Slave to Destiny

Light, fluffy, virgin snow enveloped the ground surrounding the castle. The night I earned my Kingdom was the night winter started. My body was engulfed with thick layers of clothing when I wandered outside that morning a grin playing on my lips. Winter had always been something I cherished. Something about running around in the snow as a wolf was completely relaxing and wild. “There you are,” a voice called out behind me.

Slowly I turned around only to see Cole standing there a few feet away. Tiny snowy flakes fluttered down from the sky landing in his thick chocolate colored hair. The cold didn’t seem to bother him much considering he was merely wearing a thin black sweater, jeans, and a forest green scarf. “Hi,” I mumbled grinning before darting towards him and wrapping my arms around his neck in a hug.

His response was to lift my tiny frame up off the ground and spin me around in circles. “So what do we have planned for today?” I asked him resting my head on his chest while staring out over the horizon.

“You mean, what does Daniel have planned for us? Well I believe we need to sign a couple documents freeing the slaves. It was just a guess, but we suspected you wanted that. Also we get to meet with the joyful wedding planner, Claudia. I believe she’s been in charge of all royal weddings in the last thousand or so years. A bit of a kook that one is,” Cole rambled off to me.

Who knew running a country would require so much effort? I did, but still what happened to lazy days?

Within the hour I found myself cooped back up in the office meeting with a few royal advisors going over the impending plans. It bothered me that all the advisors that stood before me were rich aristocratic vampires, talk about diversity. “How could we possibly free the slaves? They know no other life,” one of the advisors, Sir Roger, attempted to delude me. There was a group of nearly twenty of them and virtually none of them were rubbing me the right way.

In response he was met by a steady glare from me. My people all used to be slaves asshole. Daniel grinned upon hearing my outraged thoughts. Anyone else that looked upon the situation would merely find me bored or annoyed with the man, not sending him mental profanities. Cole spoke up, “We will be freeing the slaves. If the wolves could manage just find with servants, we can as well. The only problem we really have is how we are going to deal with the humans. They are a necessity as we all know.”

He did have a very valid point. Now that half my people’s population drink blood, we needed to find a source. “Perhaps I could be of service,” another advisor stepped in, “We deal with the humans we have here now in whatever way we feel fit, and my company and I can provide the population with blood. We could open up a blood bank in the human world, take donations, and feed the people.” Upon looking at the man I noted he was in fact Sir Tucker, the one that Daniel had pointed out at the dinner last night.

I thought about the idea. It seemed reasonable enough. I looked over at Cole and Daniel for their opinions. A slight shake in Cole’s head indicated a yes for him, and Daniel’s lips openly curved up in a slight smile. “I think that would be a wonderful idea,” I told him offering up a charming smile, “Perhaps you should assemble the company, and we can put the plans in motion.”

Sir Tucker looked rather pleased by the outcome, but he was alone. He stepped forward and grabbed ahold of my hand before placing his lips right on it. I’d seen it done before, but never to me. The other advisors stood quiet with looks that hinted ever so slightly that they were not happy.

To everyone’s surprise I continued, “Another thing I would like to address is our lack of diversity in advisors,” I watched the whole lot of them squirm under my eye, “If half the population is now wolves I believe we need our advisors to reflect that percentage.” Cole smirked beside me. Was it cruel to already be toying with the rich elderly vampires on the first day of the job? Probably.

It was at this moment that the office door swung open revealing the darling prince Edmund. Everyone had agreed fairly easily that it was in the Otherworld’s best interest that he step down from his kingly position. “Gabby!” he squealed, “Come and play with me.”

The advisors looked horrified as the child ran into the room and plopped himself down on my lap. Without hesitation I wrapped my arms around his tiny waist and turned my attention back to the advisors. Another thing to note I realized, is that I’m the only female in the room. Excellent, we not only have prejudice against wolves, but females too.

“Is there any other business to attend to?” Cole asked glancing over at me with a smile.

There was no extremely pressing matter we could deal with today. Most of my future objectives would require legislation and time, and I wanted new advisors for it. Plus with a squirming child on my lap I had trouble focusing. “I believe that is it for today,” I told him standing up and picking Edmund up in my arms. “Ready?” I asked Cole.

Ten minutes later I found myself back out in the snow attempting, and failing, at building a snowman with Edmund. It was a pretty pathetic big, white blob of slushy snow. “Excuse me,” a voice called out from behind me. I turned around and peered at the woman who stood before me. Her long blond hair was twisted in a bun, glasses sat on the edge of her nose, and she was adorning a pinstripe suit. Something looked very off about her.

“Your highness, my name is Claudia. We need to begin planning the wedding.”

Damn.