Chapter 43 Lucan
Hours later, the throne room is finally clean. Taika has taken those who need immediate medical attention to the Healing Center, while the rest of us who are relatively unharmed stand back, taking in the sight of the thirteen spiked thrones in silence.
Chills rack my body as I face them. My grandfather once sat in this room, until his throne and life were ripped away from him. My father should have sat in here. Now…
“Well,” Vivian finally says, cutting through the silence. She tips her head toward the center throne and glances at me. “You’re the rightful king of Veradel. That’s yours now.”
Not a single remaining human—citizen, Chosen One, or servant—mutters their dissent. They all saw what my pack and I accomplished. How we defeated the real enemy but didn’t touch the innocents.
Finally, the world sees me as more. More than the Monster who prowls outside the Wall.
But I hesitate, my gaze sweeping up and down the gaudy seat as I imagine the equally gaudy crown waiting for me back at my mother’s house. The corners of my lips twitch downward.
“No,” I finally answer. “It doesn’t belong to me.”
The pack stares, brows furrowed, eyes bouncing between me and Saskia. My mother inhales but doesn’t say a word. The humans glance at each other uncertainly.
“Lucan…” Saskia starts, raising her hand, as if she can pat some confidence back into my back.
“No, you don’t understand. It doesn’t belong to me anymore.
” I don’t raise my voice as I turn toward her.
It’s softer than ever before, yet firm. This decision has been swirling in my subconscious for a long time now.
“You’re the one who got us to this point, Saskia.
You brought down the Wall. Saved your people.
Your citizens look to you to lead them, and they do so with respect.
Not fear or anger or jealousy.” I shake my head. “I can’t sit there.”
To my surprise, she shakes her head right back, my chest heavy as every eye turns toward me.
“I can’t sit there either.”
“Saskia, just because you’re a vampire doesn’t mean—”
“No.” The words flow out of her mouth faster than I think she intended. “I can’t even stay here.”
This isn’t about what Gabriel said to her, I realize, as yearning brews in her eyes—probably amplified by the fact that there’s no Wall closing in around her anymore.
Just woods and free space and air. Nothing stopping her from running and running and never looking back if she wishes. And I don’t blame her. She needs that.
“I’ve been trapped in this city my entire life,” she continues, “doing what is expected of me, somehow breaking every Rule along the way.” I allow myself a deep breath and force myself to look her in the eye, regardless of the blow I can feel coming.
“But after we administer the antivenom to everyone who needs it, after this city rises from these ashes,” she says, “I want to see what’s beyond the woods.
Beyond Eversnow Peak. I want to experience the parts of the world I’ve missed. ”
She searches my pupils for a reflection of the sorrow that seems to have overwhelmed her suddenly: thinking that we can’t stay together, because while I rule here, she will be somewhere out there. Not tied to anyone but herself.
“I’m sorry,” she chokes out. “I just can’t. I need you, but so do they. And I can’t ask you to come with me, no matter how badly I want you to.”
“What about what I want?” I ask her.
She swallows, her voice coming out hushed. “What do you want, Lucan?”
Silly, stubborn woman. She should know by now. “You, of course. I want to be wherever you are.” I curl my lips up in a wicked smile. “Besides, I’m a Monster. I wasn’t meant to sit. I was meant to prowl. To chase.”
She lifts an eyebrow and teases back, “Chase your nightmare?”
“To chase my dream,” I correct her. “Because that’s what you are.”
I can’t help it anymore, excitement tingling up my limbs. I extend my hand out to her and cradle her into my chest. Reaching up on her tiptoes, Saskia presses her lips to mine.
Vivian squeals and claps. My mother smiles. The other werewolves hoot, but a few humans exchange confused glances.
“Who’s going to lead us, then?” one of them asks, and I grin.
How ironic and perfect that a single unsolicited question will be the very thing that sets into motion the future of entire generations to come.
Because I know exactly how Saskia will respond.
It’s why I fell in love with her in the first place.
She turns to address the crowd.
“For five centuries, we have had every aspect of our lives controlled by someone else. But now, there is a chance to start over with thirteen empty thrones.” She gestures behind her.
“For us to decide what’s best for us. I’m not sure whether that will be a king or a queen or a council or something else entirely.
All I know is that our voices should be heard, our opinions considered, and our decisions our own. ”
She raises her chin higher, with me, the Monster, by her side.
“For five centuries, we have been Chosen. Now, it’s time to let the people choose.”