9.
1616 Words
“And these?” Georgianna asked curiously while rummaging through the trunk that contained her textbooks.
“Lessons in Diplomacy.”
"I'd like to assist..." the girl replied with a sly smile, but leafing through the pages of some manuals she was holding in her hands the girl found herself frowning. “Do you really have to learn all this?” Georgianna asked her and Isadore understood her look well.
“I would have had if I had taken my uncle's place.”
“So also Ke…I mean the future Beta must know all this?”
"Kellan, his name is Kellan." Isadore replied, smiling. "The world won't end if you mention his name, you know." She added irreverently, but Georgianna ignored her and went back to rummaging through her trunks.
It had surprised her not a little to discover that it wasn't Rhys but Kellan who stole Georgianna sighs because she had thought that any girl in Sioggard melted before the future Alpha.
Georgianna had instead told her that Kellan was no different and that, given Rhys's cold and distant attitude, his brother had become much more popular.
Frankly, she didn't care at all, Isadore loathed both Seyimours with equal ardentness, but she had found herself enjoying Georgianna's company even when the girl bore her with her many gossips.
And she knew one more than the devil. Having spent most of her time at the castle, the nerve center of everything that happened in Sioggard, Georgianna had learned to juggle skillfully between rumors and gossip.
Isadore didn't mind listening to her even if she often paid little attention to the girl chatter and just enjoyed her company.
Especially in the last few days, with Uncle Viktor away for some time and locked up in the castle, Isadore felt alone and struggled to suffocate the oppression that gripped her heart.
Georgianna, with her endless chatter, her eyes full of warmth, always ready to get turned on, was a cheerful and helpful company.
They had nothing in common but connected quite well and it was nice for both of them to spend time together.
Also, because, although she was now much better, Isadore hadn't gone back to her lessons and, for her part, Georgianna had just started the winter holidays, so she had plenty of time available.
"It's incredible indeed, your housekeeper must really hate you for imposing on you all this." the girl sighed, pulling her from her thoughts.
“I got used to it, I guess..”
"I never could." Georgianna sighed, pretending to shiver. "Really, I understand your position and everything but in your place I would have gone crazy." the girl confided her, closing the books to put them back carefully. "And I really don't understand what the need for heraldic is, nobody talks it anymore!"
“In some packs it is still used and is of good use when necessary.”
"What packs?" the girl snorted, not convinced.
“The kingdom is not made up of the six marks alone.”
“Your kingdom, perhaps because mine, I assure you, begins in Sioggard and ends at the Black Moon.”
"Then you'd be surprised to know that Sioggard is barely known and that it is still considered a striker just because of the position." Isadore informed her.
“What nonsense, Sioggard is the center of the whole kingdom, there is no pack that can match it, not even the Black Moon!”
"Once upon a time maybe, now it’s just a shadow of the past." Isadore replied carelessly and Georgianna didn't answer because the girl knew she was right.
In ancient times, Sioggard had been the real center of the realm, but over the years it had lost all its glory and power and, as time went by it was falling into oblivion.
The only anchor that the pack had left was the prominent position because, even today Sioggard was in the exact center, surrounded by the five marks, the largest and most powerful five packs.
Its position, however, has been a cause for concern for decades, concerns that have become more concrete in more recent times. And with the approach of winter, that advantageous position would be transformed into the most lethal weapon because Sioggard had always been longed for by the neighboring packs which looked to its borders as a prize to be conquered.
It was only a matter of time, everyone knew it, the chatter around the hearths had turned into strategies to be implemented to defend the territory from enemy attacks.
Isadore had also noticed it, even though she had never paid much attention to the kingdom and its affairs, she knew well what was happening.
Uncle Viktor used to be away often but had never spent so much time away from Sioggard on diplomatic missions.
And the army Rhys was training wasn't meant to patrol the borders against rogue attacks.
War would soon break out.
As much as everyone was working to prevent it, there was no way to stop the gears of a machine that had already begun its run.
As soon as Alpha Cedric would give up his crown to Rhys, Sioggard would be attacked on many fronts.
The only question left was who would prove to be an ally and who an enemy.
"Is that why you don't want to become Luna?" Georgiana asked her hesitantly.
"It's impossible for me to become one whether I want it or not." Isadore replied, indifferent because, despite everyone and everything, she was really giving up life, was too tired and didn't see the point of fighting anymore.
“But you wouldn't still…” Georgianna murmured, looking away but not fast enough, Isadore could read the pity and sympathy in her eyes before the girl turned away.
"I've been spoiled too much you know.." she replied, forcing herself to laugh even if it wasn't funny at all, one thing in fact was resigning to the idea of dying, but quite another thing was facing the time she had left knowing that she didn't have much more.
Georgianna was right, however, even if her heart had withstood the next eclipse, becoming a Luna would not have been part of her plans.
Locked up in the castle in forced solitude, day after day she was remembering why she hated the kingdom and the monsters that inhabited it, that life between glory and power, continuous struggles and battles to survive was not the future she wanted.
And Sioggard had so little to offer.
Compared to the packs that surrounded it, it was fragile, weak, backlogged and underdeveloped.
There were no luxurious cities in Sioggard, no skyscrapers or shopping malls. Technology was non-existent, progress was an utopia.
Sioggard was like a natural oasis in the middle of a concrete jungle that had kept its values and old traditions, but values and traditions were not enough to make it progress.
Becoming Luna in Sioggard would seal her fate.
She would have had power, yes, but at too high a price, the price of her freedom.
And then there was Rhys.
“Everyone thinks you are anyway,” Georgianna replied, continuing to evade her gaze. "The future Luna." She explained sadly.
Isadore knew this because in Sioggard Rhys's word was law and he had claimed her as his long ago.
Holding back a sigh, Isadore was about to reply that it didn't matter what everyone thought but what she wanted, but she was largely anticipated by a knock on the door.
"Are you waiting for someone?" Georgianna asked, getting up to go and answer the door.
"Probably is Chlea." Isadore replied, indifferent, she had no one else to disturb her at the castle.
However, she was wrong because it was not Chlea but two of the castle's seamstresses who had come to take her measurements.
"Measurements for what?" Isadore asked irritably, giving a sideways glance at the two women still standing in the doorway.
"For the dress" explained the younger one, in her thirties, dressed all in black, unlike the other woman wrapped in a large colored caftan which highlighted her generous shapes.
“What dress?” she asked, impatient at the incomplete explanation. "Did Chlea sent you?"
"Beta Viktor." the two corrected her.
“Is my uncle back?”asked Isadore, surprised, with a look at Georgianna, who shook her head.
"I know as much as you do." the girl informed her. "Do you want me to go down and check while you get your measurements taken?" She offered.
"No, I'll go downstairs myself." Isadore decided, because she needed to talk to Uncle Viktor and was no longer going to allow him to put off that discussion as he had done for the past two weeks.
"But..." Georgianna replied with a look at the two waiting seamstresses.
"I'm quite tired." Isadore commented, turning in turn towards the two women. "And by the way, I don't need to have any clothes made." She informed them. "But thank you..." she added decisively and in a clearly dismissive tone.
The two women understood the message and hurriedly slipped away, taking their leave with all the necessary ceremonies.
“What is it?” Isadore asked, seeing Georgianna intent on hiding a somewhat amused smile.
"You may not want to become one but whether you like it or not you were born to become a Luna." the girl answered, preceding her out of her apartments.
"It's called leadership attitude and I told you, it's just that I've been too spoiled." Isadore replied rather dryly.
"If you say so." Georgianna nodded, pretending to humor her, but the doubt in her smile belied her statement.
- Writer
