Slave to the Lycan King

Longing to be free

Today was going to be the most important day in Azra's life, for herself and for her family. Immediately the orange sun creeped behind the tall mountains, she leaped to her feet, her stomach in painful knots.

For a second it was difficult to breathe and she wondered if she could really do this. Could she rebel against thousands of years of tradition and betray her kingdom? The terrible clenching of her guts said no. She was shaking from head to her toe as she glanced behind her to see her family.

There was Father, Mother, her brother Ivan and her two sisters. Their faces were all as pale as ghosts and they stared at her with wide terrified eyes, already thinking of backing down.

"Azra... this was a terrible idea..." Mother whispered, clutching her hands together.

"No!" Azra lurched forward and grabbed her mother's shoulders, her fingers digging in so hard her mother flinched. "This is not the time to doubt ourselves!"

She felt her fears float away, replaced with deadly calm. It was suddenly so clear that she must be strong for all of them, she always had been.

"I love you so much Mother, all of you. That is why we must leave, there is no life for us here in Varlanthia. We must go, now! Get everything." She urged them.

She sprung into action, handing her family their duffel bags containing all of their belongings. It's not like they had plenty because they were Subterri, a class of werewolves that were just barely above the slaves- good for nothing. Everyday, her family laboured until their bodies ached and their fingers were worn. That was what her forefathers did, what her grandparents did, what her parents did and life as a Subterri was all she would ever know, unless if she succeeded in changing the narrative tonight. Azra slung her duffel over her back, her heart hardening with determination.

"Let's get a better life." She whispered fiercely. Slowly her father nodded, trusting her to make this choice for their family. Once they escaped, they would create a new life for themselves far away from Varlanthia but if they were caught, they would be persecuted as traitors.

Azra hesitated as the fear of being caught overwhelmed her but she shrugged it off with a determined smile. She had planned everything so meticulously, nothing would go wrong.

There was a ship waiting in the harbour that Azra already secured passage on. She watched from the shadows with her family and as she stared wide-eyed at the large hulk of the ferry that would carry them to freedom, she felt a tear slip down her face.

She exchanged a glance with her sister Calyse to find her own eyes glistening. How many late nights had they spent planning this exact moment in hushed voices? How they'd laboured harder than everyone else, saving every penny they made to buy them this safe passage, to buy a new life.

Azra nodded in encouragement. "Quickly, we must run."

Calyse led the way and her family stuck to the shadows as they ran for the ship. Azra was the last one onboard and her heart was firmly lodged in her throat as she ran for the captain's cabin. It was quiet, too much so. If she didn't know better, she'd think that they were the only ones on the ship. She banged on the captain's door and shoved it in.

"Gerald- ahhhh!!" The name turned into a scream as something thudded to the floor and rolled to a stop at her feet and she stared with horror at Gerald's head on his bloody amputated stump of a neck. Her scream caught in her throat and horror washed over her spine as she looked up to find the terrifying faces of the White Cloaks- The king's own soldiers.

No! She spun around and ran. She had led her family into a trap! They must escape from here, if she could just get to them fast enough... She staggered to a stop when her father was marched out from the cabin, his hands up in the air in surrender. The look in his eyes shattered the remaining pieces of her heart- a look of total utter defeat.

Azra slapped a hand over her mouth to silence her cry.

"What have I done?" She whispered brokenly. She'd failed all of them.

Her family were forced to their knees while the White Cloaks surrounded them.

"Luwin Finastrik, you are under arrest. You and your family are hereby charged with treason for conspiring against the crown." A White Cloak said and Azra swayed dizzily. Was this a nightmare and if it was, could she wake up?

She lurched forward and the White cloak drew his sword at her immediately. She didn't care as she clutched his hand desperately.

"It was me." She begged. "I planned everything, I forced them to come here, they had nothing to do with this. Please let them go."

The White cloak looked at her hand on his wrist and his lips curled with disgust.

