Chapter 4

“You need to be more and more careful during the course of this summit, Synthia. Because this is one of the biggest incidents of your life. Like almost it is going to make or break your entire life. You do understand that right?” asked Drima and I nodded at her but her words were not having their intended effect on me.

I was thinking about something else altogether and Luke knew that. He said,” You need to ask Drima to give you a moment of peace and calm. Continuously badgering you is not going to help you boost your morale.”

“Well Drima, I am thinking of something. Can you get ahold of Sera? I mean, there is something which feel wrong and does not sit right with me,” I said and Drima looked at me for a moment. She could understand that I was doing this so that she would stop talking. I could not tell her straight away that I needed a bit of time to myself but she was too sensitive to ask me anything more.

“I am going to try and get in touch with her as soon as possible. But I don’t think she would be reachable. In the meanwhile you should get some rest as well. The Summit starts in two hours. I shall come and get you up before thirty minutes so that you have enough time to get prepped and be ready,” said Drima and I nodded in her direction.

“You should get some sleep,” she said before closing the doors behind her.

I sighed and looked around at the room. This room was the one where I had always stayed in since I was a young child. This room was in the same floor as the Queen Henrietta’s bed chambers. It was a large country house, a mansion, ornate in it's architecture and splendid in it's gardens. The queen had taken a liking to it since it was more homely than her castle and she chose to spend to much time there that they began to describe it as a palace. The sculptures in front of the palace had been made long ago by masters of the craft. They were set on pedestals amid the water of the fountains and the perfectly manicured hedges that looked like different animals. I loved looking at them and moving around in the gardens. It was a place of relief for me but right now…..

“You are restless,” said Luke as I looked at the direction the voice. It was not in my head but rather coming from the man standing in front of me. He had a white toweling robe on him as he came forward and I patted the bed beside me. Luke was the only thing from my childhood who had always been with me like a steady wall of support.

“You usually don’t like coming in human form, then why suddenly today?” I asked as he sat down and the mattress pressed down slightly because of the weight.

“Today is not every single day. It is a special day and Drima was wearing you down,” said Luke and I looked at his handsome face. I had never really focused on how he looked before but today we were alone and we were sitting too close and I could not help it.

It had been too busy to get a good look at them before, but his eyes were seriously blue. Almost sickeningly blue - full on Prince Charming, field of cornflower, perfect, cloudless sky blue. Someone should name a crayon after the guy. I felt like I was drowning in them and the flecks of green in the midst of those baby blue made it look even more enchanting than they already were.

His eyes were a perfect spring sky, his mind clear and his smile warmer than the gentle sun.

As I watched him, Luke took a strand of my dark hair which had strayed loose from the braided crown and then tucked it behind my ear. He was dangerously close and I could feel his breath on my skin. I did not know why I got goosebumps rising on my entire skin.

“Do you remember the day that I arrived to you?” asked Luke, still close and making no motion of going away.

“How can I forget? It was my third birthday, and I was the only one heiress whose familiar had arrived earlier than everyone else. Queen Henrietta personally came to see the small wolf cub who had come for me,” I replied with a smile of my own. It was one of my most pleasant memories I had from my childhood.

“Well that is because you needed me more a lot than the others. They are not destined for greatness, Sin. You are. You have a life to spend ahead of you where you have to understand that there will be a lot of sacrifices you have to make. When I was chosen for you, I knew that you will be the perfect monarch that our people need,” said Luke and his words filled me with a calming warmth which spread in pools through my belly and then covered my chest.

“I don’t know if I can be what you are telling me. I don’t even know if I am ready for becoming the Queen,” I said. I knew that this was only my anxiety speaking and this was the day that I had waited and trained my whole life for but still it did nothing to assuage my fears.

“Oh you are going to win..that is for sure. Do you know why you are special and none of the other heiresses are?” asked Luke and I nodded my head saying no.

“Because you are the only one with a familiar who can shape-shift into a full human and none of the other heiresses have that. Not even Queen Henrietta did. This is an information which needs to be kept secret until and unless the right time is there to reveal it,” said Luke as he caught hold of my wrist and upturned it and then placed a kiss on the underside.

