Whispers of a new wolf king spread like wildfire through the halls of Princess Lilith’s palace. She couldn’t walk anywhere without hearing something about him. Sometimes the faerie princess wished she could forget her betrothed. Her first meeting with him was unpleasant enough. He was barbaric, but what can you expect from such a creature, really?

  She strolled past a huddle of maids with more news of him on their lips. In the battles for who would take the empty throne, John had defeated all his rivals, killing most of them and successfully becoming king. How unfortunate. She had hoped that when his father died, he would become a commoner and cling so desperately to her that he wouldn’t know what to do with himself.

  Although the news upset her, she was more bothered by his new power. Men and power weren’t a great mix. She needed to find a leverage she can use against him, preferably before they became newlyweds. That would be horrific. But where would she find this information?

  Entering her bedchambers, she rung for her lady’s maid, Erin.

  “Can you tell Isaac I wish to see him?”

  “Yes, Your Highness, right away.” Erin curtsied, quickly exiting.

  A while later, Isaac entered with a cheery smile. “Your Highness asked to see me?”

  “Yes, I want you to report to me everything that happens in the wolf kingdom. Pay close attention to word of their new king. Anything harming would do.”

  In the coming weeks, Lilith learned more about the things that happened under her future betrothed’s rule and she felt sick to her stomach. Corruption wasn’t enough to express the horrors she heard of. If Isaac was to be believed and she was positive he was, then that meant these wolves sold orphaned pups. Some would even slaughter the family and take the pups to be auctioned off immediately. The women were now the rape victims, bound up with clipped ears and they weren’t allowed a moment’s rest without the threat of their pup’s safety on the line. The men weren’t much safe either.

  “Princess, I was informed that those targeted are from a different class as the perpetrators. Your—” He cleared his throat. “Their king has passed laws to ensure this type of behavior is excused.”

  King John wrote an edict, sanctifying his lineage to the title, King of Alphas, forever. It was the beginning of a reign of terror. The mistreatment of Betas began sporadically at first and increased over time. John, who she imagined was a man filled with arrogance and just as much greed as his past opponents, abandoned his fellow wolves to this cruel fate that he and his pompous ‘Alphas’ orchestrated and trapped them in.

  The following year, Isaac reported John went as far as making laws to hinder Betas from becoming Alphas or rising among the ranks of his soldiers or the men of his court. He therefore issued another edict sentencing anyone to death who tried. He had a deep hatred for Betas; he believed them to be weaker by blood and a burden he had to put up with. John enjoyed being surrounded by Alphas. He liked the way they groveled at his feet. He enjoyed the power he had over the powerful. Lilith had heard enough of her kinsmen telling her how much they wanted to get rid of her and how quickly.

  “Oh, princess, your marriage is in a month’s time. Aren’t you so excited?”

  To which she frequently replied, “No. How could one be happy about marrying a mutt?”

  These people were so happy to see her gone and made such a fuss about it that her father told her the king requested a week-long celebration before the wedding.

  This was the best way or so her parents kept repeating. And once again, no one is here to stand in her defense. She favored words like fight, resist but none came from anyone of import. There were no commands for her to stay. No reversal to the marriage agreement. Even after all that she had found, she didn't think she could use any of it against him. If anything, it made him stronger. More difficult to challenge. Instead, she was to be married off to that abrasive king to abandon the place she belonged. Earlier her mother felt the need to assure her that she would feel like she belonged once she was married. Did belonging suddenly enable her to breathe fire? Perhaps she might spew fire, to and fro, destroying kingdoms like the wolves and widow herself? What just to fit in? To be accepted?

  Having been born with the gift of divination, she regretted not shuffling her cards on the day of her kidnapping. Not that it would reveal anything yet, but it brought her solace in thinking she had some control over where her life went. She resented her naivety at believing security was anything but an illusion. She saw all the atrocities of the Alphas and the king.

  Most of her days spent in captivity were filled with her reading tarot for a way out of the trap or even divining the king's weakness would have helped her, but one day she drew the Fool and the World—cards that represented a new birth. She was overwhelmed, thinking her gods were offering her a chance at freedom. She thought she would be freed except she was pregnant.

  In the years following, she planned and bided her time, raising her son to be a compassionate and just ruler, the complete contrast to his father's disgusting and oftentimes willful ignorance.

  What she read in her cards encouraged her and fueled her with determination to build a better life for the wolves, particularly, the Betas. The Betas were a way for her to weaken her captor, steal them from under his oppression and create a new future with freedom for them and her. This reality never came to fruition, and nothing in her fate anticipated a revolution so Lilith did what she’d never done before. She took her fate into her own hands, granting herself the freedom she’d starved for.

  ***

  Present

  Her dad turned around from the driver’s seat and asked, “Are you excited to see your uncle, Jackie?”

  She nodded with a small giggle, the five-year-old excited for the trip.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Lazarus, her brother bumped her shoulder with his. “You don’t even know him. What makes you so happy, huh?”

  “Sooo? Least I know what an uncle are.”

  “You mean, what an uncle is. You’re still a baby. What do babies know?”

  “Babies know lots like what uncles is.”

  “It’s are this time. Of course, you wouldn’t know that because you’re a baby and I’m not.”

  Pouting over being a baby and not being able to change it, Jackie drew up her fists. Just as she was about to sock him in his shoulder, their mom’s stern look caught her eye in the rear-view mirror.

  “Jackie,” her mom said in a chiding voice, giving her the coldest stare she’d seen her make. “What did you tell Mommy before we left?”

  “I said I was going to behave. Be a good girl.”

  “And what else?”

  “I said I wouldn’t hit Laz,” she said in a tiny voice. “But he be starting it with me. He called me a baby, Mommy. And Mommy said I’m a big girl.”