"I said it was me!" She yelled, shaking the sneering soldier. "Let my family go!"

His gauntleted fist crashed into Azra's cheek, throwing her into the floor and her mother burst into tears.

"Know your place, vermin!" The White Cloak snarled. "Who reported it?"

Azra's ears were ringing from the blow but she was stunned immobile when Calyse picked herself up and approached the soldiers. No... this must be some sort of mistake!

"Calyse?" She whispered. "What is the White Cloak saying?"

"Well done." The White cloak broke into a smile and patted her on the head like a good dog. "You did the right thing."

"What is he saying?!" Azra yelled as she scrambled to her feet and approached her sister who wouldn't look her in the eyes. "Calyse!"

Her sister's betrayal felt as if the White Cloak had pierced her heart with his sharp sword.

"Tell me it's not true!" Azra screamed, launching herself at her sister. "Say it!!!"

The White cloak snatched her from the air like a broken doll and his knee slammed into her gut. Azra collapsed to her knees in pain, unable to draw breath but it was nothing compared her heart that was tearing itself apart.

"Calyse! It wasn't you, say it damn it!" Her bloodshot eyes willed her sister to look at her but Calyse had her eyes shut tight. She was crying, wretched crocodile tears that made Azra's heart bitter.

It was true then, Calyse betrayed them. Azra couldn't breathe through the pain. But... why?

As a cloak was draped over Calyse's shaking body while the rest of their family shook like rats on the wet ship floor, realisation set in. She'd sold them out! Calyse, who always had her nose pressed to the windows when the regal carriages passed, Calyse who spent her earnings on old overpriced garments discarded by the Valtori just so she could pretend to be like them.

All this while, Azra had been worried about keeping their escape plan secret from their neighbours, the dock men, the sailors... but the only person she had to worry about had been right under her nose. Mother broke down in tears and Azra felt such rage she knew she would end her sister's life if she only got to her.

"You b***h!!!" She launched herself from the floor, intending to surprise the White cloaks and Calyse watched with frozen wide eyes as she reached for her...

Suddenly, pain exploded at the back of her head and everything went blank.

...

"Wake up, you rotten filth!" Azra woke up when her cheek struck the ground and she scrambled to her knees, tasting blood in her mouth only for her jaw to drop when she saw her surrounding. The Palace! "Move!"

Shoved forward by rough hands, she stumbled, losing one of her worn sandals. The vastness of the palace halls swallowed her, golden columns stretching high above like ancient trees reaching for the heavens. Everything shimmered, the walls lined with silks seemed to breathe and above her, chandeliers sparkled like captured stars- but she barely noticed. Her chest was heavy, her eyes fixed on the cold floor, each step echoing her doom.

Chains clinked noisily against the floor as her family was dragged in behind her. Her father's shoulders were slumped, his spirit already broken. Her mother wept softly while Esmeralda, her soft sweet sister clung to her, visible shaking. Ivan's jaw was tight, blazing with anger that he could do nothing about.

She couldn't bear to look at them, knowing that it was all her fault. For some reason, she had gotten it into her head that she could cheat the system, and now she was about to pay the ultimate price. Abysmii slaves with haggard exhausted faces avoided their path like they carried the plague, watching them wide-eyed with detached pity. Once, the Abysmii were below even her, the lowliest level of werewolves. They were mutts with no free will of their own and now they were even better off than her family. Anything was better than dead.

The closer they got to the grand doors ahead, the weaker her legs felt, fear threatening to buckle her knees. The Lycan King awaited them beyond those doors, the one whose werewolf bloodline held dominion over all others. God-like. Absolute. Unforgiving.

The doors were thrown open and there he was.

He sat atop his obsidian throne, draped in white robes that seemed to glow, flowing around him like mist. His shoulders were broad, his posture regal and silvery hair framed an ageless face with features chiseled with a perfection that was entirely inhuman. His golden eyes locked on hers, piercing her soul and her breath caught, she couldn't look away. Power radiated from him, a force that made the very air tremble. He was beautiful, terrifyingly devastatingly beautiful. A god amongst beasts.

