The Queen of Alphas

1. A window to your future

(18 years later)

Victoria’s Point of view

I was feeding the golden ducklings and reading to them in one of the beautiful gardens of our palace. It might seem odd for someone who does not live only with their mother and those little feathered creatures.

The garden was placed among the clouds, blue crystalline flowers neatly arranged in rows and a couple of tall and verdant trees filled the place. In the center stood a little silver fountain, my ducklings and me. From here I could see the six towers of the large palace, high and imposing. Why did they have to be so high, when we were already in the skies?

My mother and I live in the silver palace within Olympus, the one closest to the moon. The palace itself was made of moonstone, a magic and legendary material that holds the light of the moon itself and provides strength, health, and protection to all those near it.

Our home is a peaceful and beautiful Eden, where perfection takes place every day.

It is so perfect that nothing ever happens.

My mom said that I am an uncontainable spirit just like her, and I am hungry for the world. I even have the same habit she had years ago. I enjoy looking out the full-moon window (it was called this, even though it was shaped like a half-moon), and observing the life in the Six Realms. Watch their beautiful and diverse creatures, watch life play before my own eyes, like seeing a storybook come to life.

I wish I could add my story to the pages of this book of adventures, challenges, action, comedy, and even romance.

I caught one of the fast-running ducklings in my arms and climbed the ample steps of the marbled stairs, heading to the covered balcony, to my favorite place in this whole immaculate palace, a window to the outside world.

I looked at the view from the full moon window. That was the place in the palace from where one could have the best view of all that plays down there in the six Realms. My duckling resisted, he wanted to run around. Ducks are always so predictable.

“No, let’s watch what is happening, that is much more interesting than what you do in your normal and boring duck life,” I told him softly, as if he could understand my words.

Yes, for some time now my boredom has made me start to speak to the ducks.

“Victoria.” I heard my mom’s serene and soothing voice and turned around, “are you looking at it again?” she asked, taking some steps closer and wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

“Yes, there is always so much happening there, everything is so new and fascinating, that it feels like I am always watching them for the first time.” I smiled.

My mom is pure light and peace. I wish I could be like her. Because sometimes, I feel like I am a turmoil, pieces of mess put together in the wrong way.

She is great and always showers me with love, but I also wish she would let me do things, go places instead of only seeing them from far away, from above, like a bored Goddess.

I think the Gods' statues that the creatures of the six Realms erect in their temples have more fun than us in our too-perfect little lives here. Thus, I always ask my mom to go down to the Realms, to be able to see it. I know it is part of me, I can feel its call, its magnetic allure. There is something for me to explore, to know, and to see there. There is something for me to live there.

But my mom always says I am not ready yet.

“I know my beloved. I have news for you,” she added with a sigh, as soft lines of worry formed in the flawless milky skin of her forehead. It was rare to see such emotion in her normally serene face.

I think one never worries when they are an almighty Goddess who knows the Fates and can see destiny itself. But the little twist within the whole destiny-seeing-power is that no one, not even the most powerful among the Gods, can see their own destiny or the fate of their beloved ones. The Goddesses of Fate kept this part locked down from them in a box locked with seven keys.

I looked intently at her silver eyes, giving her my full attention. Her eyes change colors according to her mood, just like mine, and silver is not a good omen—it means that a storm is coming.

“Your father, the Werewolf King, transcended to the other dimension. He and his fated female aren’t among those in the six Realms anymore,” she said, running her fingers through my hair in a soothing way.

I breathed deeply and felt a sliver of air hitching in my throat, as a batch of tears slid down my face.

My father. I have never met him, I only saw him from above, from this very window, many times. But I have never heard his voice or felt the warmth of his embrace.

He was like a distant dream, yet a stranger.

My heart was breaking slowly, piece by piece, like a collapsing tower.

I hurt for him.

I hurt for what I could never live with, for I could never have.

