**Georgia’s POV
My jack*ss brother forbade any of us from talking to Rosalie, but he couldn’t forbid from walking past her tent from ti to ti. I longed to go in, but I didn’t want to anger the Rogue King any more than he already was.
I was on my way to speak to Vicky, mostly just to vent since she had no answers either, when I saw a young girl stopping outside of Rosalie’s tent. I looked closely to see what she was doing and noticed she had a bouquet of flowers in her hand, and it looked like she was praying.
When she was done, she placed the flowers by the tent and turned to walk away.
“Excuse ,” I said, running up to her. “What’s this for?”
Her eyes widened slightly, as if she thought she was in trouble. I forced a smile to my face, which felt unnatural, given my emotional state, but she relaxed a bit. “I was bringing flowers to the wonderful woman in the tent,” she explained. “I’m not allowed to go in, but I wanted to thank her for her kindness.”
“What did she do?” I asked. I had no doubt Rosalie was kind, but I was obviously missing sothing.
“My mate was one of the n the Rogue King had ordered to be put to death, but was spared by Beta Talon. When I went to thank Beta Talon for his kindness, he said it wasn’t him who was able to change the Rogue King’s mind. It was the lady in the tent.”
I didn’t know the word was already out about Rosalie. I heard her continue, “I also heard that the reason a few others were spared from their poor performances a couple weeks ago was also because of her. So many of us wanted to do at least sothing for her. It’s almost as if the Rogue King has the Moon Goddess locked up in there.”
I almost laughed, but then, I thought... she had a point. “That’s cool,” I said with a nod. “Yeah, she’s pretty great.”
“I wish she could... co out where we could thank her in person.” The girl looked back over her shoulder at the tent.
“, too,” I told her. I gave her another smile and then bid her good day. As I walked by the guards, I saw one that I knew had been wounded horribly in battle just the day before. I was surprised to see him standing there, guarding the tent, like all was well.
With my eyebrows furrowed, I approached him.
Apologetically, he said, “I’m sorry, Miss Georgia. We won’t be able to let you in.”
“No, I know,” I said, rolling my eyes. “As much as I would like to speak to Rosalie, I actually wanted to ask you sothing. Didn’t you get hurt pretty badly in that skirmish yesterday?”
He nodded. “Yes, miss, I did.”
“How are you... standing here?” I wanted to know.
The two guards exchanged glances, like they weren’t sure whether or not they could tell , but then he said, “It was the White Queen, Miss Georgia. I was struggling so badly, hurting from my wounds, I could hardly stand. She noticed when her dinner was served, and she gave ... sothing.” He suddenly seed secretive again, but he didn’t need to say more about that.
I knew what it was.
Her blood.
“And now you’re better.”
It wasn’t a question, but he nodded. “Yes, Miss Georgia.”
Not wanting to linger near the tent where I could get myself into trouble with my big brother, I stepped away.
It seed Rosalie was making quite an impression on all of the people. I had also heard her singing, especially at night, and that always seed to soothe everyone and bring a spirit of peace over the entire camp, despite the deaths and injuries of the day from this bitter battle of war.
Over everyone except for Ethan.
I stepped away just in ti to hear my brother’s deep voice bellowing across the camp. “And, if you don’t like it, Richard, then I’ll take you out into the woods and beat the living sh*t out of you instead!”
“Yes, Alpha,” Richard was saying, as he pulled along one of the rogues that had joined our side recently. It seed clear to that Ethan was mad that Richard hadn’t beaten the boy enough for his liking.
It irritated to no end. Soone needed to tell Ethan that he was out of line.
And like most things, whenever there was sothing real that needed to be said, it was going to be to say it.
I followed Ethan, ready to try to talk so sense into him, even though I was pretty sure it wouldn’t do any good.
I wasn’t sure exactly what I thought I was going to accomplish, especially when he was in a bad mood. Still, I wanted to make a point, and I was going to make sure that he listened.
He walked inside of his tent and over to the makeshift desk where he’d been conducting his business.
