MINISTORY: The Royal Trials

Chapter 5

A few weeks later, Lydia announced that she had assembled a panel for the Trials. They decided to hold them on two separate days, one for the presentation of invitations and one for the physical attributes. The panel of judges would be made up of members of the Legacy families. Constance Oxford, daughter of Nadia and Frankie Oxford, Cali and Louise Landry, daughter of Jack and Meredith Landry, and Kassidy Hayes, daughter of Josephine and August Hayes.

Caspian and Malcolm hardly spoke since their fight about the rogues. Malcolm was barely around at all, actually. He wasn’t seen at mealtimes and Caspian never saw him out on the training grounds. The other wolves say that he trains in the middle of the night, when no one else is around. Caspian was afraid that his brother was coming unhinged.

Cas was pacing the hallway outside of his mother’s office, waiting to be called in for his presentation, when Malcolm appeared.

“Long time, no see, brother.” Caspian said with a crooked grin, trying to lighten the tension between them.

Malcolm grunted in response.

“You doing okay?” Caspian asked.

“I’m just fine.” Malcolm replied coolly.

“Alright then.” Caspian sighed.

Just then, the door to the office opened and Lydia called for Caspian to enter. He greeted the representatives from the Legacy packs respectfully and then began his presentation.

“I would like to continue what Granny Austyn began so many years ago. Instead of vengeance, she found it within her heart to forgive the rogues and tried to create peace. I think that we still have a long way to go in securing her dream and that we’ve experienced setbacks, but that it’s no less important to find peace now than it was then. When the realm was first created, there was so much loss and heartbreak among the species, just as we felt loss and heartbreak after the last rogue attack. It would be easy to blame all rogues and simply cut them off from the realm and from the species. But, easy is not always right,

“It would’ve been just as easy for my grandmother to do this, but she didn’t, and neither should we. We must strive for peace and unity, bringing all of our people together. Instead of fighting or ignoring the rogues, we need to listen to them and hear their pleas. There are many fires to put out between the pack wolves and the rogue wolves, but I still believe that we can do it and we can achieve the harmony that my grandparents wanted for us,

“I think we need to open our doors to the rogues again, welcome rogues looking for a second chance into the Redemption pack. We’ve kept our borders closed to new rogues for long enough. But, having the Redemption pack isn’t enough, not if there’s nothing to look forward to once you’ve been redeemed. We need to allow redeemed rogues to join the Royal Legacy pack and join our people. We need to allow them to integrate into the village and the city, and live wherever they want to,

“I propose a probationary period for every rogue wolf who enters our borders and then a screening process. After a period of time, for example, three years, of the wolf having no incident and completing all of the required tasks, they should be screened to see if they are a good fit to join the Royal Legacy pack. Once they are approved, they can join the pack and choose to live whenever they’d like. There’s a discussion to be had on what those required tasks are and what the screening process would look like, but I believe that’s something we can achieve together.”

Caspian spoke expertly and passionately about his initiative, pushing all of the nerves deep inside his chest and making sure that only confidence came spilling out. The panel looked at each other for a moment and wrote a few things down on the notebooks in front of them, before Kassidy spoke,

“I think that the Queen Luna would be proud of her grandson for wanting to continue her work.”

“Yes, but what do you say to those in the realm who are still against the integration and redemption of rogues?” Cali asked.

“I think that in order to create unity, everyone needs to be on board, both sides of the werewolf species. It will be imperative that we get the realm wolves involved, encourage them to integrate with the rogues and create opportunities to do so. I believe we should eliminate the need for separate schools and facilities between the Royal Legacy and Redemption packs. By giving pack wolves a chance to see rogues in a “normal” setting, I believe their fears will be extinguished and their questions answered.” Caspian replied.

Cali nodded thoughtfully and wrote down some more notes.

“Thank you, Prince Caspian, and I believe that’s all for now.” Louise nodded with a kind smile.

“Thank you all for your consideration.” Caspian bowed his head politely and then left the room.

Malcolm barely looked at his brother as Caspian held the office door open for him. Malcolm slid inside the room and the door shut behind him. Cas sighed and walked away from the office, feeling confident that he was successful with his meeting today. He wandered back up to his room to change out of the fancy suit he was wearing when he heard faint cries coming from Malcolm’s room.

Caspian curiously moved closer to his brother’s room and leaned his ear against the door. Now he was positive that he was hearing the muffled cries of a woman. He knocked gently on the door and heard the crying quickly come to a stop. A few seconds later, the door was pulled open and a woman was standing on the other side.

“Oh, prince Caspian.” She bowed quickly, ducking her gaze to avoid looking the prince in the eye.

“Who are you?” Caspian asked bluntly.

“I’m Clarissa Greene, sire.” She answered, her eyes still cast downwards.

“Rise, Clarissa Greene, and relax, please.” Caspian said in a kind tone of voice, gently placing his hand on her arm.

Clarissa jumped, startled by his touch, and stood from her curtsey.

“I’m sorry, your grace.” She sniffed, her eyes puffy and red from crying.

“What’s wrong, Clarissa? Why are you crying in my brothers’ room? Has he done something?” Caspian fired off a slew of questions.

Clarissa looked terribly uncomfortable, twisting her hands nervously in front of her.