He was my connection with the six Realms, with the world that I always admired and watched. Now, the connection was lost forever, and I would feel even more isolated in this palace, with the company of the same ducks, surrounded by the same clouds, and stuck in the same patch of paradise.

My mom wrapped her arms around my slightly trembling form. Her touch carried in itself some soothing magic and I could feel my heart’s pounding calm down almost immediately.

“Vicky, you are supposed to be the heir to his throne as his first-born child, considering that his other child, his son Henrik, is one month younger than you, if you were in the Six Realms,” my mom said softly.

I broke our hug and turned to look at her. My moistened eyes were puddles of confusion. What did she mean? She had the slightly annoying habit of talking in riddles.

“I am not in the Realms, unfortunately…” I turned around, escaping her grasp and looking out of the large round window once again.

“You have a choice to make, something that I can’t do for you. Regardless of how much I want to avoid any suffering and pain coming into your life, my love,” she added, cupping my cheek with her featherlight touch.

A deep sigh parted my lips. Going to the realms, reconnecting with this part of me, living through my father’s legacy; those were things I have always wanted to do.

But to be honest, those were also things I have always feared.

Maybe my mom was right, and I am not ready yet, at least not to go there alone. I am not even eighteen yet, my birthday is still a few weeks away. I am not even an adult. Could I descend to an unknown land and become a queen?

“There is one other fact that may influence your choice, my dearest. A throne cannot remain vacant and wait for a ruler. If you don’t claim it, someone else will,” my mom added, also looking out of the window.

From here we could see the Werewolf and the Fae Realms, but my mom’s eyes always seemed to find the Werewolf Realm while looking from here.

Did I even want to be a Queen? I didn’t know.

But maybe that wasn’t the only way for me to be closer to my father, by following his steps.

I wasn’t ready.

I was about to tell that to my mom when my eyes met the ones surrounded by golden feathers. A duck’s eyes. I couldn’t be in this place any longer, at least not without losing my sanity.

I had to step down and live the dreams I have nurtured in my chest for so long.

I took a deep breath, letting the fresh air of Olympus caress my lungs and fill me with courage I didn’t really have.

“I will go down there,” I stated, sounding much more secure than I was actually feeling.

“There are a couple of details. As you know, there are some rules that govern our universe, rules that can’t be bent, not even by me,” she said, attracting my gaze to her still silver eyes once more. She sounded like unadulterated peace, but I knew she was unsettled, and she was dreading this conversation. It was possible that I was the only one who could ever read the pain in her eyes.

“You can’t use most of your powers there, not the ones that come from me. You will be like any other werewolf, having only what your father’s bloodline has given you. Besides, I can’t help you while you are there. I can’t intervene in your actions and life in the realms. I have requested a special license to do so, but the Fates denied me,” she told me with a deep sigh, a sign of sadness. “Do you still want to do it?” she asked after she closed her eyes and took a lungful of air for an instant.

I only nodded in response.

I didn’t know how, but I knew that I had to do it.

~ * ~

When everything was settled, I said goodbye to my ducklings, and I was ready to have my mom sending me to the Werewolf Realm.

“Victoria…” she muttered softly as she wrapped me in her arms.

I knew my mom was one of the most sensitive and heart-melted beings in the whole Olympus, but she always tries to hide her feelings in a façade of everlasting calmness.

“Be brave and trust your instincts. Remember that you can only be a good Queen if you truly connect with your people, if you look at them with love,” she beamed as her tear-filled eyes were the image of love itself. My own eyes started to water as my heart clenched, anticipating how much I would miss her.

“I love you, my child. When you doubt that you are strong enough, try to see yourself with my eyes and remember my love. You have everything you need to be a great Queen, my dearest.” She cupped my face gently. Before I could reply to her words, before I could even think about hesitating and hug her back, saying that I wanted to stay, a flash of silver light engulfed me. The light that would send me to my destination.

I was already on my way to my new life.

I had to be ready to become a Queen.