2. First Day in Nocturne
FIRST DAY IN NOCTURNE
I spent the next two months rearranging garrison deployments, making changes to patrol schedules, and leaving instructions for Adela, so that even if the vampires decided to attack while I was away, we’d be prepared.
Meanwhile, Leif had been busy learning the customs and etiquette of the Southern court.
With the date of the Mate Selection Ball drawing closer, we boarded the longboat and sailed for Nocturne on a sunny morning in early spring.
Though Adela had to stay behind to command the army in my absence, I brought several of my trusted warriors with me, including Sigurd and Thyra, both betas with excellent skills and sufficient prudence for diplomacy.
Our longships sailed along the Shimmering River for a few days and docked at the Port of Erevos, Nocturne’s capital city, at sunset.
The gloaming splashed lurid red over the ancient, grim-looking city, the dark, murky forest surrounding it, and the glistening water encircling it, as though everything was stained by blood.
I was tying up the mooring rope around the dock post when Leif emerged from the tiny cabin at the end of the boat, looking paler than usual.
He had been a little under the weather when we had set out, and the travel hadn’t helped alleviate his symptoms. I could tell he was trying to look a little more southern, wearing an embroidered ocean-blue doublet and a pair of light grey linen trousers.
He’d also done something with his hair; each golden curl looked more refined and glossier.
Meanwhile, I didn’t put much effort into altering my northern style, still wearing my usual wool tunic, leather trousers, and a cloak to ward off the chill of early spring. It did feel a little warm in the south, though.
“Already making yourself pretty for Prince Damien?” I teased him with a smirk.
Leif rolled his eyes and said, “You should at least shave, brother.”
“What? Southern ladies and lords don’t like beards?” I rubbed the three-day stubble on my chin.
“They just consider it unruly.”
“We are werewolves. We are supposed to be unruly,” I grunted, helping him carry a backpack full of his precious books. “Come on, they sent someone to escort us to the palace.”
The port was busy. Porters were loading crates on board, merchants were peddling commodities, and sailors were loitering about, smoking pipes, and looking for trouble. Many people cast curious or judgmental glances at us, a group of northern werewolves, as we disembarked.
A male beta in an extravagant ochre doublet was waiting for us, accompanied by a few palace guards. He held a pretentious, condescending, serious look on his bland face, making me almost want to laugh.
“Welcome to the Kingdom of Nocturne. I am Royal Chamberlain Graham Nocturne. I’ll attend to your needs while you stay in the Vesperfort Palace,” he said with a rigid, phlegmatic politeness.
I returned a perfunctory nod.
“Greetings. I’m Fenris Winterthrope, heir to Jarl Harald. This is my brother, Leif Winterthrope.” I patted Leif’s back.
Leif bowed slightly at the chamberlain, with enough grace to be mistaken for a proper southern noble. I wondered where he had learned all these nuances of decorum.
We were led into a carriage. I was not used to riding in a small box like this. It was so stuffy and cramped ... But I didn’t complain, since the ride wasn’t long.
The streets of Erevos were long and winding, almost like a labyrinth.
The buildings were taller and more ornate than the cottages and long houses in Winterthrope, but they were all crowded together, as though about to crash into each other.
I saw guards patrolling the streets on horses, all in the same uniforms, with the same dour expression.
People were bustling on the narrow streets like a warren of rabbits.
It all looked very depressing and over-embellished, almost vampirish.
The Vesperfort Palace stood on the north-east side of the city, on an elevated highland.
The magnificent buildings were composed of geometrical shapes, each interconnected with others through breezeways or corridors.
Tall, marble pillars lined each passageway; some were covered by vines.
The windows were tall and wide, decorated with symmetrical, geometric trims.
It was different from vampires’ grim, dark style, without those sharp, pointy spires or stained glass, but no less imposing.
Our carriage stopped in the courtyard, and we were led through a side door rather than the main entrance. I didn’t like the implication that we were not important enough to use the main door.
More glances from the passersby courtiers were thrown in our direction.
A group of southern ladies dressed in heavy, impractical gowns passed us, whispering and giggling behind their little fans as they glanced at my brother and me, obviously judging our less refined dress style.
I gave them a long, hard stare until their eyes widened in fear, and they hurried away.
They were not the last group. Some young omegas and betas from other clans and packs, who were probably also here to attend the ball, hoping to gain the prince’s favour, continued to throw sharp, jeering looks in Leif’s direction.
I knew what they thought of us northern clans. They believed we were uncivilized savages who were driven by primal blood lust, stuck in the old ways, and unwilling to change. They probably thought we didn’t even know how to use cutlery properly.
I scared some of them off with my murderous stares, but Leif was not used to such unprovoked passive-aggressive hostility. I saw the redness from embarrassment suffuse his cheeks and expand to his neck. I gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, letting him know it would all be sorted out in time.
The chambers arranged for us were obviously less ideal.
The rooms were small. Our windows faced north, so there wouldn’t be much sunlight all day, and there were even several mold spots on the walls and ceilings.
I wanted to get them to change our accommodations, but Leif begged me not to make a fuss.
Seeing how tired and anxious he was, I decided not to worry him further.
At least our chambers were joined, and the bed was much bigger and softer than my own back home.
