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Your Majesty, the high council is coming.
But why?They almost never traveled had had not come even after my parents’ deaths. Instead, they had summoned Bors and a few other “witnesses” to determine what happened. I was not invited, probably regarded as too young, and why would the murderers have admitted I was there for the crimes anyway? The high council interfered rarely and only when informed of something so outlandish they couldn’t avoid it.
What had they heard?
When are they expected?
I think tomorrow.
A sharp twist clank from the bottom of the tower steps, and I’d been locked in, making it clear my presence was not welcome during the visit of the high council. If this followed the pattern of previous times when my keepers wished to ensure I did not appear, Candace would be let out to fetch meals and such, though, so I might learn more.
Except, when dinnertime came, the door opened to admit a kitchen maid with a tray . She climbed to the top of the stairs and handed it silently to Candace. Over her shoulder, I could see a guard waiting just below her. She gave us both a look of pity and left. They were taking no chances. Would they claim I was dead?
Had they already? Those who lived in the palace would know different, but I put little past my dear uncle in his quest for wealth and power. Perhaps he’d sent word I was dead and they’d showed up before he had a chance to finish me off.
“Candace, don’t touch anything on that tray.” I could endure hunger better than poison.
Chapter Two
Janis
I didn’t sleep a wink all night, just paced from door to window and back again. Or rather padded. After the dinner tray was removed, I chose to stay in wolf form. It made communication with Candace easier, at least until, shortly before midnight, she was escorted out, leaving me entirely alone.
I was almost never afraid, despite all my nightmares. Or perhaps because of them. My subconscious seemed to vent my fears while I slept. But tonight, that wasn’t the case. A queen rarely had a moment to herself. Even, or perhaps especially a puppet queen. In the morning, nobody brought me anything to eat, and I worried about what they might have done with Candace who would never have left me hungry after not eating dinner. My room was so removed from the rest of the palace I had no idea what might be happening, even if my hearing loss hadn’t been so severe. Hours passed, the sun rose higher, and I wondered if they’d forgotten me. I had some water in a pitcher, but when that was gone, I had no way to get more. Even my bathroom was on the lower level outside that locked door.
I should have at least made it look like I’d eaten from the tray. Stirred things around, scraped some into the waste basket. As it was, they would know I hadn’t dined, so if poison had been their plan, they’d know they’d failed and might be leaving me here to die of hunger and thirst.
If I took only small sips, the water might last a few days…
Then I wondered about Candace. If the plan was to claim I’d died already, they couldn’t have her bopping around telling people otherwise. Was she okay?
Even though I was used to being ignored, the high council couldn’t visit and not see the queen, could they? Or at least my body? Had they prepared a grave to show off? Would they believe whatever lie was being spun about me? If there had been any chance whatsoever of surviving I’d have leapt from the window to the courtyard below.
The front gates were well out of my line of vision, so I didn’t expect to see anyone arriving, but to my surprise a pack of at least a dozen wolves moving low, almost on their bellies, crept past my window. The one in the lead lifted his head and met my gaze before moving on. Then nothing else happened for some time, except that my pacing was wearing a path in the stone.
Just as I decided nothing more would happen, my door opened, and Candace sidled inside, wearing the same clothes as the day before, and tiptoed up the steps. They were stone and nobody could hear anyway, but from her expression, she’d been through something. I only hoped it hadn’t been too awful. She bent close to me, where I could see her lips, since she almost whispered, and I only heard a few of her words. “Go to the throne room. Now. And call her Jillian.”
If there’d been time, she’d have shifted and told me more. The fact she hadn’t meant I didn’t argue or ask. Merely bounded out and down the stairs. Whatever happened, I would face it as a queen.
For perhaps the first time.
And in wolf form.
When I entered the room, I saw the ancient wolves, the high council for sure, facing a wolf whose spirit called to me. But this was Callista… How?
Everyone’s gaze slammed to me and I halted, heart in my throat.They told me you were dead.
Janis!My sister’s mental cry cut me to the core.
I approached with care, studying her She looked well, but everyone tensed. What would she say? What would she do facing the usurper to the throne? She was within her rights to have me executed—technically.
She braced all four legs, facing the council members.Do you think I would kill my own sister? It is not her fault she was made a pawn.Beyond the mental speech of wolves, we’d always been able to nearly read each other’s minds. It seemed that hadn’t changed.
But I needed her, and all of them to understand my position.Jillian, since you are alive, the throne is yours. I never wanted it anyway.
The wolf with less gray on his muzzle spoke.We were aware of only some of the happenings at that time, but were misinformed almost entirely. Told your parents died in an accident, and that you wandered off. By the time your alpha contacted us, things were settled here, and you know it is not our choice to interfere in most cases.
Yeah…because if they’d interfered, things might have been different, wouldn’t they? My resentment boiled within me.
