FEMALE KINGS

The room was almost silent but for the occasional noise of the silver cuffs on Erika's wrists , designed to suppress her inner wolf in order to make her weak and compliant and the five pack elders who's piercing eyes were screaming at her. Ryun stood by her left, totally unbothered. He was the golden boy heir of the iron fang pack. his silk tunic was immaculate and his posture like that's of a stature. “ Erika of lotus pack,” the head elder’s voice boomed. He didn't look at her, his eyes were fixed on the scroll in his hands. “ We have viewed your allegations against lord ryun. We weighed those allegations against the honor of iron fang pack, a bloodline that has protected our northern bothers for three centuries.” The scent of sandalwood suddenly dominated the atmosphere of the lotus moon pavilion. Erika swallowed the iron taste of blood in her mouth, her ribbs ached where Ryun’s enforcers pinned her down 48 hours ago. “ You said ryun r***d you. We found the evidence….. lacking” the head elder continued like he was reciting a nursery poem. “ Furthermore, this body has come to the conclusion that your allegations are a calculated attempt to sabotage the sacred political alliance between our territories. You have brought an unforgettable shame upon your family and by this bodies judgement, you are striped off your title and status.” he hit the wooden bat on the floor to signify finality. Erika finally let the well of tears in her eyes fall freely, her eyes shiny like glass and red underneath. Ryun let out a soft sigh bowing his head towards the elders. “ I harbor no malice against lady Erika,” He said with a voice dripping with sweetness. “ the pressure of her upcoming duties must have unhinged her mind. I pray for her recovery.” he added. The absolute audacity of his words made the air in Erika's lungs turn to pure fire. The traditional modesty expected of a packs daughter was shattered into a million pieces. “ This system isn't broken neither is it uneducated, it is perfectly working as was created. A well oiled machine designed by men to protect MEN and grind women like how who dared to speak the truth.” ‎ Erika took a staggering step forward, ignoring the silver cuffs that were biting into her flesh. “ Is that it?” her voice rang out , cutting through the silence. It wasn't the soft tone she was taught to use in court. The head elder frowned . “ Whatch your tone child. You stand before the sovereign council.” “ No. I stand in a room full of geriatric cowards,”‎ Erika snapped, her voice rising and echoing in the space. ‎ A collective gasp rippled through the gallery of junior council members standing in the wings. “ Blasphemy!” their expressions said out loud. Ryun drew closer to her and dropped his mask of innocence for a fraction of a second, a smug disgusting smirk playing on his lips. “ Should have kept your legs closed and your mouth shut, princess. You're going to beg me to take you back before the winter freeze.” ‎Her eyes darted from his polished shoe , then his arrogant dark eyes. “ Platsh! ” she spat a mouthful of saliva on his shoe then looked back to the elders. “ You want to talk about shame?” Erika yelled, her eyes glowing a volatile gold despite the silver cuffs. “ You old bastards are so desperate to protect what you know will eventually fall that you'd swallow any lie this pathetic piece of garbage feeds you!” if the council members were shocked, now they were beyond that. “ You think those robes make you look royal? You look like clowns running a circus of cowards” dozens of gasps were heared again. “ And you,” she turned to ryun. His face was the complete definition of rage. “ You are an inadequate piece of s**t who needs a g**g of enforcers just to feel like a man. You couldn't break me in that valley, and you damn sure aren't breaking me now, So go absolute f**k yourself!” The silence that followed was a deadass one. In the whole history of lotus moon court, an F bomb had never been dropped let alone to the ruling elder by a former princess. The head elder's face turned an ugly purple. He slammed his bat against the floor. “ Guards! Remove this wretched creature. By decree of the council, she is sentenced to the deep ward. Let the darkness there teach her some modesty.” ‎ Two huge enforcers slammed into Erika from behind, violently jerking her arms upward. Her kneels went Buckley but she refused to let them drag her. She forced herself to move , keeping her chin up high as they marched out of the pavilion. She passed her father and he still wouldn't look at her. He had been there all along , the man who raised her couldn't defend her in such a fragile moment of her existence. “ COWARD!!” she hissed as she passed him. She was dragged out of the upper palace down into the bowels of the mountain. The air grew colder as they descended staircase to staircase , going deeper than she has ever thought the ward extended. This was the deep ward, the place where rogue alpha's and the truly unhinged were sent to rot, just that she wasn't. ‎they finally reached the lowest corridor, it was b***h black. The guards stopped in front of a massive triple lock door at the very end of the hall. ‎ “ Enjoy the dark , princess,”‎ one of the guards grunted, unlocking the deadbolts with a deafening clang. They shoved her forward. Erika flew into the room tripping over her own boots and crashing onto the damp floor. The door shut close behind her with a finality that sounded like death itself. Absolute darkness swallowed her . The air was freezing and smelt like copper and sweat. Erika layed there , her breath coming in ragged gasps. The silver cuffs had started affecting her making her muscles tremble. ‎‎ “ Well,”‎ a voice echoed in the darkness from her left, sharp and sarcastic. “ Look what the cat dragged in. Another liar, ladies.” The voice echoed again. Erika froze, her wolf instincts instantly putting her on high alert despite ther suppressed senses. “ Who's there?” “ Relax, princess,”‎ a second voice boomed from her right, deeper and rougher. “ We don't bite. Unless you're wearing a badge or packing a dick.”the deep voice added. “ Great. Another body in this cell , like the ventilation in this literal dungeon wasn't already a total joke. If I don't get get a coffee or a working terminal in the next 12 hours, am biting my veins open.” a third voice echoed, fast talking and highly annoyed. “ Hush, techie,”a fourth voice sounded, almost gentle. “ She's hurt. The silver burns are still fresh, let me see her wrists before you start complaining about your screen time” the same person spoke again, you could tell from that sweet voice. ‎ ‎Erika pushed herself up , her back hitting the cold wall and her eyes trying to adjust to the pitch darkness. She perceived the shadowy outlines of four figures scattered throughout the massive cell. ‎ “ I don't need a doctor,”‎ Erika said through gritted teeth. “ And I'm not a liar.” A soft, cynical chuckle came from the first voice in the dark. “ Yeah, neither are we sweetheart but the boys in blue sure didn't like it when we told the truth about their precious little alpha, did they?” The realization pierced through Erika's exhaustion. She wasn't here with some random criminals. She felt a spark of something she thought had died in the pavilion upstairs. ‎ Hope combined with a terrifying unlimited rage, not only in her. “ They threw me in here to die,” Erika's voice came out raspy. ‎ “ Yeah , well,”‎ the calm brawlers voice echoed again accompanied by the so und of knuckles cracking. “ They underestimate us . Welcome to the club princess . You found us at the right time. We were just talking about how we’re gonna tear this whole f*****g place down.”