Luna of the Beastly Lycan King

Chapter 19. A rumor

☉DANIKA

I could not stop myself from thinking about what had happened. From the time of the battle in the arena, up to the moment where he had held my waist in his study…

I drifted through different emotions and expressions as the days went by. After my outburst, I had since confined myself to my chambers, locked away from Finarfin and everyone else. The one sanctuary I knew that he would not dare intrude on. Because no matter what happened, Finarfin didn’t care. He didn’t care about me at all. At least this one.

The only times I left my chamber was after mealtimes; one of the cooks, Erika was friendly to me and would often keep a good-sized portion of whatever had been served because she seemed to understand what I was going through. Her face always was a mask of pity whenever I visited and I knew that she regarded me with deep pity.

I could not blame her. But I did not want the pity that anyone offered. I was not going to let myself be at the mercy of anybody, and I was certainly not going to allow anyone else to dictate to me who I was or what I was capable of.

I had just stepped into the kitchens, fresh out of hiding away from anyone and everyone, headed straight to Erika’s conclave for my helping of food when I ran into some maidens chattering loudly.

They all went silent as soon as I entered, and the laughter on their faces died down. I locked eyes with the one whom I made out to be their leader and hung my head. I was already halfway past them when she uttered quite loudly, “Oh, the lengths we would go to for attention. It’s a pity that the attention we so crave does not go the same extents for us—petty, pity, and poor.”

The bevy broke into short-lived laughter, and I tried to continue on my path, but their leader stepped in front of me, blocking my path. “Would you not say, Danika?” She asked, eyes bright and mischievous. I was in no mood for trifling, so I replied, “I would not know. I would have to ask someone who has had experience in that particular posting.”

I made to walk away, but the leader held me by the shoulder and spun me forcefully back to face her. Her eyes were wild and there was a twitching in her mouth.

“You really do believe that you matter to the king. You truly imagine that you are as important to him as he is to you.” She scoffed.

“I do not know who you are or what you think, but I must ask that you unhand me at this moment. I have nothing to say to you.”

“Oh!” she exclaimed comically. “She has no time for me! Do you hear that, ladies? The Great Danika of the Alpha King Finarfin has no time for me. What horror! Whatever shall I do?”

I watched her with dead eyes.

“You seem to have regained your confidence, but like I told you the last time, living in a palace does not make you one of us.” Her smile was tight and I could see that she was doing her best to rein in her anger. She wanted me to snap. She wanted me to do something stupid. She wanted me to fail.

But all I could think of was the fact that I could neither remember her nor these words she spoke of.

“I do not try to be one of you. But I will do my best to take your advice to heart.” I turned to move for the last time. I was tired of this entire charade, but I needed to make something clear.

“And just so it is clear between all of us, I never once stood in the path to any lady’s victory with the Alpha King Finarfin. You remain yet, so far out of reach of Finarfin of your own accord. Unless you have been giving it all your efforts already.”

I smiled as I left. But then something hard hit me in the face and I tumbled forward. With a snarl, the leader jumped on me. I instinctively pulled my hands up to cover my face as she rained blows down.

I stayed this way until she tired and rose from me. I thought she was done, and I let down my hands. Then she caught me right in the mouth. I fell back down to the floor and she was laughing. The coppery tang of blood burst into my mouth as I felt my face. My fingers came away bloody when I touched my lips and a primal anger overtook me.

I rose, swift as a bolt shot from a crossbow. I cuffed her on the head with one angry blow. The maiden fell and stayed down, unmoving. My hair was tousled and my forearms ached from her blows. I shook with the vestiges of that anger and considered the fact that I may have killed her. Then a low groan escaped her lips and I thanked the Goddess.

I exhaled shakily but powerfully and addressed the other maidens. “You would all do well to keep your distance from me. Unless you want to end up like her. And I assure you, next time, it will be so much worse.”

They scampered to their fallen leader’s side after I had breezed out of the kitchen without so much as a plate of food.

I ate nothing for the rest of the day. I sat cross-legged on my bed, brooding about how I could have easily stopped the brawl. I was not so strong, but I could hold my own against a lady of the court.

I had fought in my previous pack. I had hunted with Finarfin. I was not completely useless. But I had grown used to the strength of others. I had accustomed myself to the knowledge that Finarfin would save me, no matter what happened.

I had forgotten myself, and I had begun to believe that my salvation lay in the hands of another. When it was always me. I had always held the power to change my situation in my hands.

Now, I finally understood exactly how Finarfin saw me. I was weak. Pathetically so. There was nothing that I had the strength to do except cower behind the backs of the mighty, apparently.

I had been too weak to save myself when my pack had been attacked. I had been too weak to save myself from the rogues. I had been weak against the Crimson-horned Stag. I…

I was weak.

I hugged my knees as I stared out of the window from my chamber.

☆☆☆

The very next morning, I was preparing to leave the palace. I had thought a lot about the events of the previous day and I had decided that I was going to seek out Sonia at the sparring grounds.

The sparring grounds were a distance from the palace, but it was a manageable distance. Unlike the arena which was almost a journey away. I had just passed the corridor that led to the entrance of the palace when the sound of conversation floated up to me. I froze in my tracks and immediately dashed back to where I had come from. I was not so confident that I would be able to take on the bevy of ladies from yesterday if they decided to spring up on me now.

I cursed my timing. The necessity to meet with Sonia and begin my training was made more evident in this moment and I wished that I had thought of it long ago.

The voices approached, closer and closer. It sounded like an argument. I strained to make out their words.

“—I’m telling you, Finarfin is just too powerful!” a reedy voice rasped.

“Be that as it may, we can’t have him running amok in council. That was his first meeting, and I already thought I was done for.” Another replied. This voice was rich and oily—a tone I had long come to associate with the obscenely wealthy.

“Is there something that you would like to suggest?”

“I don’t like how this new king treats us. Like we’re all fools and have no idea what we’re doing. We should be the ones running Cynthros. He needs to be tamed. It isn’t a king’s place to meddle in such affairs.”

“Perhaps you should show him what you can do.” A new voice joined. The voice sounded familiar, but I could not place it. “I’m sure the Alpha king would love to hear all these ideas you seem to be having about him and how to rule Cynthros.”

The two voices from earlier sounded genuinely frightened. “Baldur!” The man with the reedy voice gasped. “We didn’t—we weren’t…”

“—plotting against your newly-coronated king? The one to whom you all knelt and swore fealty and unending loyalty? Why, no, I should expect not. That would be treasonous. Punishable by death.” The new person said. I still couldn’t place where I knew him from, but I was certain that I had heard that voice before.

“Baldur! You are the king’s advisor. You know that we mean no harm. We are only looking out for the best interests of Cynthros here.” The oily voice said, surprisingly sagely.

“I do know what it means to have Cynthros’s best interests at heart. That is why I will tell the Alpha king that I have no recollection of this conversation. However, should such words be breathed within these castle walls again, you will discover what it means to try to ‘tame’ a king. It’s a lovely morning for a walk. Gentlemen…”

They were leaving, the two still grumbling under their breaths, but nothing more was said. I was pressed against the wall long after they had gone, clutching my chest until I was certain that I had not imagined anything.

I exhaled and slipped out of the palace.