  “Right and do big girls hit their brothers?”

  A pout returning to her lips, she answered, “...no. They listen to their mommies and don’t get in trouble.”

  “Leave her alone,” her father murmured, his ebony hand patting her mom’s gray jean-covered thigh.

  Her mom folded her lips inward.

  “We’re almost there, Jacks.”

  Jackie started to bounce in her seat. “I’m gonna get a uncle,” she sang on repeat, kicking the back of her dad’s seat.

  “You like him that much?”

  “Mmhm.”

  “What do you like about him?”

  “Daddy said he fought beside him in the dragon war. Bad dragons.” Jackie deepened her high-pitched intonations in an attempt to mimic her father’s storytelling baritone. “The legenddiary Emieson Lyman, feesome warrior, draws his sword to take down the bad dragon army set on removing our existing from the world.” She balled her fists again and thrust it in the air. “He made it so Mommy and Daddy can have Jackie. So let’s hurry, hurry, hurry. We gotta get there and meet him.”

  The drive lasted a moment longer, her father pulled off to the side of the asphalt pavement, helping his little girl unbuckle her seatbelt.

  She threw her arms up for him to reach down and cuddle her into his arms, her face snug under his chin.

  Her mother and Laz came around the car to them. She shook her head, muttering about her father still treating her like a baby.

  Laz grinned at her whispered comments.

  Hearing this, Jackie lifted her head from her father’s chest and asked to get down. When her feet met the asphalt, she ran toward her brother and pushed him.

  Caught off guard, he stumbled back until he tripped over a pebble and onto his butt.

  Jackie pointed and laughed at him.

  “What you gonna do, cry about it?” she asked.

  With a triumphant huff, she thrust her chin up and made a sharp turn, skipping into the woods. She didn't register her mom’s shocked gasp and yelling remarks on her misbehavior. The child was in her own world and loving it.

  She tracked the silent seemingly hidden predators in the woods. A rufous fox slowed its prowling, watching her. She tested her growl on it. Giving a high-pitched giggle when it turned on its tail and ran.

  Her next victim was a bobcat with a squirming yellow-spotted salamander hanging from its jaws. Its sharp feline gaze scanned behind her, dropped its captured prey and fled with a sonorous whine on its lips.

  Her mother pulled her up by the scruff of her neck, cutting her giggling short.

  “Jacqueline, that is enough. Your uncle is this way.”

  She dropped her. When she did, she spread the child’s fingers and lined them up with hers before closing them in her grip.

  The awkward, rapid, and jerky movements kept Jackie’s lips sealed for a while. Her focus returned to her new uncle—the brave warrior who had saved her family.

  After a short trek into the woods, a simple wooden boat appeared floating on the edge of the river. The crickets chirring grew louder as she raised her hand to cover her eyes from the beaming sun, a small grin on her lips.

  Her gaze locked onto Laz’s face and saw his cypress cheeks shining. The white sun rays landed on the verdant bushes, falling over the monster-sized tree trunks beside her when she walked. Rustling sounds darted in and out of the flora. The thick shrubbery shaken by each passing animal. There were strangely so many: white-tailed deer, wood hares, groundhogs, and moose—all prey, fleeing.

  Her father sailed them across the stream deeper into the forest. Its winding watery path seemed endless. Whenever they came to a bend, the towering trees on the banks appeared to be closing in on them. She feared they might tumble down and collapse, but away they sailed on and on, over more bends and past more trees.

  The mist over the water, thickening into fog as her father bowed the oars less and less.

  Soon enough, they each stepped from the boat and walked a few miles until they reached a place where she caught sight of her reflection staring back at her. Curious, she drew near.

  Suddenly, she stood before a massive mirror and as she crept toward its reflective surface, there was such a strong pull she wasn't sure if it came from within her or from the mirror, every fiber of her being beckoned her further.

  She watched her smile widen, her insides jump as she ambled forward, thrusting her chest out—an offering to be absorbed into its shimmering depths. Her thoughts strayed from the reason they had come and onto what lay beyond the mirror.

  “Oh no, you don't,” her mother said, snatching the little pup into her arms, stealing the air from her tiny lungs. “Don’t you ever go near this place again, do you hear me?”

  Her tone was sharp and final.

  She nodded, some semblance of wakefulness returning to her. Why were they there again? She was so distracted by this thought that she didn't register when she was placed on the ground again.

  “Emerson, my brother, my friend, how have you been…” Her father’s voice tampered off, answering her internal question. Oh, uncle. Right. She peeked out from behind her mother’s legs to see the legenddiary, Emieson. The hero from her bedtime stories. The dragon slayer.

  She frowned at his appearance.

  The scrawny man loomed with hunched shoulders, everywhere her eyes roamed, there were bruises. Blood leaked from his bruised cheek as he gave her father a vacant stare. His long arms dangled, one was bent in an odd angle like it hung from a loosening string.

  Her mother rushed to her brother’s side and embraced him, a sob coming from her throat.

  The intense metallic aroma wafting off him called to Jackie’s inner beast. Her mind drifted toward rampage and chaos. Laz’s hand went up and blocked her view of them, he pulled her away from their crying voices.

  When they moved farther away, her ears picked up an indiscernible murmur. The sound called out from the mirror, she turned her head around to see if anyone noticed.

  Laz’s attention was locked on the talking adults. She slipped back toward it in small steps so her brother wouldn't notice, until the voice became clear and she could hear what it was saying.

  Come to the barrier. Meet my champion. Meet my warrior. She will save me.

  The words repeated again.

  By then, her mother waved her hand behind her, reaching for the miscreant she had lost track of.

  Jackie walked within her mother’s reach and placed her hands back into her grip.