In comparison, she was nothing, less than nothing. She dropped to her knees, her body trembling as the urge to submit overwhelmed her.

The King's voice was like thunder wrapped in velvet. "Are these the traitors?"

The captain of the White cloaks stepped forward with his head bowed low. "Yes, Your Majesty. This one is the mastermind of their escape plan." He pointed to her. "Their eldest daughter remains loyal to Your Majesty's justice, she's the one that reported their treason."

Azra's heart twisted and a searing pain stole her breath. Loyal... that word was like poison. Her fists clenched, her nails digging into each other.

Silence stretched, heavy and suffocating and her heart pounded out of her chest. Then his voice came again, cold and commanding and he sounded so displeased she fought the urge to shrivel to the ground. "Look at me."

Stark fear made her hesitate but a guard's boot connected with her side and pain exploded through her ribs. She gasped, her head snapping up.

Golden eyes watched her, unblinking, unmoved. "You dare defy me?"

"N-no... Your Majesty..." Her voice broke, barely a whisper.

His eyes narrowed and her voice died slowly. She wanted to explain, to beg, to scream but she could only kneel there, trembling.

"The punishment for treason is death." He said coldly and she flinched.

Her mother's sobs grew louder, her father's shoulders sagging further. Her brother made a choked sound, his head dropping forward.

The King's gaze flicked over them, impassive. "But I will show mercy. You will live."

Hope surged, sharp and painful but he wasn't finished.

"You will serve. Your parents and your brother will serve in the mines until death claims them. Your sister will be auctioned, her fate determined by the highest bidder. And you-" his eyes held hers, his expression unreadable- " will serve the palace as a slave. Property of the crown."

Her world shattered. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. The mines? Auction?! Death would have been more merciful.

"Who reported it?" He asked and silence descended as Calyse walked forward on shaky legs, her face pale as a ghost.

"From today, you will remain in the palace as one of the princess's maidens and you will want for nothing."

"Thank you Your Majesty!" She cried, dropping to her knees and Azra's heart iced over with hatred.

The King waved a hand, elegant fingers tipped with faintly gleaming claws. "Take them away."

She was yanked backward, her body moving numbly as the guards dragged her from the hall. Her gaze remained locked on him, on the golden eyes that watched her without any pity or emotion.

The doors closed and rough hands dragged her away from her family.

"Wait!!!" She yelled, jerking back alive and clawing to get to her parents. "Mother! Father!"

"Azra!" Mother called as guards dragged her away.

"Wait please!! Give me just one moment." She pleaded, fighting to get away with all of her strength but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

She was dragged away, the door slammed into her face and she was thrown into a room where two men and a tall, domineering woman waited.

"Who are you? What is this?!" Despite her body trembling like a leaf, she put on a mask of bravado which did not seem to impress the strangers.

"Begin." The woman said and the men grabbed her.

" What are you doing?" She yelled but they clawed at her clothes and ripped them off, stripping her naked while scalding water was poured over her head. Her screams of pain echoed through the room. Her body was on fire as she was forced to her knees and the woman finally stood, walking to a hearth and grabbing a rod. Glowing red-hot at the end of the rod was the infinity symbol; the symbol for a slave.

"No!" Azra scrabbled on the floor to get away from her but the two men grabbed her and forced her back on her knees. She quailed, hot tears streaming down her face. "No, please don't."

"Your name is stripped as of today." The woman's cold voice echoed in the small room like thunder. "From today, you will be called Cinder, slave to the crown and the lowliest of scum."

The men held her immobile while the woman pressed the red hot metal to her shoulder, burning her deep. Her screams of pain swelled through the room as her flesh burned with silver and she was heralded into the fresh hell that was her new life.