Chapter 2: The Royal Awakening
898 Words
Chapter 2: The Royal Awakening
The dampness of the cell seeped through my silk gown. The cold stone floor took away the last of my body heat. In the Silver Moon Pack they kept the "Damp Cells" for traitors. Wolves who turned against their kind. I made sure these cells stayed empty. I believed in helping wolves, not punishing them.
It was ironic. I thought about the contract we had and how it fell apart. I felt the pain of being rejected like a cord. Damon's face, once my safe place, now belonged to my jailer.
He didn't even check for bruises on my wrists. My fingers touched the marks where Jasmine gripped me. He didn't even smell the magic she used.
"Awaken " the voices whispered again. They weren't coming from the hallway. They were coming from inside me.
A strange warmth started in my chest. It fought back the cold. The violet glow I saw earlier returned more vibrant now. It crawled up my neck like living ivy. As the light got stronger the silver-lined shackles around my wrists started to hiss. Silver is meant to suppress a shifter's strength.. This power wasn't coming from my wolf. It was something
The shackles shattered. They didn't just break. They turned into metallic dust.
I stood up. My legs were shaking. They steadied as adrenaline and something else flooded my system. The heavy iron door of the cell looked flimsy. I reached out. A spark of violet lightning jumped from my skin. The lock exploded outward.
I walked out. The corridors were empty. The guards were likely distracted by the festival or Damon taking care of Jasmine. I moved through the shadows of the packhouse, a place I decorated, managed and loved. I paused by the infirmary.
Through the c***k in the door I saw them. Damon was kneeling by Jasmine's bed holding her hand. He vowed, "I won't let her hurt you again. The council will exile her tomorrow. You and the baby will be safe."
Jasmine smiled at me. She didn't look afraid. She curled her lips into a mocking smirk. Her hand moved to her stomach.
I could have burst in. I could have used this power to tear the room apart.. I looked at Damon. Really looked at him. The man I loved was already gone. The man standing there was a stranger.
Keep him, I thought. He's the prize you'll ever win.
I. Ran. I ran past the markers I helped set. I ran past the patrols. I ran until the scent of the Silver Moon Pack was replaced by the air of the Neutral Territories.
Then my strength failed.
The violet light. Died. I was in darkness. My knees hit the dirt. My cheek pressed against the earth.
"Please " I whispered to the forest. "Anyone."
The last thing I heard before the blackness took me wasn't the howl of a wolf. It was the thud of horses. Something only the highest nobility used. A voice resonated with power.
"Look at her eyes, " the voice commanded. " In sleep the Royal Mark is burning. We're late. Find the healer. If our sister dies, this territory burns."
When I opened my eyes the world was gold.
I was lying on a bed of furs. My skin was clean. My silk gown was replaced by a tunic of linen.
I tried to sit up. A hand. Large, warm and calloused. Pressed gently against my shoulder.
"Easy Little Bird " a voice said.
Three men stood by the bed. They were giants, each radiating an Alpha pressure. They were dressed in charcoal leathers and fur-lined cloaks.
The man who spoke had hair the color of midnight and eyes like silver. "I am Kaelen. This is Vane and Cyrus " he said. "You are, in the Royal Citadel, Lateefat.. Should I say... Princess Nora?"
My heart stopped. "I'm a ghostwriter. A contract mate. I'm nobody."
"You are the daughter of the High King " Vane growled. ". We are the brothers who have spent fifteen years scouring the earth for the scent of our lost star."
Cyrus took my hand. His touch sent a spark of energy through me. "You have power sleeping in your blood, sister. The Mystic Arts."
I shook my head. Tears blurred my vision. "Damon... He said I was a signature. He locked me up. He thinks I'm a murderer."
Kaelen's silver eyes turned hard. "Damon of the Silver Moon will learn the cost of touching what belongs to the Crown."
"What do I do?" I asked.
"We take you to the Mystic Forest, " Kaelen said. "To a healer who lives in the shadows between worlds. He is the one who can teach you to wield the storm inside you."
He paused. ". Nora? When you are ready we won't just take back your dignity. We will let you decide which packs are allowed to keep their Alphas... And which will be leveled to the ground."
They came not from his words. From the window. I saw an oily cloud rising from the south.
My stomach lurched. I recognized that energy. It was the dark magic Jasmine used to frame me. But now it was a wildfire.. In the center of that darkness I felt a familiar fading heartbeat.
Damon was dying.. Jasmine wasn't the one trying to save him.
- Writer
