by Tina Lee
I went for the final blow. I’m sorry, Diana. “Proud? No, I am not proud at all. Do birds feel proud because they are faster and stronger than the worm? No, because that is the way it is, and always has been.”
I watched tears slowly filled her eyes. “Out,” she whispered.
“Excuse me?” I said
“OUT! GET OUT!” she said to me.
“How dare you talk to the king like that! Have you lost your damn mind!” Barry shouted.
She turned to Barry. “You too, GET OUT!” She then looked at everyone. “ALL OF YOU. GET OUT!”
Everyone around the table stood, looking at each other with confused faces. “Lets go. Leave this madwoman alone,” Barry said. I walked away with the crowd, leaving Diana and other friend around the table. “How dare she talk to you like that, Your Grace?”
“I am a forgiving king. She had too much to drink, that’s all.”
“My wife is like that sometimes.” He shook his head. “Women.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “Go home to your wife, Barry.”
He smiled, “Will do, Your Grace.”
I stood outside, took out my pocket watch, and waited. I had planted the seed of inferiority inside her head. She said it herself, it was a lie, and it was. She believed the lie, and that was why the plan would work. When someone feels inferior, their usual course of action is to prove to themselves that they aren’t inferior, and they do so by overcompensating.
I left the bison meat on the plate. She would eat it, to prove to herself that she was equal to any man.
The clouds separated, revealing the moon, gracing us with soft light. It was a beautiful night.
A loud piercing scream came from the dining hall.
Diana was dead.
Chapter Thirty Seven
Elizabeth
Diana’s guard led me to the guest room. I pretended to be drowsy, occasionally rocking side to side. He lifted me and carried me to the bed, then went out and shut the door behind him.
I had slipped a small knife between my breasts, preparing myself for the unexpected. Dante was supposed to be here, somewhere, but I didn’t see him. Maybe he was hiding, waiting for the right time to strike.
It was just silence and me. I stared at the ceiling, then the chandelier, then candles in it.
I laughed to myself. I avoided taking the wine that would put me to sleep, but it didn’t matter, because my pregnancy was doing the job for her. I was fatigued, and a small nap would feel wonderful. The bed was really comfortable. It made me think about the comfort I was missing all my life.
Staying alive meant staying awake, but I don’t think my mind understood how much of a serious situation I was in. I was drowsy and in need of a massage.
A part of me doubt anyone would even come, and this was all just Leo’s plan to keep me away when they kill her. Diana warned of something like this.
“They will challenge us. Remember that, Elizabeth. A woman realizing her worth is their greatest fear.”
What if I didn’t know Dante and Leo as much as I thought I did. Diana could have been right all along, and all that Leo told me could be lies.
No. No. Leo wouldn’t lie to me.
I waited, listening to myself breathe. How long were they waiting to kill me? Get it over with. I heard shuffling, the door opening then closing. Someone was approaching. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear his footsteps, and I was sure he could hear my heart beating.
Several months go, this would have been a thrill for me. I would have charged at him with everything I got, knowing one of us is going to be dead at the end of this. That all changed when I was pregnant. Now, I wanted to run away, as far as I can, and hide somewhere where he could never get to my baby.
I listened as he stepped closer. I wanted to be sure that his intent was to kill me, and he wasn’t some guard sent just to check on me. I was terrible at pretending I was asleep. My legs were shaking uncontrollably.
A high pitch ring went off in my head, my instincts were shouting at me to do something. I subtly reached for the knife between my breast and got ready to make my move.
He was standing beside the bed and there was no way he believed I was sleeping. I was fidgeting too much. It was time to act before he did. I took a deep breath. You can do it.
“Elizabeth,” a familiar voice whispered. “Where are they?”
I breathed a sigh of relief. It was only Dante checking on me. I sprung into his arms. “Where were you?”
“I have patrolling the roof and passageway. No one. Something is not right.”
I squeezed him tighter. “I don’t care. I just want to leave.”
Suddenly, two men jumped out the closet, and ran straight at us! Dante charged at the two men, sending them crashing into the wall.
They were in the closet the whole time! This was crazy! They stood, all looking at each other, waiting for one to make the move. “What do think you are doing?” Dante asked.
When they didn’t answer, he said, “I am Dante Lukas, and you dare attack me? This is suicidal.”
They didn’t care. They were going follow their orders to their death. The two guards shifted then Dante followed, bringing life to the beast inside him. It was Midnight’s turn.
I dashed out the room and one of the wolves sprung past Midnight and chased me. I ran through the passageway and checked the doors. Locked. Locked. Locked. I was not having any luck. I ran further until I found an open room. I stood by the door and waited for the wolf to be in short distance from me.
One of the things I had learned from taking care of shifters at the base camp was; they found it hard to shake off habits. They acted on their instinct first, before rational thinking.
In my pocket, was muerte púrpura leaves wrapped with fresh meat, into small meat balls. I held the balls in my hand, waiting, as he came charging with vicious eyes and drooling mouth.
