The Lost Werewolf Princess

Chapter 3

Geir

"Princess Annalise, its Geir, are you up yet?" I asked from outside her bedroom door.

I waited for her familiar sing-song voice that would say, "Coming" or "Just a minute" before she would wrestle with the chair that was blocking her door and emerge, ready for the day. When I did not receive such a response, or any for that matter, I knocked again. When she didn't answer a second time, I tested the door and it swung open with ease.

Panic began to set in as I rushed inside, shocked to find her room looking remarkably undisturbed. I attempted to link her, but she didn't answer. Did Gunner come and get her before me? Although it has happened before, it was highly unusual. I searched her room twice, before finally linking Gunner.

"Is Princess Annalise with you?" I asked.

"No, I thought you were getting her this morning?" He retorted.

"She is not in her room, and there is no sign of struggle."

"Perhaps someone else escorted her? Or did she leave on her own free will?"

I was shocked by his unbothered response, but then again, Gunner never did take her security as seriously as I did. He always felt that she was protected by just being in the castle. Unfortunately, while he supported princess Annalise in becoming Queen, he did not feel that Bethany was capable of murder, which was just plain foolish of him if you asked me. She was a treacherous snake, not to be trusted.

I began searching for Princess Annalise in her favorite places first; the kitchen, the library, her painting studio. My heart began to sink the longer I looked, fearing the worst had happened.

"Looking for something?" Bethany asked, an all too innocent look upon her face.

"Princess Annalise?" I asked, despite my better judgment.

"You cant find her?" She said, a practiced surprised look on her face. "I thought you two were joined at the hip! I'm sure she is around here somewhere." She shrugged, a slight smirk forming on her face as she turned to leave.

- - - - - - - -

Bethany

He should have been here by now. What was taking so long? Annalise was a tiny girl, she shouldn't have been a problem to get rid of. The hard part was done, getting her out of the castle. I bribed my ex-boyfriend Danny to extract her from her room. It took him several attempts to even land the grappling hook throughout the week, but last night he got it and I gave him the okay to proceed once I knew she had been locked in for the night. I even gave him a narcotic that I knew would knock her out so he would have an easier time getting her out mess free. I had to make it look like she left on her own free will, we would have too many questions otherwise.

I ordered Danny to finish the job last night, as soon as he had her off the island. He agreed to meet me outside the castle just after dark the next day to give me his good news. Only, I got the feeling from his tardyness that he didn't have good news to offer. Ten more minutes passed before I finally heard him approaching, the stone ground surrounding the castle giving up his position.

"Well? Is it done?" I snapped at Danny, who had a pitiful look on his face.

"She should be gone long enough." He said sheepishly. "I took her on the ferry over to Scotland. We kinda lost her there..."

"You lost her?! I ordered you to kill her!" I bit back. "Where did you last see her?"

"She was on some boat. I don't know where it was sailing to, it wasn't one of ours." He said, fear in his eyes. "She should be gone at least a few days, the council will have made you queen by then, I'm sure." He gulped.

"You had better pray that you are right, because if you are not I will kill you myself." I growled, storming my way back to the palace.

Of course, if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. I needed to think of a new plan, and fast. I couldn't risk little miss perfect coming back. Hopefully, with the council coming in the morning, they will take her absence as a sign that she does not want to be made queen and will hand the title over to me immediately.

I will need to handle the Geir situation also. I don't doubt that he will be a problem. But how do I get rid of someone who is such an influential member of the pack?

"Stage an incident, of course." My wolf, Beatrice, said.

"Yes, but what kind of incident could land him in prison? We certainly can't kill him. We would be put on the hot seat immediately."

"Whatever it is, it must be done quickly, before he sings like a canary to the council," Beatrice snorted.

"I think I have an idea..."

- - - - - - - -

I only had a few hours to carry out my plan. But that was all I needed. Geir was a smart fellow, but given his concern for Annalise's wellbeing, he would be easy to manipulate. He had been running all around the castle all day, whispering to the men who still believed that Annalise should be made queen. At least now I knew who our traitors were. As soon as I was made queen, I would remove them from their service, which should be in less than a day.

I spent the better part of the day planning. It was an easy plan, but required some stealth. If I succeeded, which I fully anticipated that I would, it would solve all of my problems in mere minutes. I went back to my room first, grabbing the tiny bottle of maroon-colored liquid that got me here in the first place. I had it specially made over a year ago, and kept it well hidden all this time. One spoonful is all it would take to kill someone, luckily, I only needed a drop. Now, for the next part of my plan...

"What is for dinner tonight?" I asked the kitchen staff, who all looked a bit lost. Annalise has been coordinating all of the meals, if not cooking them herself, for the past year.

"Lamb stew." Hilga grunted as she stirred the giant pot of stew cooking on the stove. She was the former head chef, before Annalise, anyway. She was a crusty old hag, near expired if you asked me.

"I'm really not feeling lamb tonight. Do you think we could have something else?" I asked.

Hilga gave me a murderous look before one of the younger, more timid staff chimed in.

"Um...I think we have a fish...."

"Yes, we do." Someone else nodded, peaking into the icebox.

"Fish sounds wonderful." I smiled.

"Dinner might be a little later than normal, is that alright?"

"Perfect. I'll just enjoy some wine while I wait."

"Yes Princess, we will do our best to get your food out in a timely manner." Another said.

Hilga held her tongue, throwing down her wooden spoon and wiping her hands while mumbling some profanity under her breath no doubt. I went merrily on my way, my plan already working even better than I had expected. I took my seat at the table, the room otherwise empty, and pulled out the tiny bottle of poison. I let one drop fall into my chalice and rolled it around so it would coat the inside of the cup and dry up faster. Ten minutes later, my guard, Aron, and Geir were walking into the dining room. Geir still looked like a lost puppy, making this all the better. Once they were settled in their normal spots, I waited a few more moments before starting the last phase of my plan.

"Gier?" I asked, enjoying having the entire table to myself. Especially with her not looking back at me.

"Yes Princess Bethany?" He grunted, his mood even more sour than earlier.

"Be a dear and fetch me some wine?" I asked sweetly, swirling my empty cup in his direction.

"Of course," he said through gritted teeth.

Everything else seemed to happen quite quickly after that. Geir fetched me a bottle of wine, he poured the red liquid, I drank, my face began to swell, Aron reacted, and before I knew it, Geir was being dragged away to a cell in the basement for trying to kill the princess.

Unfortunately, I can't blame everything on Geir. Only my attempted murder. Not my father's death, or Annalise's disappearance. No matter, I would solve that problem just as quickly. It wouldn't be hard to plant the poison in her room, especially since she was gone, nor would it be far-fetched with how many books on plants and herbs she had in her bookcase. Once the council found all of that, they would surely put a warrant out for her arrest. All I had to do was shed a few tears and then I would be queen.