Chapter 6 #2
Zyran stays at my left side while Illyia moves to my right, and she keeps her head high.
The part of me that cared about dying, about real fear, trickles back into my chest. What the hell am I doing?
I quickly exchange a glance with both of them before looking back at the court in front of me.
I can’t let them down, and I can’t freak out in front of these alphas.
They are wolves, and they are looking for any weakness.
I am not weak. The Folkland beat that out of me. Once, this would have terrified me, but that was when I had something to lose. When you take everything from someone, that’s when they become the most dangerous person in the room.
“We understand—” begins the earth alpha.
She stands, stepping in front of her son.
I try not to look at him, I really do, but my eyes don’t listen.
His green eyes lock onto mine, and my heart beats like a drum in my chest, and I force myself to look away from him.
I keep my eyes on his mother, refusing to look at Orion again.
“That your name is Meredith Crone, and you were a human in the human district before being chosen for the Folkland—”
I don’t want to piss her off, but I interrupt her anyway.
Dain and Zyran told me this might happen and, if I were to stand in front of them, I could not let them treat me like I’m human anymore.
“My name is Princess Meredith Duskmore of Void City, Princess of Oblivion, Princess of the Fourth Pack, and Princess of the Fallenstar Day.” A shit ton of titles I’m glad I remembered correctly.
“You might as well know all my titles if we’re going to begin this.
I was never human.” I pause. “I know who you all are except for your names.”
The Maiden alpha female speaks next. “We are your masters. Interrupting us is considered rude, human child—”
“Meredith or Your Highness. I won’t be called human or child.
I won the Folkland, and I have taken land from you all.
You were never my masters. I doubt a child could do any of what I have, so why don’t we all try to be respectful?
” I interrupt, just to see whether she gets irritated.
I’m not bowing to these people. They might be alphas, but I don’t care.
Her eyes twitch, but she smiles—all pleasantries and niceness.
From what I know through Reed, of what his mother has made him do over the years, she isn’t nice.
She’s very good at pretending otherwise.
“I am Alpha Female Nerida of the Maiden Pack,” she begins, gesturing to herself.
“This is my husband, Alpha Triton, and of course you know my youngest son, Heir Reed. This is my eldest son, Heir Caspian, and we are delighted to have met you, even in such unusual circumstances. You have to forgive us for any misunderstanding as we get to know each other. Never in the history of our sea or land has there been an uprising like you have delivered.”
“If the unusual circumstances mean stealing a massive portion of land as a hello and tricking the goddesses themselves into putting a human into the Folkland when she isn’t human, then I suppose you could call it that,” the Mother alpha laughs.
Her voice is just as strict, just as cold as I would have expected, and her laugh sends chills down my spine.
“You might as well know my name. I am Alpha Gaia of the Mother Pack,” she introduces herself.
“I lead the earth pack. You know, where my son, Heir Orion, is from.”
Alpha Vargoth claps his hands and focuses on me, drawing my attention.
“We’ve already met. It seems you know all our names now, while we know little of the pretend human girl who hid under our noses, was chosen for the Folkland and evidently does not want to play nice. Why did you take the human district?”
“Unlike you,” I begin, pushing down the urge to leap across the room and strangle the smug bastard.
“I do not like suffering and pain—and that is all the humans in this world know. You treat them like pets, take their minds with runes when they refuse, and use them as slaves for the rest of their lives. How many do you have here?” He doesn’t answer.
None of them do. “I saved the starving humans and the humans you locked in the mines to work for you. You used their lives to make sure the Crone Pack had endless gold and power while they couldn’t even put food on the table for their families.
I saved the people because that’s what they are: people.
Not your slaves. Not anymore. Not ever again. ”
The alpha female of the Crone Pack, who I don’t know yet, laughs. “Excuse me, you stand there and judge us—”
“Don’t interrupt me and tell me I know nothing.
I am well aware of what happened twelve years ago that got me left in the district in the first place, when your alpha decided to go back on your alliance with my mother and leave me stranded in the human lands.
It was pure luck that I survived, and when I survived, I grew up with humans.
I thought I was one. My memories were gone, but as it turns out, I am not.
Yet I saw the major difference between them and you.
They needed protecting before they all ended up as slaves to wolves who do not care for their lives.
You might as well enjoy what humans you have, by the way.
They’re the last ones you will ever get.
My borders are open to any humans who wish to come in, and if a wolf tries to stop them, whether they’re alpha or not, there will be consequences. ”
I make sure to look at each of the alphas.
Already, humans have been making their way to us, thanks to the messengers I sent out throughout every pack.
Twenty of my brother’s guards left the borders to spread the message of promised safety for any human man, woman or child who can get to the border of the human district.
I’m offering them paid work, food and safety.
They look around at each other, no doubt wondering if each pack has so many missing humans. Alpha Female Nerida crosses her arms. “And what will these consequences be? You think now that you’re a Champion, you can stand before us and threaten us with no consequences for you?”
“Well, I am, aren’t I?” I look at the Crone alpha.
“And you—how can you stand in front of me like you haven’t taken everything from me?
You turned Tannith—my beautiful best friend, a woman who was my sister in everything other than blood—into an animal!
You used her to make me go into the Folkland.
Branded me with a mark to make sure I could never hurt you.
You burnt down a human orphanage, killing children and taking the last safe home they had.
You are a monster and I will not explain myself to the likes of you.
” I hold his gaze. “Fortunately, Champions don’t need marks to control us anymore, and I will never rest until you are dead. ”
My power slides out of my grasp, shadows spreading across the floor, and they’re completely unaware.
Zyran only moves slightly, his hand reaching down, ready to strike if I do.
I find my shadows chasing up to the Crone alpha at my will, and I use all my concentration to strike.
