The Barren Luna

15 - Regina

L ucy, Calum, Liam, and I sat drinking lemonade in one of the Castle’s many drawing rooms while the deliberations concerning my fate were happening not far from us. If there was anything I’d learned in the last year, it was to fake normalcy; or rather, to steal small moments of it for myself amidst the chaos around me in order to remain somewhat sane.

We were now finally free to discuss everything that had happened, including all the testimonies, and Lucy was our main informant on who was shooting what kinds of looks to who during the trial. She actually did an impression of all the looks, ranging from scandalized to disapproving, while the rest of us laughed like crazy. In the middle of one of her demonstrations, she looked past me and froze. We all turned to look at what had startled her, and we saw my parents standing there, looking uncomfortable.

I made no move to approach them.

“Ginny,” my father said in a shaky voice. “Honey, how are you?”

“I’ve been better,” I responded half-heartedly. What a stupid fucking question. I was being tried for murdering my mate, what did he think how I was? He looked absolutely crushed at seeing me, and Mom looked pale and shaken. All I could think was, good, serves them right . Who in their right mind would let their daughter suffer the pain and humiliation of cheating the way they had?

“What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to escort the Alpha and Luna home tonight.”

Silly me for briefly hoping that they had come all this way to support me. Stupid, stupid Ginny. Would you ever learn that you couldn’t rely on them?

“Ginny, I-” he looked at my mom, whose chin was now wobbling. “We didn’t know how bad things were. We should have been there for you. I’m so sorry, honey. We’re both so sorry.”

I felt no great satisfaction at finally getting an acknowledgment of my pain, so I simply responded, “Yeah, you should have,” and turned back to my friends.

Just then, a guard came in and told us that they were done deliberating. It had only been a little over forty minutes. My insides were seized by dread. What would happen to me after this? I dragged my leaden feet towards what felt like gallows without sparing my parents a glance. At least it would be over now. My main tormentor was dead already, so how much worse than him could it get?

David’s eyes found mine as soon as I entered the courtroom, and they were bright and happy, with no trace of anxiety in them. Not that I thought he should be anxious on my behalf, but I figured he’d at least be solemn if the outcome was bad, right? I pulled my shoulders back, imagined a string pulling my head back like I had been taught in Luna lessons, and quickly walked to the front of the room.

John was the one to deliver the verdict: “In the matter of the underhanded murder of Alpha Henry Giles, without an official challenge, we decided that Ms. Regina Haines’ actions were justified.“

I blinked. Did that mean they thought it was okay that I killed him? Alpha Dominic’s young Luna shot me a bright smile from the first row. That was good, right?

“And in the matter of the murder of her mate, Henry Giles, we decided that Ms. Regina Haines’ actions were justified,” now, most wolves present were giving me encouraging smiles. Lucy and Helen were hugging. I couldn’t breathe.

“Now, the Alpha King will pass his judgment on other matters related to this trial.”

What else was there to discuss? I thought to myself, confused, whereas David now had a gloomy expression on his face.

“In the matters of interfering with a mating bond and sanctioning the breeding of a concubine without clearing it with the Royal Court, as well as encouraging the use of opiates and other harmful substances, all members of the Council of Elders of the Spruce Mountain Pack are sentenced to one year in the Royal Jail.”

The sense of satisfaction that hadn't woken up after my father’s apology was slowly stirring inside my chest. There would be justice dealt out for what had been done to me. The part of me that believed us to be alone in the world was incredulous. But David wasn’t done yet.

“In the matters of interfering with a mating bond through slander and encouraging the illegal breeding of a concubine, as well as physically assaulting her unlawfully imprisoned Luna, Ms. Catherine Giles is sentenced to six months in the Royal Jail, where she will be regularly dosed with wolfsbane to keep her wolf dormant.“

There were some gasps and murmurs among the audience, and I could understand why. It was a very harsh punishment, not that I minded. That female had been systematically poisoning my mate against me for years. Why? Crazy, misguided, incestuous jealousy? Her thirst for power and her former title? If anything made me feel sorry for Henry, it was the fact that his mother hadn't enjoyed his happiness and had done everything in her power to destroy it.

“In the matters of facilitating, aiding and abetting two separate assaults on his unlawfully imprisoned Luna, as well as accepting a bribe for going against his superior’s orders, Daniel Mitchell is sentenced to three months in the Royal Jail, where he will be regularly dosed with wolfsbane to keep his wolf dormant.”

I had all but forgotten about the guard. In the grand scheme of things, of all the people who had harmed me, his betrayal seemed insignificant since he was somebody who I had no trust in and no expectations from. But David hadn’t forgotten.

“And finally, in the interest of justice, the health of our society, and to prevent bad habits and future bad practices, I feel it is my moral and royal duty to disband the Spruce Mountain pack.”

Judging by the uproar in the courtroom, I feared those present would mutiny, but David didn’t seem to think so, since he continued without missing a beat, “A pack that strayed so far from protecting the sanctity of the mating bond should not be kept together. A pack that silently stood by while their Luna was being disrespected, humiliated, drugged, and ultimately unlawfully imprisoned, should not be allowed to continue functioning the way it did. And lastly, a pack that turned a blind eye to the murder of Dorothy Evans, a fellow pack member, needs to be reprogrammed as to what being part of a pack means.”

