Slave to Destiny

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“What on earth happened to you hair?” Tina shrieked upon me entering the slave quarters that night. She had been lying bored out of her skull staring at the empty bunk bed hanging over head.

A sly grin graced my lips as I replied, “You’ll see soon enough. Do you like it?” Tina nodded her head enthusiastically in response while the other girls that were rooming with us stared eyes wide. Was it mildly pathetic that even after all this time I didn’t know their names? They hardly ever spoke unless they spoke amongst themselves in faint whispers.

“So it’s true,” a girl only slightly younger than me muttered glaring at me. Her eyes were full of so much malice and hate I could barely comprehend what was being said. How could something so tiny and frail be so angry?

“What’s true?” I asked perplexed.

The girl laughed. It was a bitter and repulsive sound that suited her in no way. “What? You don’t know what everyone has been saying? You’re a whore. You are disgrace to even believe you deserve to sleep here,” her words were harsh without the slightest bit of sympathy. I was so shocked I could mutter a word. She continued, “Everybody knows you’re shacking it up with Master Cole and Mister Daniel.”

Tina pounced in on my defense, “Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” I gave her a grateful glance but remained silent. What was I supposed to say? I’m not a whore because I’m a princess in disguise and I love Cole. Oh yeah and Daniel and I are just friends. Yeah that would go over well.

“Come on Gabby,” Tina muttered grasping ahold of my wrist and dragging me out of the room. It seemed I’d been becoming increasingly distant from my room down in the slave quarters. To be honest it never suited me. Heck it should never have suited anyone. Silently we walked side by side through the corridors. I’d learned my lesson about wandering the halls and took the opportunity to walk right out of the castle onto the grounds.

Tina stared warily up at me, “Are we aloud to do this?” I shrugged my shoulders in response and led her towards the rows of bloody roses. In a strange twisted way they comforted me. They were so simple, beautiful, and peaceful. They symbolized love and passion. It’s funny how fine the line is between love and hate. I’m not saying they are the same thing, they definitely aren’t. I’m just saying they both require a large amount of intensity. In order to hate someone you have to care about them. Whether it’s you caring how they die or how karma gets them back. In some way you care.

“These are beautiful,” Tina whispered plopping down on the grass staring at the thorny bushes. I took a seat down next to her. It was very late in the night. Everyone was long passed out in their designated rooms. Except for the few guards meandering the halls looking for new scents they didn’t recognize. Given the fact that the castle was full of people, they were practically useless.

“When was the last time you saw daylight?” I asked her curiously as I laid back on the lush green grass staring up in the sky.

Tina thought for a moment. It saddened me that she would have to think so hard. Humans thrived in the sun, and wolves could too if they chose. “I think it has been a few years,” she muttered, “probably the day I was taken.”

It never occurred to me how little I knew about my human friend. She was a feisty wild child and loyal to the core. “I want to see the sun,” I muttered looking up at the night sky glittered with stars, “I think I’m going to stay awake.”

A slight grin appeared on Tina’s face at the thought. So we waited for the sun to break the horizon. We watched the shimmering orange, pink, and yellow sun rise. It was a glorious sight to behold. We watched as the sun broke over the line of bushes and hung over head. My loyalties would always lie with moon for she was my Night Mother, but as I watched her brother the sun I felt a connection. They were yin and yang, love and hate, and peace and war all mixed together in one twisted, painful cycle.

Silent tears slid down Tina’s face as the sun disappeared an hour later leaving us once again in darkness. “What’s wrong?” I asked her worry lacing my words.

“I miss it all so much,” she cried out suddenly wrapping her arms around my frail body in a hug, “You’re all I have.” Her words sunk in leaving me with a feeling of pain in the pit of my stomach. I needed to change things. Social reform was the only option the Otherworld has left.

That night Tina fell asleep next to me on the grass between the rows of bloody rose bushes. It felt comforting feeling the nice warm breeze that didn’t quite fit with winter. Of course I’d never accuse the Night Mother of having anything to do with the weather. She would never impose herself on my life like that, right? A small grin graced my lips as I slept under the giant golden orb in the sky.

Tomorrow, or should I say today, everything was going to change. Cole would either kill me or join my side in the bloody fight for reform. For whatever reason I no longer feared what could or would happen. Death would never scare me really, only life without love, happiness, and pack could scare me. Oh did I miss my pack. Running loose with the animal inside of me completely free was the thing I missed most about the past. We could run for hours in the forest never feeling alone, scared, or rejected. One day the world would be my pack.