Slave to Destiny

Dinner tonight was different than before. It was held outside in the garden of bloody roses. It took hours for the slaves to set up the long tables, scarlet tents, and a stage for the live band. Mistress Abigail came up with the arrangement at the last minute. Evidently she was not pleased with King Edmund’s outburst and decided it would be best to have it outdoors where he would be able to run around with his friends. Theoretically it seemed like it would work, but one can never be too sure.

As I stood around watching Edmund, Kayli, and six or seven children play an intense game of tag I noticed that tonight there were absolutely no peasants only nobles. It wasn’t that surprising, last night had simply been a show. I watched grinning lightly as Edmund pranced around showing off to his young love, Kayli.

The nobles had taken up to chatting each other up until the dinner was served. An exhausted yawn escaped my lips as I glanced around looking for Cole. I couldn’t help but wonder if Cole was disgusted by Maria’s death like I was. When I was queen nobody would be executed for public pleasure. It was barbaric.

A child’s scream broke my wandering thoughts. I stared back in horror as King Edmund drew back his tiny fist and punched another child in the face. My eyes wandered to see Kayli crying clutching her knee on the freshly cut grass. “Don’t hurt her,” Edmund hissed approaching the boy.

Quickly I scampered over to the scene. The mindless chatter between nobles had come to a complete halt as they stared in horror at their young King. The one they had pledged allegiance to. It took instances of him acting out to realize that he was in fact a child to the core of his being. I grasped Edmund’s raised fist in my hand and let out a deep rough growl forcing my dominance into the situation. Edmund turned his head and looked up at me with his angry eyes.

“He tripped Kayli,” Edmund hissed swinging his arms wildly accidently smacking me in the process.

I growled again before yanking the wild child up into my arms caging him in my grasp. “Edmund you don’t hit people,” I muttered in a stern voice hoping nobody heard. The other child had taken the opportunity to run off towards his mother crying. It would be a confusing concept to punish the child. Do you kill him for upsetting the king? It was a humorous thought, but if Edmund was older that would be what would have been required. It was an awful idea to have a five year old king.

Mistress Abigail stormed through the crowd anger etched into her face. Her normal beauty was clouded with raw fury all directed at her nephew. She was not pleased in the least. As she stomped towards us Edmund’s face twisted from anger to fear as he clutched on to me for dear life. “Hand him over MUTT,” she hissed snatching the child right out of my arms before dragging him off.

I was hesitant to follow. Instead I bent down and pulled Kayli up off the ground. She looked absolutely adorable with her short blond hair and innocent blue eyes. Her tiny white dressed that was speckled with flowers had become dirt splattered. The pins that had one contained her hair in a twisted bun had long sense come loose allowing random free strands to frame her face. “Are you okay Kayli?” I asked her politely.

She tried to contain her sniffling as she replied, “Yes.” That was thing about children. They cried as if they were dying when they’d all but received a paper cut.

“Come on child, let’s find Blaire,” I whispered sticking out her hand. Upon Edmund’s dismissal at the hand of Abigail, the nobles had all turned back to their original discussions. Kayli smiled lightly at me as she took my hand allowing me to lead her as weaved in and out of the crowd looking for Blaire.

Naturally when we stumbled upon her she was talking to none other than Cole. He looked handsome as ever tonight. His thick brown hair was in complete disarray, but it fit him. His eyes were currently a pale red, which struck me as odd. Somebody wasn’t eating very well.

“Blaire, he tripped me!” Kayli had gone from perfectly normal to full fledged bawling. She took off running and smashed herself into Blaire’s body. It was amusing in a way. All she was doing was pining for attention from her big sister.

Blaire rolled her eyes, but lifted the child up in her arms anyway. “I’ll be back,” she explained to us semi-annoyed. Glancing at Cole in his nice, formal midnight colored suit, I couldn’t help but feel inferior in every way. It was degrading to know that here I was, a princess, and I was adorning rags and scars. Just don’t let it bother you. Those words were easy enough to think, but not so easy to feel. My wolf was not happy with the change as it eternally growled in contempt for being caged.

“So,” Cole mumbled glancing around for any onlookers, “I wanted to apologize.”

His word took me by surprise, “Why do you want to apologize? What could you possible have done wrong Master?” I asked him in the politest voice I could muster. Playing dumb seemed like the best approach I could take given the current circumstances.

My words were met with a roll of the eyes, and he grasped my slender, bony wrist. Quickly he jerked me off towards the surrounding woods away from the crowd of people all intermingling. Silently I stumbled behind him letting the trees engulf us. Finally after having walked for at least five minutes he turned to me and stared before saying in a quiet voice, “I freaked you out this morning. I was talking crazy. I’m sorry. I’m just nervous because I really like you, and that’s not how its supposed to be. I can’t help though.”

My breath was caught in my throat as I stared up at him.