“I’m sorry, your grace, but I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for me to say…..” She stammered.

“You can tell me, Clarissa.” Caspian assured her.

Clarissa released a heavy sigh before nodding.

“I’m from the Redemption pack, your highness. My grandparents were rogues and they came here after the great war. We are model citizens, I swear, we don’t get into any trouble. My parents are hard workers and I graduated high school just like I was supposed to,” Clarissa rambled nervously, “I came here looking for work, your grace. The castle was hiring servants and I thought I could help my family. That’s when I met Prince Malcolm and we….well he and I…..we discovered that we’re mates.” She nearly shouted.

Caspian blinked at the young girl in shock. She didn’t look much older than he or Malcolm, but she appeared fragile and small; like she had experienced way too much in her young life. Caspian couldn’t believe that Malcolm found his mate and said nothing to him about it.

“When did this happen?” He asked.

“Three weeks ago.” Clarissa replied.

Three weeks ago was when he and Malcolm had the right about the rogues, it’s when they stopped talking and when Malcolm stopped coming around. It was all starting to make more sense.

“Why are you in here crying, Clarissa?” Caspian asked again.

“I….” Clarissa’s eyes welled up with fresh tears again, “Prince Malcolm is going to reject me.”

“Excuse me?” Caspian couldn’t believe it.

“He says that I am not fit as the mate of a prince, a future king. He’s right, your grace, I am not fit to be a princess and I’m certainly not good enough to be the Queen Luna. He’s right to reject me.” Clarissa was struggling to keep her composure in front of the prince.

“That’s nonsense. The Moon Goddess chose you to be the mate of a prince, therefore she chose you to be a princess.” Caspian shook his head in disbelief.

“I appreciate you saying that, your highness.” Clarissa faked a small smile, “But, truly, it’s okay.”

“It’s not okay. If he’s going to reject you, why hasn’t he done it yet? Why are you hiding out in his room?” Caspian looked pissed.

“He….well, he needs me. He’s been under a lot of stress with the Trials and he needs his mate to help him relieve the stress. I’m just here until the Trials are over and he becomes King, then he’ll reject me,” Clarissa replied, “or keep me as the royal mistress, perhaps.” She added, blushing from embarrassment.

Caspian was enraged that his brother would treat any woman like this, let alone his mate. He knew that Clarissa would only say these things if Malcolm had spoken them himself. She was devastated, that was clear from the look in her eyes, but she also smelt like him which meant they had mated. He was using her as a s*x slave.

“Clarissa, you need to know that this isn’t okay. You are worth more than this. You are worthy of a mate who loves you in the light of day, someone who is proud of you and wants to accept you in front of everyone. The realm, the kingdom, our family, we don’t care about pedigree. It’s never been an issue taking a mate who isn’t from a prestigious bloodline. This isn’t him acting like a nobel, this is him being selfish. As his brother and as a prince myself, I think you need to take matters into your hands, Clarissa. You deserve more than him. You should reject him for yourself and leave.” Caspian said, his voice as hard as his expression.

“Me reject him?” Clarissa gasped.

“If you’re afraid of him, I can be here with you.” Caspian said,

“I….I…oh, I don’t know!” Clarissa was shaking like a leaf.

“Don’t settle for less than you deserve, Clarissa.” Caspian begged.

Just then, Malcolm stormed into the room, shoving past Caspian and Clarissa who were still standing in the doorway.

“What the hell is going on in here?” He shouted, “What have you done?” He turned his fury on Clarissa, grabbing her forearm and shaking her.

“Enough!” Caspian growled, ripping Clarissa from Maclom’s grasp and hiding her behind him, “What are you doing?”

“She’s my mate and I’ll do what I please!” Malcolm growled in return.

“She’s a woman and she has rights! She’s not a toy created for your amusement.” Caspian snarled.

“She’s my mate. That’s exactly what she is.” Malcolm scoffed.

Caspian gapped at him in astonishment.

“How can you say that? How can you believe that after watching our parents and grandparents?” Caspian shook his head at Malcolm.

“What do you care?” Malcolm said with a look of boredom.

“I care because a woman is sobbing in your bedroom thinking that you’re going to turn her into the royal mistress. I care because I just told her to reject your ass and leave you.” Caspian said, crossing his powerful arms over his chest.

“You did what?” Malcolm seethed, “You wouldn’t dare?” He turned his dark look on Clarissa.

Clarissa looked like she was going to pee her pants or pass out.

“Do not threaten her!” Caspian shouted.

“You need to mind your own damn business!” Caspian yelled back.

“This is why you were so pissed about the rogues thing. You're pissed that you’re mated to a rogue.” Caspian said,

“It’s not a rogue's place to be mated to a prince.” Malcolm said matter-of-factly.

Caspian stared at his brother, hardly recognizing him anymore.

“Clarissa?” He looked at the she-wolf shaking behind him.

Clarissa sighed and stepped away from Caspian, moving towards Malcolm.

“Prince Malcolm is my mate, my place is wherever he wants me.” She said with a submissive look.

Malcolm grinned proudly and roughly pulled her to his side.

“That’s a good girl.” He purred.

Caspian looked between them and then turned away in disgust, slamming the door behind him.