Chapter 1 - My Cursed Blood
BLUE BLOOD. I was not surprised when the man who caught me stealing cut my hand and a trail of blue instead of red spilled out of my clenched fist. But everyone around the market saw it, and they gasped simultaneously, acting as if they had just seen the devil.
This was not the first time this has ever happened. It was one of the reasons why I lived in seclusion, choosing to hide inside the caves or the forests inside a cabin in villages. It was one of the reasons why I stayed clear of crowded places and out of trouble.
But that winter night I was really hungry. My stomach growled as if I would have my weak Wolf come out in the middle of the snowstorm. I thought about the only two coins I had, and I could not afford to use them before the winter ended. I needed to survive on scrapes and well water to live.
So, that night, I decided to do something stupid. I tried stealing bread from one of the lonely street vendors, but the seller had a vise grip and was quick on his feet. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by angry salesmen around the block.
“How can this be,” the seller who caught me breathed. His eyes were wide with shock. He was even slightly trembling and I used the opportunity to twist my hand from his grip. I did not care that I was already surrounded. I tried running anyway. But these angry and sweaty men caught me, trapping me like a little lamb. “Where do you think you are going?”
“I am sorry, I really do.” I scrambled. “I did not mean to steal from you but my stomach—it is just—it is empty since three days ago and I have no money. I have no means to attain food and your bread looked really good. Please, let me go. I swear, I will never steal from you ever again.”
The seller looked at my hand again, mesmerized by the blue of my blood.
“Do not let her go,” hissed one of the other sellers. “Look at her blood! What if she is a magic dweller? What if she is a witch?”
A round of gasps and muttering shocks circled the night. I paled. It was one thing to be accused as a thief, but it was another thing to be assumed as a witch. If I were a thief, I would be lucky to get out of here with one of my hands cut from my arm. But a witch? I would never get out of here alive. I looked at the seller, a pleading look on my face, and tears streaming down my cheeks.
“I am not a witch, good sir. I am merely a girl, hungry for food. Please, I do not know of any magic. You are—you are good. I can see it in you.”
The seller looked hesitant.
One of them spat next to my feet. “Do not trust this girl! Any witch could enthrall you and you would never know it. I say we strip her off her clothes and see if there is any evidence of it,” he eyed me with hungry eyes. The kind of starvation that would put mine to shame. I knew what he was thinking before he even said it.
“No,” I whispered with anguish. But one of them was already taking my arm and the other gripping my hair. “No, no, no! Please, no!”
When one of them was about to rip off the only dress I owned, someone emerged from behind the seller I stole. It was an old lady. She was so old she could barely walk, and her eyes were half shut. But she could understand what was happening, even with her bad eyesight.
“Moon curse all of you!” She shouted. All the sales assistants immediately let me go. There was no shame in their eyes. Just annoyance that they did not get to have the fun they were hoping for. The old lady stepped forward. “Is this what you all do when I am not around? Disgusting little dogs.”
All of them sniffed.
“Get away from the girl!”
They stepped back, but not the seller I stole from. He looked at the old lady. “Great grandmother, she stole from us. She could be a witch. No respectable girl would ever wander alone in the middle of the night like this.”
“Shut your mouth, you dirtbag. I was wandering alone, aimlessly carrying your grandfather, and then I wandered around aimlessly for your father. Moon Goddess knows the only reason why I am not doing the same to you is because I am half bending over my back, and I am practically blind!”
“But great-grandmother, her blood is—”
“Take her to the King.” The old lady said, which got everyone to tense and press their lips together. “Let the King of Wolves decide what to do with her.”
“King Larkin already has a lot on his plate. I am sure he would not want a mere seller like me to present him with this unnecessary problem.”
The old lady stepped closer to me, and I might be wrong, but she sniffed, caught my scent, and smiled a knowing smile. “Oh, but he would want to. He would want to very much. If he wants to win against the Night Pelt traitors, he would want to see this girl.”
“Why?”
“Did you not say her blood is blue?” The old lady grinned. “That is why.”
This was worse than being accused as a witch.
Anyone else doomed to meet the ruthless King of the Wolf Kingdom, Alpha of the Iron Moon pack who ruled over every pack in the Kingdom, would never live longer to tell the tale.
And it would be me.
I would see King Larkin Darkthorn, King of Wolven, Alpha of Iron Moon, and the ruler of the South.
