Morwen
I’ve never been in a castle before.
And, boy, it’s a sight to see. The surrounding village, the guards, the wolves walking freely… I’m so amazed as I watch one incredible sight after another from the wagon that I forget to be scared.
We roll over the stone bridge under an arch that has a huge snarling wolf head carved on it and continue toward the giant castle.
It’s enormous. Several tall stone towers hover over gorgeous fountains and statues of past Wolf Kings everywhere you look.
I wonder if the castles of men are this grand. This imposing. This spectacular.
The courtyard of the castle reminds me of life in our village with the children running around playing. They look happy and normal, although some are in their wolf forms, which is a strange sight to see.
The males are larger than our human men and the women look just as tough as our best warriors. I pity the humans a century ago who had to run into battle against these beasts armed with only a bit of light armor and an iron sword. They must have died by the hundreds of thousands. Millions even.
I spot a young female shifter with her pup, smiling and laughing as the baby nibbles on her finger. It’s such a nice, tender moment that it makes me question everything I’ve heard about the wolves.
Since we were young, we humans heard all sorts of warnings and tall tales about the vicious wolf shifters… How they devour their own babies and battle constantly with each other. How they have nothing but hate and violence in their cruel hearts.
But as I watch them interacting, I see laughter and love and mischief and normal people wanting to get by, just like us humans.
Maybe we have more in common than the kings of this world want us to believe.
We roll up to the stone castle and head into one of the gigantic towers. They usher us off the wagon and lead us into a vast room—a room as large as a farm field. I look around in awe. I’m in disbelief that a room can be this large. You must be able to fit five thousand of my tiny cabins in here.
There are hundreds of human women waiting inside, some crying, some looking terrified, a few crowded together, huddling for security and warmth. All of them wishing for home.
“There’s hot food in that room over there,” the wolf shifter leader of our group says to us. We picked up several more women on our trip back, and to his credit, he treated each of us like royal ladies. Although I don’t know how much credit a kidnapper deserves. “Garderobes and water are available over there. I suggest you all get fed and make yourselves lookpresentable. The Vocatio Regia will commence after the king’s dinner.”
He nods at us and leaves, his men following close behind.
“Come,” I say, taking Lyris’ hand. “Let’s get some food. We’ll be able to better handle tonight’s event with a full belly.”
She doesn’t want to go, but I force her.
I know from experience—everything is always worse when you’re starving.
Almost all of the women try to make themselves look uglier. They mess up their hair, cover up their bodies, and one girl even smears animal grease all over her face.
No one wants to get chosen by the barbarous Wolf King.
“I heard he has a body like a man with the head of a wolf,” Lyris whispers, her voice trembling as we wait in line to go into the royal throne room.
The girl in front of us turns around, looking like she might be sick with fright. “I heard he bites the heads off his wives after ravaging them. That’s why he needs so many.”
“There are over a thousand women here,” I say, looking around. There must be. “The chances of being picked are quite low.”
Especially for me. No king in his right mind would choose a twenty-eight-year-old, over-the-hill woman, when there are pretty, fertile girls in this very room who can breed more of his heirs.
“But the chance is still there,” Lyris says, looking up at me with her big brown eyes full of fear.
She’s right, so I don’t try to argue. I just take her hand and hold it.
Wolf shifter guards are walking up and down the line of terrified girls, eyes checking for weapons or anything suspicious.
“The Vocatio Regia will commence,” a guard near the door yells.
Screams of fear and ripples of terror travel through the vast room. I look at one girl sobbing, and I wish these damn wolves would just leave us alone.
