AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Regent Bors Journal
The crown should always have been mine. My brother and his bitch were incapable of ruling these sniveling wolves properly. If you don’t show them who’s in charge, they will walk all over you.
I thought we’d kept the undamaged of the twins, but as Janis’s hearing fades it’s difficult to hide her limitations from my followers. They are the only ones who matter, the loyal handful who helped me put down her weak, sniveling parents and make way for me to rule as regent. I would have preferred to get rid of both the girls and take the crown as king, but there was a feeling among the group that if we did that, it would look suspicious.
How it could have looked more suspicious than the adults torn to bits, one daughter gone and the other too terrified to tell anyone—we made sure of that—I’ll never know. By the time she was old enough to defy me, it had been too long. Who would have believed her loving uncle who made sure she was protected at all times from danger could have led such an insurrection?
Not that I ever expected Janis to be queen in more than name anyway, and most of the pack could care less whether she can hear them in human form or not. But those who agree with me that royalty should be perfect in every way are starting to say the princess we left in the woods for the wolves—the animal kind—to devour would have been a better choice. She was mute.
Rather, she is mute, and it turns out she’s alive. Some bleeding-heart pack took her in and kept her concealed from us. We’ve been sending mercenaries after her for some time now, both “official” to speak to the alpha and less official to kidnap her and drag her back here. Without success.
But how long can it take? She’s one young female with no power. My sources say she lives in a hovel in the woods. When we have her back, we’ll feed Janis to the local coyotes—in pieces. And our speechless queen can smile and nod and obey me unless she wants the same fate to come to her.
The high council has sent word they are coming soon for a visit. This almost never happens, but our little kingdom is a model among packs that govern in an entirely different way. I shall have to make sure that they see how well I am handling the poor queen’s subjects for her. If her hearing continues to deteriorate, she will be completely deaf soon, and surely they will recognize the need for me to remain in place despite the fact she’s reached her majority.
Perhaps we won’t even need to replace her. If we cannot get her sister here, Janis may just fall ill. It happens…perhaps a few hints to the high council that she’s been unwell off and on would help smooth the transition.
And King Bors has a nice ring to it.
Chapter One
Queen Janis
There was something going on in the palace. Despite my hearing being so limited, I had other ways of gaining information. I could read lips and, when in wolf form, communicate with at least some of those around me. Including my maid, Candice, who risked her own safety by hiding in alcoves and closets, listening outside doors, and generally finding out everything she could I needed to know.
Truth be told, she was probably my best friend at this point.
And at least so far I was not deaf, just, the healers say, hearing impaired. With a prognosis of eventual total loss. Some days better than others, but a definite slant toward less abilities over the past several years.
Despite wearing the crown, I wasn’t a real queen. Uncle Bors, the regent, made all the decisions about how the country was run, and any objections from me, the poor little queen who couldn’t hear very well were swept under the rug. Oh, they brought me out, Uncle and his “advisors,” and sat me on the throne in crown and robe, scepter in my hand, but only long enough to show the peasants and nobles that I live, that they hadn’t done away with me like the rest of my family. Not that the people knew that happened. Then I was sent off to bed with milk and cookies like an infant. I attended no meetings of any import, just received updates whose truth I doubted.
They never agreed with the reports Candace gave me when we shifted for exercise in the courtyard or one of the walled gardens. Because obviously I couldn’t be let out to run the woods. Who knew what dangers could await me?
How amusing. The only real danger lay within. Bors and his henchman, to give them their proper name, had murdered the rest of my family. Then they terrified my little five-year-old self into not telling anyone what I saw. It’s not hard to scare a small child, after all. Especially one already suffering from shock as I was. And I could hear well then. The snarls of the attacking wolves, the screams of my sister as she was taken off to be killed as well. My parents’ cries, inhuman in their agony. Those sounds remain unchanged in my mind.
And my vision is and was perfect. When the wolves moved back, I saw what they left of my parents. It still haunted my nightmares from which I awakened screaming every night. No doubt that contributed to rumors of my unfitness. How long before they made all this the truth? The unfit queen who would have to be removed from the throne for her own good and that of the people. I had no idea why it hadn’t already happened. The only reason I didn’t try to leave, even if it cost me my life, was the stories Candace brought me of those who lived beyond the palace walls. Bors was beggaring the kingdom, stuffing his own coffers until those who relied upon us had no choice but to leave or starve. And the penalty for leaving, if one was caught?
Death of course.
Helplessness swarmed me. Even as a little girl, I was aware of what good rulers my parents were, how loved by the people. Whenever we went out, they cheered and called out good wishes, and often ran up to press little gifts of flowers or baked goods into their hands. My parents held court several times a week when anyone could come with their requests or comments even. Regent Bors had no such court hours scheduled.
He was overheard by Candace to say, “Who cares what they want to whine about?”
Our kingdom was in trouble in so many ways, and, as their queen, it was my responsibility to make things better. To take care of our people and see to their welfare. Their pain shredded me. I had no excuses. As queen, my duty was clear. My people’s pain my eternal shame…
These thoughts were nothing new. With little to do with my time, I spent most of it trying to find a way out of the cage containing me. Not for myself, but for those who thought I was behind their misery. With every right. I had tried everything, over the years, including secreting letters out to the high council, but my messengers never returned, and I feared I’d sent them to their deaths as well. Since those attempts, my contacts were severely limited, and possibilities seemed nonexistent. Candace was never let off the grounds either.
I stared out the window of my tower bedroom, the fallow fields and vacant homes beyond the palace walls breaking me even more. My people deserved a strong queen who took care of them. Protected them from those who sought to harm them. Made sure the hungry got food, the children had a real education. Someone who didn’t take every last coin they earned and leave them in poverty. Not that I had their coins, but how would they know that? And why did it matter? I didn’t make it stop. I would have been crying, but I had no more tears. They’d dried up years before.
Something butted against my leg, and I looked down to see Candace’s white muzzle tipped up to me. She had something to tell me.
Quickly stripping off my gown and chemise, kicking my shoes aside, I shifted. I could read lips, and since I’d been hearing for most of my childhood I spoke well, I believed, but the process was slower, and for critical communications, there was only one way.
Mind to mind.
We curled together on the hard stone floor, nose to nose.Speak. What has happened?