“You took everything, and she’s dead now.
Tannith, a name you might need to remember because, when she bled out and died in my arms, I swore revenge.
I listened to her heart stop, and you know what I’ve thought of every moment since then?
” My shadows attack like snakes, wrapping around his throat with only a thought, lifting him up into the air.
Fire burns out of his palms as he screams. Fire is nothing to oblivion.
I ignore the shouts of the priests, the gasps and growls from the wolves as I lift him higher and higher. I can kill him.
“Killing him will not give you the revenge you seek, Mere.” Reed’s voice cuts through the ringing in my ears, and in my moment of shock, I look at him.
Really look at him. Reed’s blue eyes are as striking as ever, almost glowing as he leans as far as he can over the balcony, like he wants to jump and reach for me.
His golden complexion suits the light blue shirt, shorts, and layers of silver necklaces that fall down his chest. “He may have set her fate on that path, but there is more at play. This isn’t the time. ”
“When is?” I snarl back. A wave of water slams into the Crone alpha, smashing him against the wall. My shadow drops—mostly out of shock—and I turn to face Alpha Female Nerida, who holds her hand in the air. My eyes narrow as Vargoth splutters and coughs. “He has to die.”
“Killing one of us will not be a great start to negotiations. None of us will trust you if you choose this path, even if we all understand and agree you have reason. My son is right, and so are you. Mistakes have been made, but I don’t know what you know of my pack, but in it, humans are paid and treated well.
We do not use the runes, and we never will.
” She looks at me steadily. “You said your mother came to the Crone Pack for an alliance. Why?”
I look at Zyran just once. He offers me a look, a single look that tells me if I want to continue and kill Vargoth right now, he will support me. But we also both know of the Wrath. My brother needs help. For now, I push down my need to kill that bastard and focus on why we came here.
Alpha Gaia sighs. “We’ve listened to our sons, and they’ve said that you are reasonable and a good person. They were looking for you, Meredith Duskmore. So why? Why did your mother come to our land years ago?”
“Because of the Wrath,” I begin. “And every single one of us should be frightened. It is coming, and at the moment, we will not survive it. I would not come here, to this meeting, unless I had to. I only want him dead, but I do not wish for the world to die.”
The room goes silent. There is only the fire alpha coughing on water as his partner—whatever her name is—begins to pull him up off the floor.
“The Wrath are creatures that cannot be stopped. They’ve taken over a massive portion of the land in the north that once belonged to my brother.
My brother now protects what remains of our lands, and that’s why he can never come here and speak to you himself.
We’ve found a limited amount of power or weapons that work against them.
I want to take one warrior from each of your courts—someone powerful enough to stand on their own—to see if your powers work against the Wrath.
If any of them are found to work, my brother will invite the alpha of that pack to talk of future alliances and a plan that benefits us all.
Our land is twice the amount of yours, armies too, and you’ve seen our powers.
An alliance would benefit any of your courts.
It is not an overstatement to say that without a solution, we are all simply waiting for them to figure out how to swim or travel the sea, and it is very likely we will all die when they come for us. ”
Even the Crone alpha, as angry as he is and still glaring at me, goes silent. Alpha Gaia speaks first. “Give us a moment to discuss this.”
They each withdraw to their respective platforms. I still feel Orion’s, Reed’s, and Blackfire’s eyes latched onto me, even as they speak with their families. Zyran’s hand tightens in mine, and I smile up at him. Three growls echo.
“You did well,” Illyia whispers to me. “Play it strong. Fierce. Keep going.”
I almost smile at her. “I’m harnessing my inner Tannith, because otherwise I’d be running for the hills.”
She grins. “You’re doing well.”
They come back after a long twenty minutes and face us.
Alpha Female Nerida begins. “We would like more proof of the Wrath, but we do not see any issue with giving you what you wish as we have our own desires for an alliance. However, we want something in exchange. We want you…well, your time, Princess Meredith.” I’ve decided I don’t like the princess title all that much when she says it like I’m a gold coin she wants to fawn over.
“We want you to come to each of our palaces and spend a month with us. We all wish to hold celebrations for the Folkland Champions and get to know you.” I doubt that, considering the last human Champions have been erased from history and ended up dead.
I wonder exactly why they kill them. “We understand that your upbringing has probably shown you the worst of our kind, but we are not all fire wolves built with anger and fury. Some of us are softer, like waves. We would like you to be our guest so that we can build trust between us. Trust is important if we’re going into war against this Wrath in the future, don’t you think? ”
It wasn’t what I was expecting. A month in a palace where I’d have to watch my back at all times? No thanks. But…I can’t turn them down when they are being reasonable. “Three weeks and then I must spend a week back in my own court before moving to the next.”
“A deal. At the end of those three weeks, one warrior from that court will come with you. We will prepare many options for you to choose from.” Alpha Female Nerida smiles.
“I agree to these terms.” I pause and let my eyes travel to the fire alpha. “Not you. I’ve spent enough time in your court already to know that we will never be trusted friends.”
Blackfire moves to the edge of the platform, and he pulls the attention of everyone. “That’s a shame, considering it’s your home, my wife. You will rule as my alpha female when I take the place as the heir.”
Everyone else bursts into chatter and gasps, but I go silent. Wife? Blackfire? What the actual fuck is he talking about? “I am not your wife, Blackfire.”
His smirk makes me worry. “Yes, you are. We are marked…and that can never be undone. It’s on the back of your neck.”
Zyran flies across the room and smacks into Blackfire, the two of them going down in shadows and fire.
I touch the back of my neck, feeling something there, something no doubt hidden until this moment.
Illyia pushes my hair back, her eyes widening.
“A marriage mark. I’ve seen them before… it’s true.”
I’m Blackfire’s wife…and he tricked me.