The She-wolf and The Prince

In the throne room.

CHAPTER 01

April 13, 1811

Alia was running through the trees surrounding Nottingham Castle. Her feet were lightly treading the ground thanks to the lightning speed she was endowed with. Dressed in some sort of khaki and a shirt given to her by Ryan, she could run freely in the wilderness. The wind caressed her face and the leaves of the trees stirred as she passed. Her heart was beating with excitement.

Arriving in front of the castle, Alia stopped a meter away from the huge house and contemplated it. This place, hidden in the shadow of the castle on a four meters high cliff, intimidated and fascinated her at the same time. It was a monstrous shadow behind the first building. A stone path led to the interior of the building, which was composed of several towers painted in black, and this color made them almost invisible at night, except on full moon nights. On dark nights, only a few snatches of light emanated from the windows. The teenager was amused every time to take them for lanterns suspended in the void.

When she finished contemplating, Alia walked around the castle to the tower built at its end on the east wing. This building looked more like an abandoned place and no one would have thought it was occupied because of its circular shape, the brambles that had invaded the brick walls and the one small window it had.

Clinging to the vines, Alia climbed up the wall and in no time reached the window, her only way of getting in without being seen. She opened it carefully and sat down on the ledge, her back glued to the frame, one leg bent and the other swinging in the void. The room was empty, so she waited for the occupant, who soon entered, looking sad. Her face was full of bruises and blood and her left eye had turned purple. Her frail and puny body and her porcelain skin gave her a sickly appearance. It was easy to see that he was very weak for a being of his kind.

- How are you?

Ryan went to settle down on his tiny bed made of oak wood covered with a soft mattress and a blood red blanket. Red was the least dominant color in this gray room.

- No. It's not okay. They made fun of me again.

His voice was muffled.

- You didn't do anything to them, so why are they like that with you? You're their brother, aren't you? I want to beat them up so bad...

- Don't try anything. I'm the intruder here.

- What's that? What do you mean? You're family too, right? In my pack, we protect each other, whether we're family or not.

- Not quite.

In all the years they'd been together, Ryan had never explained to his friend why he was treated this way.

He was ashamed for her to know that he was the illegitimate son of King Elias Harrington and therefore had no privileges due to his rank as a prince.

- Don't try to understand," he continued. Tell me instead how you are doing. Does your father always let you leave the village in the middle of the night without asking questions?

The girl laughed.

- Hey. Don't laugh too hard when it's not locked. They can hear you with their hearing, remember?

- Oh. I'm sorry, I forgot. I forgot.

She entered the room and closed the window. It must be said that it was built not to let any sound escape from inside, perfect to avoid Alia being discovered and so that the other members of the royal family would not be disturbed by the boy.

- My dear dad thinks I'm going hunting, which is half true.

- I thought you couldn't turn into a werewolf when the moon was full. And if I'm not mistaken, it's a full moon tonight.

- I don't need claws or sharp fangs to capture prey.

The girl seemed offended. She still couldn't transform as her eighteenth birthday approached. This irritated her more than anything else.

- My apologies, miss.

The lycanthrope wanted to retort, but the vampire's rumbling stomach stopped her.

- Here. Drink.

- I'm embarrassed to have to feed on you again.

- Don't be. We're friends and I'm the one who willingly decided to be your provider.

She winked at him and then came to sit beside him on his tiny bed. Her hand was brought to the lips of the young man. The latter hesitated before giving in to the hunger that was nagging him. He had waited all day to drink.

- Thank you.

- You are welcome.

During a short moment, he fixed the blue eyes of Alia.

- What's the matter? Is there something on my face?

- No. It's just that I think your eyes are more beautiful than usual. They bring out the silver in your hair.

Alia blushed at this remark. It was the first time he had paid her such a compliment and she was disturbed.

- On closer inspection," she said, bringing her face closer, "I can say the same thing about your red eyes and white hair. The two colors work well together. It makes you look good too.

- Ah...Really? Thank you.

Embarrassed, the interested party turned his head to fix an invisible point on the wall to his left.

- Are you embarrassed?

- No... No. Let's say I didn't expect it. I'm used to being told I'm ugly.

- Aha. Those who tell you that are blind. You are far from being ugly, on the contrary. Look at yourself in the mirror and you'll see.

- You forget that we vampires can't see our reflection in the mirror.

- Ah. Yes. That's a pity.

Silence fell between them. For the first time, the two friends felt uncomfortable in each other's presence.

- Why don't we read a story?

- Good idea. Let's continue. Read Victor Hugo?

- Yeah, let's do that. She exclaimed, patting him on the back.

For half the night, Alia and Ryan traveled through the poet's stories.

Meanwhile, in the throne room, four people of high status were conversing. King Henry Harrington had an important matter to discuss. Sitting nonchalantly on the throne, looking taciturn, he listened to the words of his children.

- Do we have to put up with this infamy? Prince Hiden, the eldest son and future heir to the throne, protested.