Although the courtroom was astonished by the severity of the punishment, no one dared say anything to the former General. Several heads could even be seen nodding in agreement.

“I hereby order that all of Spruce Mountain pack’s assets be liquidated and redistributed among the pack members to be used for their relocation. The Crown will randomly assign each of them a new pack, keeping nuclear families together, of course, which is more than most of them would have done for someone else.

Every Alpha here will report to the Crown monthly about the former Spruce Mountain wolves assigned to them, their progress, integration, and their retraining in core values. The absence of a pack in West Virginia will be addressed at our next annual summit. We'll probably form a new pack consisting of volunteers, and we have a few packless Alpha firstborns across the country that we can call in to serve as its new leader, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Since no one had any questions or comments after that, we were all thanked for our time and dismissed. David immediately made his way towards me, surprisingly agile for a male his size.

“Are you planning to spend the afternoon with your friends?”

I blinked at the question.

“Yes. They are all leaving later today, so I want to say goodbye properly.”

“Could you meet me in the big library this evening, around 7?”

“Of course.”

“Very well,” he said with a fond smile. “Enjoy your afternoon, I’ll see you later.”

I just stood there staring at his wide back until I snapped out of it and went to find Lucy.

Saying goodbye to everyone was taxing, especially since things were a little tense now that the pack was to be disbanded. Luckily, none of them harbored any hard feelings toward me because of it. I understood why it wouldn’t be easy for any of them – for instance, Calum lamented the fact that his pups would no longer grow up next door to their grandparents.

I briefly thought about how everyone (including me) simply accepted that a she-wolf whose mate was from another pack would join him there. Our pups never grew up next door to their maternal grandparents unless our mate was from our birth pack, and yet none of us complained. Why didn’t any of us complain?

At least Liam was somewhat excited. He saw the transfer as an opportunity to maybe finally meet his mate. I honestly hoped he would and that it would be a happy pairing. He was a good male, he deserved to be happy. I didn’t know when we would all see each other again or where we'd all end up after today. Maybe that was what the King wanted to talk to me about?

I quickly showered and put on some black pants and a dark blue silk blouse. I didn’t know the dress code for the occasion, so I figured keeping it professional would be safer. I was in the library a little before seven and used that time to look at some of the shelves. Most of the books were about strategy and warfare, and the rest seemed to be encyclopedias and history books.

I wondered where the fiction aisle was. My fingers itched to open my journal and add new thoughts and quotes to it. They would be darker, more raw than what I used to write once upon a time when I was still Ginny. Ginny had been a pup: trusting, optimistic, and na?ve in so many ways. Now, for the first time in my life, I felt more like Regina. I felt more jaded, more hardened by life. I was a grown female now, but I was also less cheerful and less joyful than I used to be.

I sat down on a beautiful brown leather sofa and mindlessly picked up a book from the table in front of it just as David entered the room. He beamed at seeing me, and his long strides ate up the distance between us. He sat down right next to me, and his thigh was touching mine.

“Regina, there you are. Have you had the chance to process everything that happened today?”

“Not really,” I found myself answering honestly instead of pretending I was handling it. “I feel like I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“There will be no other shoe, Regina, I promise you,” he said seriously like he truly believed he could promise me that.

“Well -” I trailed off, shrugging with my eyebrows raised, but he was not deterred by my doubt.

“I want to talk to you about something, if you’re up for it?”

“Sure, what can I help you with?”

He grinned.

“This time, you will be the one being helped. I was wondering whether you have any idea what you want to do now?”

“I – I don’t know.”

“What did you want to do before you became Luna?”

“I’ve never really had the luxury to think about that. I'd always understood that whatever I was had to dovetail nicely with whatever my mate was. This is the first time I have to make any such plans on my own, so I’m a little lost.”

“I can relate to that, perhaps more than you can imagine,” he said, pensive, and I looked at him inquisitively.

He turned his entire body to me, put an elbow on the back of the sofa, and rested his head on his hand.

“I never really wanted to be King. I was constantly told I would be, ever since I was old enough to understand speech, and yet I never fully internalized the idea. It never sparked a fire inside me the way holding a weapon or leading the troops does. But like you said, I never had the luxury of choice in the matter.

John, on the other hand, is much more capable and serious in these administrative and diplomatic matters, far better suited to rule both in terms of temperament and sensibility, and yet six mere minutes prevented him from wearing the Crown he so faithfully serves.”

He absentmindedly took the book from my hand, his fingers brushing mine in the process, and put it back on the table.

“I want you to stay in my pack, Regina. We can figure things out together if you’ll let me. We’ll discover what you were meant to do. But we must have one more conversation before that. I don’t want to overwhelm you tonight. Can you join me for breakfast in the morning?”

“Yes.”

I should really get some books to read while I was here, perhaps then I would have a wider arsenal of words at my disposal the next time I talked to David.

“Good night, Gina.”

“Good night, David. Sleep well.”

“I will.”

There was that grin again. My throat felt dry. What would we talk about at breakfast? Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough.