**Rosalie’s POV
The view from the Queen’s suite was spectacular. People said that the far north was only ruins from the old tis, but they didn’t know Cerina had led my people to rebuild it over the years.
Even with everything that the people of the north—my people—had been through, they hadn’t failed to take care of the palace.
Because they truly revered the royal family.
They truly revered my family.
They truly revered .
I was especially impressed by the garden. There weren’t any flowers or plants as those couldn’t easily survive the harsh climate. This was a garden mainly decorated with beautiful stone sculptures.
Staring out at the window, I tried to co to grips with what they were asking to do. I knew I’d have plenty of help, but I needed to understand how things worked in this land, how Cerina had been running things, what the laws had been before, when my ancestors were the rulers.
I needed to make sure that I was able to accept all of those rules and laws myself because I didn’t want to be the one enforcing rules that I didn’t agree with.
A couple of days ago, Cerina took to a great hall that looked a lot like a library except all of the books looked like they were textbooks or legal journals of so sort. Along one wall was a huge shelf full of cubby holes with scrolls in it.
So of these docunts had to be hundreds of years old, if not thousands.
When I told her that it would take years to just finish reading them, she showed a large volu that had been sitting in the middle of a massive oak table and told that it contained our main laws, the primary rules, and the references to the corresponding detailed rules of our land.
I had been studying for a few days.
Most of the laws were understandable, but a few of them seed outdated and unnecessarily harsh. For example, there was one that said a father could punish his daughter by striking her if she spoke out of turn. I thought that seed archaic. I also wanted to remove so of the regulations about how landowners could punish those who leased their land if they didn’t pay taxes on ti. I agreed there should be penalties, but not physical ones.
I made a list of items I wanted to change. It wasn’t long, but they were all important.
Behind , my baby made a little fussing sound. I put down my books to check on him. I wanted to go talk to Cerina, but I needed to wait for Seraphine to co back first. It all worked out well as I got ti to feed him and get him back to sleep.
“Rosalie, were you looking for ?” Seraphine entered the room, and she walked directly to the crib and gently rocked it when she saw the little one wiggling a little. I smiled. It felt so good to know that my son wasn’t only loved by .
“Yes, I was about to talk to Cerina. I have so thoughts and questions regarding the laws.”
Seraphine nodded her head while rocking the crib back and forth slightly. “I saw her talking to Georgia in the courtyard. Dear, I’m sure it may seem overwhelming, but I have faith that you’ll figure it out. You still have a couple of months until your twenty-first birthday.”
My twenty-first birthday would also be my coronation day. I had a lot to learn before then.
“Thank you, Seraphine,” I told her, patting her arm. “You’re such a blessing to .”
Seraphine smiled. “I’m the one who has been blessed. To be the one to have found you and brought you back to our land... the Moon Goddess is smiling upon all of us.”
I didn’t know how to respond to her complint, so I only smiled and went out to find Cerina.
Cerina and Georgia were standing in the courtyard, and by the gestures Georgia was making, it seed she was wound up, though I didn’t think she was mad at Cerina. As I approached, I heard her saying, “Whoever is leading those rogues needs to be cut down and slaughtered! They have beco even more brazen in the last few days.”
She turned then and saw , and her tone changed. “Oh, hi, Rosalie,” she said. “I’m sorry. I just... it makes so angry to hear that more people have been hard. It was just like an endless battle. Just when we thought we were good, those b*asdars were back again! Where did they all co from!”
“How bad was it?” I asked.
Cerina answered, her voice calm. “Another village was attacked. This ti four children were hard, and one passed away. He was only two.”
My heart broke at the words, and I grasped my chest, thinking of my own son. “How could they? Those are innocent lives...”
Seeing my reaction, Georgia said firmly, “I know. We need to get back out there and begin fighting again. Sorry, Rosalie. There’s no need for us to burden you with what happens out there.”
I shook my head. “No, Georgia, please, keep inford. I can’t fight, but please let know if there’s anything I can help with.”
Cerina gave a smile. “That’s very kind of you, Your Majesty.”
Georgia smiled. “We’ll handle it for now, but If we need your help, I’m not shy to ask. Now, I’ll go check in with the others.” I knew that ant she was going to check with the military leaders.
I watched her walk away, and I turned my attention to Cerina. “Would it be possible for us to review the laws and rules of the land as a group? I have so thoughts to share.”
Cerina’s face lit up, and I could tell that she was pleased with the progress I’d made.
“Yes, of course,” Cerina said. “I’ll get a eting put together.”
A couple of hours later, I was accompanied by Cerina as we went to the boardroom to et with the other five leaders.
All grew quiet when I walked in, and I felt my cheeks redden from the weight of their eyes on my face.
I cleared my throat and started. “Thank you for coming, everyone. As many of you may know, I’ve been reviewing the laws and regulations of the land to make sure I understand all of them before I begin my rule. What I’ve discovered is that the kingdom has many laws put in place that favor our people and help them to thrive.”
Most of them nodded, and were waiting for to continue.
I stood up in front of everyone. “Centuries ago, under my ancestors’ reign, our land thrived with prosperity, thanks to those laws and rules. Many of them will help our land to recover and beco prosperous again. However, ti has changed and so may not be as applicable as they were in tis past... I will share my preliminary thoughts for those I have doubts about, and I would love to hear your opinions. Your assistance in revising the laws will help to build the foundation for our people’s prosperous future.”
All of the leaders seed in agreent with what I had to say. They nodded their heads, smiled, and looked at one another with approving glances.
The eting went more smoothly than I thought. I expected that I might get so push back. However, Cerina and the rest of the leaders were mostly supportive of what I proposed.
There were a couple of items I realized that I’d oversimplified the impact they currently had on how the pack operated. Thankfully, Cerina was able to explain the depth of them in the eting, while the rest of the leaders pitched in for alternative solutions.
I was amazed that I wasn’t the only one who had thought of changing these particular laws. For most of the items I pointed out, Cerina and the rest of the group had also felt that changes were long overdue, and they were pleased that I brought them up. What surprised was, for so of the items I raised concerns about, leaders in the room already had so great solutions or alternatives for them. However, in the past, no actions had been taken on those.
After a two-hour long discussion, everyone seed to be in agreent, and it was a fruitful eting. One of the gentlen, Mr. Charles, noted down the action items and volunteered to take the lead to docunt the required changes for the group of leaders to review.
At the end of the eting, Cerina concluded our discussion with a smile, and I could tell she was very proud of . “Your Majesty, our people will be very happy with the andnts to more just and fair laws.”
I didn’t like that she’d called “Your Majesty,” but if I was going to be the queen... I was going to have to get used to it.
My face was burning, but I looked at everyone with appreciation. “Thank you for the kind words,” I said. I took a deep breath. “In the anti, I would like to continue to learn the ways of how a queen must rule her land. I feel very unprepared. Just because I have royal ancestors, that doesn’t make fit to be a queen.”
“No, it’s not your blood, dear,” Cerina said. “It’s you—you are a natural-born leader, it’s true. But your kindness, your willingness to help others, your loving heart, and your hard work... that’s what will make you a mighty queen.”
I still had a long way to go, but I felt more confident that I could do it. “Will you teach ?” I asked her and the rest of the room.
“We all will,” Cerina nodded and then added, “well done.”
She stood up and started clapping, and the rest of the room stood up and joined her.
***
Then I started my official training.
From etiquette, to law and politics, to combat, I took lessons from experts on different subject matter. Anything that I needed to know to be a good queen, I needed to learn.
Most of the ti, my baby was in the sa room with because others were also busy with their own responsibilities. However, when I was in physical training on fighting, Seraphine normally watched him for .
As part of my combat training, I needed to be out on patrol with the warriors. Even though I didn’t have my wolf yet, I was able to keep up as long as they didn’t run at full speed. I needed to get a lay of the land and make sure that I understood what was expected if rogues were discovered in our territory.
As I was inspecting our border, I heard a loud noise in the woods over to my right. Several of the wolves next to leaped into the woods. We saw the tails of dark wolves running off in the distance.
“Rogues!” I muttered. At least, they were running away. Though I was nervous, I ran along with the wolves the best I could. So of them were getting away from to go after the rogues, while the rest stayed back to make sure I was all right.
Noticing blood on the ground, I slowed down and looked around. It appeared as if there’d been a battle here before we arrived. Had the rogues been fighting soone else? Our forces?
No, if it was our people, I would know. It had to be soone else.
I glanced around, trying to figure out where all of the blood was coming from.
It was then that I saw the form of a man lying over beneath a tree. He was wearing tattered pants, and he was doubled over, clearly in pain. The trail of blood led right to him.
My eyes widened in fear as I thought about what the situation might be.
“Are you all right?” I shouted to him as I ran over, ducking beneath the branches to check on him.
He didn’t answer. His back was to , and it looked familiar...
“Go get help,” I told one of my group as I got closer to where the man lay.
My blood could help him, but he’d need to be stitched up.
I kneeled down next to him and lifted his head. Then I froze, nearly falling backward onto my bottom.
I couldn’t believe the face I was looking at.
“How did you get here?” I whispered.
“You know him?” a voice at my shoulder asked. Others had arrived to help.
I nodded. “I know him all right. I know him... quite well....”
It was Soren’s assistant, Thomas.
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