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Although Seraphina didn’t react outwardly, I could smell her pheromones grow acrid, like burnt sugar and vinegar.
I found myself wanting to punch them in their smug faces as they exited, but I focused my attention on Seraphina. If I was her, I was sure I’d be either red-cheeked with anger and firing back, but the princess just sighed.
“I don’t suppose you could turn them into toads, could you?” she murmured, looking past me to somewhere outside the window to my right.
“It’s certainly tempting,” I said. Naturally, forcing an animal transformation on a cryptid was much more complicated, and took more power and skill, but it was nice to think about. “What’s going on? How can they just talk to you like that? You’re a princess.”
“The fact that I’m a princess is probably the one thing keeping me from being disowned and on the streets.” Theshocked expression on my face must have been a doozy, because the younger woman gave me a curious look. “Do you not know?”
“Know what?” I said, wondering what she could possibly say. Was she some serial killer? Did she have her own curse?
“I’m a latent wolf. When I was younger, they hoped I was just a late bloomer, that my wolf form would come eventually. But no, I’m long past puberty, and although I have heightened senses, healing, heat, and vulnerability to silver, I don’t have an inner wolf.”
I knew I was staring, but how could I not? I’d read about latent shifters plenty of times, but I’d never met one in person. It wasn’t easy being a latent anything: the poor cryptids who were shifters in every single way except having an animal form they could slide into. In the past, they were kicked out of packs or even killed, as they were believed to be a blight upon a community, but I’dthoughtpeople were educated enough now to realize it was just a genetic mutation, not a commentary on moral character.
I knew exactly what Kai meant now. His parents treated their youngest daughter differently because she couldn’t shift. Of all the bigoted, stupid, court-inane bullshit I ever heard, this had to be the worst.
What the absolute fuck?
I knew I was young, but I couldn’t imagine living a hard life, fighting to support my family, only to reject one of them over a detail that didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.
But Seraphina must have took my staring to mean something else entirely because she hurriedly continued. “I know I shouldn’t be complaining, because they didn’t strip me of my titles and basically let me do whatever I want around here, as long as I don’t make too much noise. I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful.”
As a soldier, I didn’t exactly have the cleanest mouth, but the amount of enraged, unhinged epithets I wanted to fling at the king and queen nearly overheated my brain.
They had a kind, sweet,lovelydaughter, who clearly loved her family and tried to do the best by them, but that wasn’t enough. Somehow, they’d brain washed her into beinggratefulthey hadn’t outright tossed her onto the street.
Oh, I was mad.
No, it was safe to say I’d skipped that and gone right over into what Darla liked to call “infuriated to the point of combustion”.
“Fuck.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I said fuck. You have every right to complain as much as you want. It’s disgusting that your parents treat you differently over something that doesn’t really matter. You deserve respect and love, whether you have an inner animal or not.”
“Oh, y-you can’t mean it,” Seraphina said, her eyes slightly teary. If it were a less serious situation, it would’ve been fun to watch the dark pink flush rise up her neck and spill onto her cheeks, but I couldn’t find any humor in the chronic abuse and neglect of someone who didn’t deserve it.
I took her hands in mine, letting down the walls which kept me safe. “Seraphina, I mean it down to the bottom of my soul. Anyone who cares about whether you can shift or not is not someone worth caring about. They’re bigoted, petty, and honestly tattling on themselves, and they’re a waste of space. You’rebrilliant, Seraphina. Both your brother and I know it.”
Her lower lips trembled a little, and I hated how affected she seemed by my kind words, because it made me think she probably wasn’t used to hearing them, which was an outright sin.
“You are so incredibly kind, but you’re not a shifter. You don’t understand.”
A conflict bloomed within me, wanting me to keep all of my personal info to myself and also comfort the young woman in front of me. The conflict was short-lived, however. I couldn’t let Seraphina think her detractors were right.
“I’m half-shifter.” Her eyes went even wider, and her tears faded. Well, if nothing else, at least I might have shocked her out of her melancholy. “So, believe me when I say you being a latent wolf isn’t an issue at all.”
“B-b-but if you’re a shifter, why can’t I smell you?”
“It’s a pretty powerful combination of scent blockers, scent neutralizers, and some other bits and bobs I’ve picked up over the years.”
“Wow…” The princess said nothing else for a long moment, just staring at me. I wondered if I’d made a mistake before a huge smile spread across her face. “I was right!” Huh? “I knew from the moment I met you we’d be great friends!” Then she threw her arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. I stiffened and briefly wondered if we should get Yvonne to put wards on the young royal as well.
Just as a precaution.
But of course, the moment was interrupted, as they so often were.