All it leaves is a little wet mark; a shallow pool of saliva on my hand. But when he plants the kiss there I feel warmth spread through my limbs and my mind feels a pleasant buzz. Every good thing seems possible, likely even. And then I know I've found what I've been looking for, someone to show me what it means to be happy from the inside out, so my smile can be real and not a mask.

What I did not know at that point of time was that my familiar had an aphrodisiac in his saliva which would affect only me and no one else and he had changed his form so that all the sick anxiety that I was holding on to and it gradually drained away. I had been hearing and seeing death since morning and now I wanted nothing more than to sleep.

“Come, I will help you open your shoes and you can sleep,” said Luke as I looked at him drowsily.

“Why do I need to open my shoes?” I asked him as I could not help my eyelids from closing down.

“Because you won’t get bad dreams then,” said Luke as I could feel that after opening my shoes he lay down beside me and I caught hold of me spooning me. It was warm and a comfortable feeling and exactly what I needed. I had a dreamless sleep for about more than hour when the smell of cheese and bacon wafted to my nose and I woke up with a start.

“Yeah!! That is what I thought! The only way to wake you up without any sound is to bring you food,” said Drima as I came down from the bed and rushed to the dining table in the room where there was an assortment of all my favourite kinds of food. A cheese plate with ham and cheese pocket, there was roast beef and baked in molten cheese and all other kinds of gooyey goodness. This was like dream comfort food.

“You knew that I am hungry?” I asked as I sat down on the chair and took a plate. There was more than enough food for ten human beings but since wolves had a higher metabolic rate they needed to eat a lot of protein as well. If I was hungry then all the members of my Guard would be hungry too.

“I know this that I am aware that you get angry when you are hungry and you need to keep your calm during the summit. So you will eat as much required to keep your mind sharp and brain focused,” said Drima.

“If I am this much hungry then everyone will be too. Call them in, I want to talk to them,” I said as Drima nodded and then went out for a moment. Luke had by then changed back into a wolf. He was a majestic creature in his wolf form.

“Moving into the morning light is a wolf. She is a white-silver, fur glossy and thick. Her paws kiss the earth with a lightness and there is a serenity in her gaze. I stay still, for if I move she will take flight into the trees. I breathe slow and let time slow down, taking photographs with only my eyes. Perhaps tonight I will dream of being as free as she, out here with nature. That was the first time that I had seen you change and no one else aware that you did that,” said Deke once they all settled down and I looked at him in surprise.

“You are a fiercely loyal and extremely powerful creature as well as a human, Sin. Don’t worry, you got this,” he said and I was filled with profound sadness at the death of all my pack members once again. But I knew this as well that if I was not the Queen then I would never be able to enact the revenge against who ever did this. So now I was sure, everything was in place and now all I needed to do was to show those old bastards that they were not supposed to hog the Alpha power for their own strength.

“I know one thing that the Council is not supposed to be doing a lot of things which they are doing and we need to do a lot of things which we are not allowed to do and now the only thing that is in my hands is winning this goddamned Summit and claiming the throne for the Red Hearts Pack again just like it is supposed to happen,” I said and all of them cheered.

“Say it,” Drima reminded me.

“I am going to kick everyone’s ass at the Summit. I am going to win the Summit. I am going to be the Queen of Wolves,” I said out loud and all of my pack cheered and Luke emitted a happy howl. Drima had already selected the dress that I was going to wear. We had no idea what was going to be the first contest so I had to wear something which would give me room to maneuver in case I had to move anywhere and it would hamper my ability to fight.

I was wearing a black pantsuit with a slit on my thigh side which would give me the chance to remove the daggers from my thigh in case it was necessary. And even though I did not like it, Drima made me wear my heels. It was the first contest and I needed to look the part of the Queen that I was aiming to be. When it came to royalty glamour was as much important as was efficiency.

Finally I wore the jacket with the symbol of my Pack embroidered on it and proceeded towards the Great Hall.