Standing in his impeccable tuxedo, his back straight, he looked like a gentleman. His hair was as dark as his clothes, carefully pulled back, and his piercing red eyes were chilling. Of the siblings, he was the one who showed the most disdain for Ryan. His disdain would have been less if he didn't look so much like their father.

- I made a promise to your mother before she went into her long sleep. As you know, I have only one word. If it were up to me, this child would already be dead.

- Even if he looks a lot like you? Asked Anemone, Henry Harrington's only and favorite daughter, whose beauty was unequalled. Among us, he is the only one who had everything of yours, especially your white hair.

Unlike her brothers, she sat in a chair near the queen's seat. Like Hiden, she had no particular interest in the youngest of the family. All she felt for him was shame and disgust.

- Only blood matters to me. This trash is not purebred. So he doesn't matter to me.

- Then why did you sleep with his mother if you didn't want him to be born, father! You should have abstained.

The one who had just spoken was Prince Aloïs, the youngest of the three. He had inherited their mother's gentleness but also her permanent defiance and strength of character. Unlike the others, he had nothing against Ryan, did not try to defend him but did not have much affection for him either. Only his love for the one who had given him life and his own temperament made him tolerate his young half-brother.

Well dressed in his three-piece suit, he did not recoil or moved when the king, annoyed appeared at high speed before him. The hand tightened around his neck, he threw to him of a sharp tone:

- You have inherited well from your mother, you. Don't think that my love for her spares you from my wrath just because you possess the qualities I loved in her. You are not my heir and even less my favorite, so don't provoke me, young impertinent.

Aloïs was not disconcerted for all that. He was content to observe his father straight in the eyes without flinching. His aggressor finally let go of him, judging that he had taken note of his threat.

- Do as you please. I'm going back to London. It is much more peaceful, he said in a calm and measured tone.

- You have a very ambiguous notion of calm, brother.

- Leave him be. He prefers the pollution of this city, its heat and the incessant noise of cars, rather than the serenity of Nottingham.

- It is normal for you to say that, my dearest sister. You have always preferred the remote corners. Speaking of which, how are your Derbyshire country folk?

- They are well. They're as fresh as yours are sick.

- Enough," cut in Hiden. Even after centuries, you're still bickering like children. This behavior is not worthy of the royal family. We have an important matter to attend to today, so let's behave.

Aloïs and Anemone glared at each other. Since their childhood, these two had never known how to get along and nothing had changed despite the centuries that had passed. Silence returned to the room. The king spoke up:

- You may have noticed that werewolves are less and less tolerant of their condition. Despite the fact that we have won Ireland over to our kingdom, these beasts are not intimidated. We have the upper hand, but they still want to challenge us. We must find a way to silence them.

- According to my informants, Father, they are trying to rally the wealthy werewolves and humans of London," Aloïs informed them.

- I assume it's to get funding to build weapons to wipe us out and to create relationships that will give them credibility and sympathy in the eyes of the public and even in other countries.

- Money does not necessarily give power. You have to be a fine politician and I don't think that their life in the forest can teach them the workings of politics. They are far too wild.

- However, with a good guide, everything is possible. But that's not all. Apartment, these beastly men are also in search of a power capable of overthrowing the power. In all likelihood, it would be a witch.

Henry Harrington sat up straight in his seat:

- A witch? That's unlikely. There haven't been any witches for a century now.

- I thought the same thing when I was told about it," agreed Hiden, "and I can tell you that my sources are reliable.

- Now we just have to find out more about it. I hope this famous witch is ugly. I wouldn't want any of you to fall in love with her and forget about me.

- Anemone, Anemone. Your beauty is matched only by the ugliness of your heart," lied the younger brother in a mocking tone. There is more beautiful than you in this world.

- You stupid...

- That's enough.

The king's deep voice rumbled through the room.

- Forgive me, Father.

- If this witch exists, we must capture her and eliminate her.

- I don't think that's the best way to handle things," the Crown Prince replied. We can always do something else.

- Explain yourself.

- There is every reason to believe that no one knows exactly who this witch is or where she might be. Wouldn't it be better to find her before the werewolves do and make her an ally?

- There are risks of betrayal. Witches can be self-important and don't like being under anyone's orders, especially vampires. We are their greatest enemies.

- Yet, as I recall, there has been collaboration between the two races on more than one occasion.

- Yes, but that was because the parties had a common goal.

- That's the point. We can find that common goal and manipulate it as we wish.

- Only if it's a young and naive witch or a greedy and treacherous one," said Anemone.

- Let's wait and see where our investigations take us. With that, allow me to retire father. I have a long road ahead of me. Aloïs concluded, raising his hat.

He headed for the door without waiting.

- How insolent! Spat Anemone.

Aloïs, having heard, ignored his sister's remark and crossed the granite-paved courtyard with a serene gait. He had work to do and no time to put his eighty-year-old sister in her place.

"That's for another time," he thought.

His slave came with his car and the two of them set off for London...