Since the guests from other clans were still arriving, there wouldn’t be any activities scheduled for that day. Leif was exhausted and wanted to rest, so I left him be.
I took a bath and shaved as Leif suggested. Without the stubble, I looked a little younger than my age. Leif always said that with the number of fights I got myself into, it was a miracle that I hadn’t gotten any scars on my face.
“It would be a shame to have such a pretty face be marred,” Leif once said, as he applied ointment to my bruised forehead, after I beat up an alpha who tried to grope him. I informed him that the accurate term was “handsome,” and “pretty” was used for someone who looked like him.
However, in a place like this, it helped to add a little more “prettiness,” to at least show them that we were not poor mountain men from some random villages.
I braided my long, dirty-blond hair into the usual warrior style, threading small copper beads into the strands, then switched the simple steel earring I usually wore in my right ear for a white-gold one with a ruby shard.
I rummaged through the clothes I brought and found a dark red long tunic that looked a little more refined than my usual clothing style, and a pair of black linen pants.
I put on a beaded necklace with the pendant of a raven’s skull, a lucky charm a seer gave me when I was little, and hung my garnet-inlaid knife on my belt to complete my look: still northern, but much more polished.
Leif was still sleeping in his room, and I decided to go out and familiarize myself with the new “battlefield” that we were stuck in for the next month. I strategically scouted the palace, making myself a mental map of which clans were joining the selection and where they stayed.
Nocturne obviously was not treating all clans equally.
Of all other packs, the Eclipse Clan was regarded as the most important ally.
The omega boy and the beta girl they sent were placed in the chambers closest to the royal members’ living quarters, giving them more opportunities to encounter the prince.
The smaller or less influential a clan was, the farther their room was from the royal family.
Even though we were the largest clan in the northern territories, we were still farther from the power centre of Nocturne, and thus were treated like the third-rate clans and arranged in the farthest wing.
And if they looked down on us to such an extent, what was the chance for these snobs to agree to aid us when the vamps invaded again?
The more I observed, the heavier my heart grew. Deciding to get some fresh air, I left the main building and made my way through the garden.
It was already nighttime, and a waning moon hung forlornly in the cloudless sky.
The garden was mostly deserted, with only the soft humming of crickets.
As I sauntered forward, the night breeze brought a cacophony of shouting, cheering, and laughing to my ears.
I saw firelight in the distance and decided to go take a look.
There was a small fight ring set near the guards’ garrison, and I saw many warriors, mostly off-duty guards, gathering around, watching as they cheered on two werewolves who were going at each other fiercely.
Many people in the audience were half-drunk. They were raising their tankards, cheering one of the fighters’ names, while booing and swearing at the other. I also noticed some people were placing bets with a stakeholder.
As I moved closer, it became clear that one of the fighters was from a northern clan, judging by his hairstyle and the tattoos on his arms. He was a smaller beta and was currently being brutally beaten up by the much larger alpha warrior.
He refused to give up and surrender, though, no matter how many times he was slammed into the dirt, he always struggled to get up.
The other alpha warrior with dark brown hair and a rugged face, whom the audience cheered on, calling out his name, “Rydel,” was enjoying beating the northern beta a little too much.
He had a smug grin on his face while he grabbed the smaller man’s braid and smashed his head on the gravel, over and over, until the beta’s face was covered in blood.
“Not so tough now, huh? Just admit it, you northies are a bunch of half-wit brutes who have no real fighting skills, don’t know how to win a fucking war, or how to feed your own people without robbing other clans.
That’s why you are so eager to send your omega bitches to warm Prince Damien’s bed, so we can ‘help’ you,” Rydel said with a mocking sneer, as he punched the beta’s cheek with such brutality that I could hear a crack in the beta’s jaw.
“Come on, beg me to spare you as a proper bitch.”
Northie ... omega bitches ...
I already smelled the sharp tang of anger burning in my nostrils.
“Fuck you!” The beta slurred, spitting blood in Rydel’s face.
Rydel laughed and wiped the blood spittle away, saying in a derisive tone, “These fucking northies are so dumb; they can’t even beg properly. I wonder if their omegas are dumb, too? That can be a good thing, though. Since they only need to use their ass rather than their brain.”
The crowd laughed.
I said loudly, “How about fighting a northie that’s your size?”
The crowd went silent. All eyes turned and focused on me; some were curious, more were vaguely disdainful and hostile.
Rydel locked his dark eyes with mine, and he smirked scornfully. “Another northie? They just keep coming like herpes, don’t they?”
The crowd laughed again.
I strolled forward, curling one side of my mouth into a lopsided smirk. “Come on, show this half-wit northie brute some of your Nocturne supreme fighting skills. Or do you only fight betas and omegas?”
That seemed to stun his fragile pride a little. He threw the beta to the side, and two other northern clan betas quickly dragged their friend away.
Rydel hissed at me, mockingly saying, “If you lose, I’m taking that fine knife on your belt, boy.”
“Not only the knife, but I’ll also run laps around this garrison naked.” I grinned, crossing my arms. “But if you lose, you are going to run laps naked, too, and you’ll bark like a dog while you are at it. How do you like this as a bet?”
Rydel laughed wolfishly. He obviously didn’t think he would lose, and said, “It’s a deal, northie boy.”