He was close enough, so I threw the poisoned meat balls at his head, and instead of dodging the meatballs, as would any rational person, the wolf opened its jaws and caught two of the meatballs in its mouth and swallowed. He couldn’t help himself.
I ran into the room and shut the door. He started clawing the door with his heavy paws. Judging from my last experience with a wolf breaking down a door, I knew I had about three minutes before that door fell apart. By now, the poison was in his system, and three minutes was a lot of time.
I sat on the bed and listened to him fighting his way in. I drew the knife from between my breasts and waited. If, for some reason, the poison didn’t work, then the knife would be my only weapon.
Leo was right. She was trying to kill me—or rather, to kill my unborn child. Diana and Margret were alike. Two hypocrites. They became the very thing they hated.
After all the talk about men killing girl babies, she went and ordered men to kill my unborn child. My mind was all over the place. Trying to figure who to trust and who not to trust was exhausting, and in almost all cases, I got it wrong. I really could have used that nap.
Silence.
There was no more scratching on the door nor any menacing, blood-thirsty barks. It seemed the poisoned had worked, and I could finally go home.
I opened the door and stepped out into the passageway. There was no dead wolf laying on the floor. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said to myself. Then I heard footsteps coming from behind me. It was the same wolf, only this time he was staggering a little. The poison was working, though slower than I expected. “Please, just die already,” I said.
It seemed I angered it, because right after I said that, The wolf used all his strength to run at me. As I turned to run back inside the room, Midnight came charging from the other direction. Midnight ran right past me to fight the determined wolf.
I went into the room, shut the door, sat on the bed and waited for the next round of silence.
The silence returned.
There was a knock on the door. “It’s me, Elizabeth,” Dante said.
&nb
sp; I opened the door to a naked, bloody Dante. Blood running down his abdomen from the bite wounds on his chest. I started crying, because these days I just couldn’t help it. I was crying over anything and everything. So many pent-up emotions and thoughts.
“I’m alright, Elizabeth.” He looked at his wound and scoffed, like I was overreacting. “Listen to me. You need to stay here for the night. You’re suppose to be tipsy, remember? Just stay in room until the morning. That’s your story.”
“Stay with me.”
“I can’t. I have to get rid of these dead bodies and clean up the blood before anyone sees it. You will be fine.”
“What if there are more men coming for me?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Diana should be dead soon. You have nothing to fear.”
There is always something to fear. “Then do what you must.” I went and sat on the bed, while he stood outside the open door. “Tell me, are you going to kill Margret?”
Dante’s bloody face looked me in the eye. “Yes.”
I shook my head. “That’s not fair. You made a deal that if she helped you, you would let her live.”
“No, Leo made that a deal. A very foolish one, I must say.”
“She doesn’t have to die.”
“She knows what we have done, and I can’t afford to let her go with such a dark secret.”
“No other way?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Leo does irresponsible things like promising a murderer a second chance, while I have to go out and clean up his mess. I do the dirty work while his hands stays clean. I carry the burden of killing an old woman so he may not. It’s how it has always been.” He held the door knob. “I love you. Sweet dreams, Elizabeth. ”
“I love you too,” I said.
Then he shuts the door.
Finally, I was able to rest, and put all the chaos behind me. I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come. Suddenly, there was a piercing scream downstairs. That simply meant Diana was dead.
I cried for Diana. The same woman that ordered men to kill me. I cried for what could have been. I wanted us to make a change. To show the strength of a woman in a new light. We could have done so much together, and we could have helped so many. I also cried for Margret, a woman I desperately wanted to help.
I prayed that night, to let the Gods know that I was exhausted. I didn’t question their decisions, however, I just wanted it all to end. To take many steps back, and live a simple life again.
Chapter Thirty Eight
Elizabeth
I rubbed my eyes and stretched. My mornings had not been the best. My body felt like I was trampled by horses. I groaned and pull the covers over. There was still some sleep left in the coolness of the early morning.
I heard the rustle of a page, and when I turned, it was Leo I saw, reading a book and sitting on the floor. “How long have you been here?”
“Quite some time,” he replied.
I knew Diana was dead, but still, I had to ask. “Is she dead?”
“Yes.” He got up, walked over to me, then kissed me. “Good morning.”
I looked into his pearly blue, which seemed to be a darker shade of blue today. The soft, dawn sunlight lit his lips, which he then used to kiss me, again and again, until we went all the way. There was nothing morning sex couldn’t cure.
I rested my head on his chest, listening his body. The movement of his muscles. His breathing. His heart. I thought of how much I doubted him last night, and in some ways, I thought of him as a villain. There wasn’t a villain nor a hero last night. Not Diana. Not Margret. Not Leo.
Tiny dust floated in the beam of sunlight. It shined on my finger, where a ring should be, and I wondered if it would ever happen. Was a ring fated to go there? I moved my hand from the sunlight, onto Leo’s abs, where I rubbed his well defined body.
