you kill me and guarantee your freedom.I stand there, looking into his face.I can't say anything. My thoughts are confused.I cannot help the Wolf Prince in any way, I know that. I have no powers. I can't have visions, premonitions, anything. But if I could... if I told him who killed your father and tried to kill him... would he let me kill him? Would he hand his life into my hands after getting his revenge?It's a lie. She's lying, of course. He'll say anything to get me to agree.
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 32
You're as trapped as I am.We are both prisoners.I don't know when he sleeps. He always seems to be awake. He reads a million books. He is always reading, sitting in a large wooden chair, with his feet stretched out on a type of upholstered stool.Some books are in my language. I can see the names on the covers.I don't know if he knows that this is even worse torture for me.Maybe you know. Maybe he's sadistic on that level.We eat meals together.He, at the table he uses to read and write, and me on the floor.While we eat I get their irritated looks.For some reason I think he would like to invite me to eat with him at the table, but he doesn't trust me to do so.Clever.At the first opportunity I would use one of his cutlery to hit him in the eye, or hit myself in the throat, depending on my mood. And I'm always tired and in a bad mood. Most days I pretend he's not here. I literally pretend I'm alone. I sing and pray to the Goddess, undo and redo my braids and realize that the li
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 33
A few moments later I hear a murmur that makes my stomach shiver and I look up.One of the women is sitting on the other wolf's lap.They kiss each other on the mouth.The others watch them with small smiles as they drink, eat fruit and make comments in a joking tone.One of them turns to the stranger next to me and makes a move to get closer, but he turns her away with a look.My breath catches in my throat. I'm out of breath and nervous.My sacred parts tighten as if waiting for something.I reach out and grab the Prince's forearm.- We can go?He nods and stands up.I turn my body away so I can't see him and maintain some dignity while I wrap myself in a towel.We dress quickly and in silence, and this is the quietest night we've spent together.**I think my captor finally understands my discomfort with the collective baths and decides to be merciful, because in the following days, when we go out for baths, we always go at times when there are little or no other wolves, and if the
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 34
The Prince teaches me some more complex phrases while we are in the bath rooms. It's late when he tells me it's time to go back and have the last meal. He flatly refused to teach me words to offend, but I believe my request amused him a little.As we were getting dressed to leave the pool he showed the slightest bit of decorum and turned his back to me while I slipped into my temporary robe. One thing he didn't fail to mention on our way back to his private rooms.— The modesty of females on the continent never ceases to surprise me.- I believe. Your people don't have any,” I comment as I look at our feet on the stone floor.Mine, small and barefoot, and yours, huge and wearing black leather boots.— Why would we? Why should we hide?I open my mouth and nothing comes to mind other than a loose phrase that I've repeated so much that I think it's lost its meaning. Still, I apply as much intensity to it as I can.— Because our bodies are sacred.—Does your goddess preach chastity?On im
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 35
Reeina teaches me how to say I'm tired in the language of wolves. She teaches me to say that I am hungry and thirsty. Saying I'm sleepy or asking for silence. It's a six-hour drive to Darebor. We have enough time to practice.Halfway along the route, the carriages stop in a town called Fernis to change and feed the horses. Is small. I can see it from my window. Many children approach, curious. I nod. They laugh. They are bundled up to their dark, attentive eyes.There is snow everywhere.When I make an involuntary movement to rub my arms, Reeina takes a rabbit fur coat from under our bench and hands it to me. I have difficulty putting it on because of the chains, and in the end I decide to just cover myself with it.I feel the Prince's eyes on me. I think it wants to say something, but it won't do that with Reeina here.Excellent.I don't feel comfortable talking to him either.Many times I look at him and think about my fate if something fatal happens to him, and it makes my head spi
THE ROYALTY OF WOLFES 36
Reeina prepared three tunic dresses for me to watch Primal, but she herself informed me that “Prince Michael won't allow me to go”.I'm not sad about that.I feel nothing but anger in the days that follow.I'm trapped again, and from my new cell I can see the circular building where the fighting is taking place. There is music and noise coming from there all day, as well as being packed with people outside. As Reeina said, other than the combatants, only upper caste families can watch Primal so closely.She is a little sad, because if I'm not allowed to go, she can't either. One day after another we sit on the floor, near the window, looking out there and wondering what is happening.At least that's what Reeina does.I sit on the edge where my chains allow me to go, and I cook the hate in my chest, but I don't ask the fen to be silent. I want to know what's going on too. I want to know when my captor will die. On the first day he gets along well.— Your opponent is the eldest son of t
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