“Did you know Dante killed Margret?” I asked.
“He told me.”
I still felt gutted about it. “At least now, the mystery is solved.”
He ran his hand through my hair. “No, it isn’t.”
“What do you mean? We know who did it.”
“They don’t know that, and they never will,” he said.
“Why are you lying to your people? They deserved to know.”
“What do you think would happen if I tell the North that a human entered our lands and targeted shifters? It would create an even greater divide between shifters and humans. Innocent humans would be affected by something they had no hand in. With the war coming, I need everyone to work together.”
Could lies really be justified? When was it okay to lie to someone? Where was the line drawn between justified and unjustified? “How do you feel when you lie to them?” I asked.
“No different than telling children that magical fairies bring presents when they behave themselves. The purpose is to maintain order.”
It was words like these that made me doubt him. I knew I should trust him, but there was always that lingering doubt. It made me question what was true and what was not. I wanted to believe everything he said, but still, I wondered if he had ever lied to me.
“I would never lie to you, if that’s what your thinking. I would rather lose you than lie to you.” He kissed the top of my head.
“When is the war?” I asked, yet I was afraid to hear the answer.
“Soon. We leave in two months.” I felt like I wanted to vomit. And cry. And hit Leo. And cry again.
“So you’re leaving me here,” I said.
“I don’t have a choice. I have to lead my pack.” I knew this. I just wanted to be stubborn.
“The letter I delivered to the captain. Did it have anything to do with the war?”
“It was a letter telling Captain Qin Shi to take Kronus across the sea. Kronus was successful on getting the Dragon shifters on our side. He sent a letter to me, telling me to move forward with the plan.”
“How did he do that?”
“He told them of the visions the Gods gave him.”
Kronus and his special dreams. I had failed in finding Alric. But if the wise one was right, then Alric would reveal himself to me.
It was two months until Leo would leave me, and already I felt the emptiness inside. I needed him in a time like this, when I was most sensitive to everything around me. I needed him to calm me and to tell me everything would be okay.
“You two won’t be here for the birth,” I choked. I was really trying no to cry.
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s not even the worst part. The worst part is that you two may not come back alive.”
“I told you I would never lie to you.” He stroked my hair. “It’s true. There is a great chance I might die in this war. Dante too, no matter how strong he claims to be.”
This was the world we lived in. People died everyday. Diana died last night. Death was supposed to be accepted and respected. Yet, the thought of them not coming back shattered me. Tears rolled down my cheeks and on to his chest. “Come back to me,” I whispered.
“I’ll try with every strength in my body.”
“Say you will come back to me. Just say it.”
“I can’t lie to you, Elizabeth.”
“Then don’t. Say you will, and come back.”
He never said it, and my heart tore into pieces.
“I love you more than anything, Elizabeth. I knew from the first day I laid eyes on you. I knew I loved you before I even knew what love was. After all of this is over, I will make things right. You will be my Queen, and we will start our lives together.”
“I love you too, Leo.” I wiped my eyes. “You win this war, and come back. You hear me? You come back!”
He smiled, and suddenly, the gloomy clouds in my heart parted, and out came sunshine.
Chapter Thirty Nine
Elizabeth
We sat under a tree in the middle of the night, talking and kissing. It was a full moon, and in the distant woods, we could hear howls singing like a choir
.
Dante, with an attempt to impress me, shifted into Midnight, and started howling. His howl was very different from the rest. Stronger. Deeper.
“Don’t shift back,” I told Midnight. “Come here.” The big beast sat in front of me, looking at me with its fiery eyes. “How can anyone be afraid of you? You’re so beautiful.” The bright moonlight shined on his rich, black fur.
He sniffed my face, which tickled me. “Stop,” I giggled. He then licked my cheek.
He shifted back, a sight I could never get used to seeing. I threw his clothes at him. “Put on some clothes,” I said.
“Why? Isn’t this how we were born? This is how we were meant be.” He grabbed my face and kissed me, then looked up to the sky. “Freedom!” he shouted.
“Are you mad?” I joked.
He wore a big smile. “I’m in love.”
He laid his head on my lap, looking up at me. I traced circles around his lips, until he opened his mouth and bit me. “Ouch.” I tapped his nose. “Bad boy!”
“What will you do when I’m gone?” he asked.
“I’ll pray and wait for both of you to return.”
“And I’ll think of you. Everyday and night,” he said.
“Say you will come back to me.”
“I will come back to you, and there is no one who can stop me. You will hear the horns blow of our return, and you will know in your heart, that I will be walking through the gate.”
“Promise me that you will protect each other.”
He scoffed when I mentioned Leo. “He’s a lousy brother, but he’s still my king. I’ll protect him, not because you, or the fact that he’s my brother, but because I am a man of the North and I will serve the North until my last breath.”
Dante’s words gave me hope. Something I had been missing for a long time.
“When you’re at some camp far away, and you’re looking up into night like these, I want you to remember my voice as I say this; come home,” I whispered.