The map spread out in front of him was crude at best, but it was easy to tell what he was looking at. It was a drawing of our area, and it showed the lands he was currently holding in relation to the area where Rosalie’s pack had control. He had a few rocks spread around the map as well, and I took it that those were ant to represent the rogue packs and other hidden enemies like Jas and Kal.
“What do you want now, Georgia?” he asked , not looking up from his so-called map.
“I wanted to talk to you about this shift in your attitude,” I told him.
He growled at , and then said, “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“I think you do,” I told him. “I just don’t understand why you’re so angry all the ti!”
“How am I supposed to be, Georgia?” he asked, finally looking up at . “Sitting here smiling when others co to kill ? I’m a f*cking rogue! A man without a country. My mate despises . My son is gone—again. The only satisfaction I can get is from tearing out the throat of one of my enemies.”
I wanted to yell at him, but everything he’d just said was so godd*mn sad, I decided to swallow down my original words. Instead, I tried to reason with him, “Maybe Rosalie wouldn’t despise you if you’d stop treating her like she’s a prisoner.”
Once again, he was growling at . “Stay out of it, Georgia.”
“She is literally the nicest person alive. She would do anything for anyone, even a stranger, and you are keeping her locked up in there like she’s so sort of a criminal! It’s not fair, Ethan!” I couldn’t help raising my voice to him.
All he did was glare at in return.
“Even your band of rogues can see how much she cares. She infuses love and care into everything she does, and you... don’t give a d*mn about anyone. Not even yourself,” I concluded, folding my arms.
Surprisingly, he didn’t yell back, and just looked back down at his map, moving a few of the rocks around slightly.
I decided I was getting nowhere with my older brother, so I may as well change the subject. “Which one is Behar’s army?” I asked him, gesturing at his little rock figures.
Ethan glanced up and then looked back at the map. He grunted and half flicked a finger at a large rock not too far away from our border.
“They’re getting close, huh?” I asked him.
“They’re trying to,” he corrected . “But I won’t let him.”
“Ethan, you have to know, as long as we continue to expand, both Jas and Kal will see you as a threat. Growing your territory is just making the bullseye on your back larger to them.”
It seed clear that he still wasn’t listening. I tried to get his attention to focus back on , “They are likely to unite against you. Behar managed to take so territory from Jas for his father, however, that doesn’t matter now because both kings have a common enemy.”
Ethan leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Tell sothing I don’t know or I’m not already dealing with.”
I glared at the rocks on the map. All of them continued to co at us while Ethan continued to push back, trying to keep them as far away from the far North as possible.
“Ethan, they will combine in order to destroy you and take Rosalie prisoner, and then work out their own differences afterwards. Not to ntion Madalynn and her d*mn rogues. You can’t fight them all on your own!”
“Of course I can! I have been and I will!” He roared.
There we go; he just lost his sh*t again.
I stared at him, weighing my words. I finally decided to say what was on my mind. “Power and killing won’t win you the war.”
“What the f*ck are you talking about, Georgia?” he asked, looking up at with his red eyes narrowed.
I took a deep breath and pursed my lips together. “I know you’re fine in the short run. You gained strength and power as a rogue, and you’ve been able to handle these skirmishes and smaller battles. But they’re going to be out there for the long haul. Ethan, even if you are one hundred tis more powerful, you can’t fight all the rogues and two entire kingdoms alone.”
He stood up then, his hands pressing against the flimsy makeshift desk. “So you’re suggesting that I give up my strength and let them slaughter instead? What, so that I could have a so-call f*cking pure soul?”
“Ethan, if you continue going down this rogue path, you’ll end up killing everyone around you before Jas and Kal even get to you! You can’t even make f*cking rational decisions!”
“Get the hell out of here, Georgia!” he shouted, “I don’t need to hear this sh*t from you right now! You don’t know what the f*ck you’re talking about!”
“Yes, I do! And so do you!” I wasn’t willing to back down, “You’ve got a potential ally to the north, one that will be willing to help you if it ans they can have their queen back, and you just f*cking refuse it for no reason!”
“Get. The. F*ck. Out!” he shouted, and I left, knowing I had probably done more harm than good.
Nothing unexpected, I guessed.
I felt so heavy in my chest that I needed to vent to soone.
“What is the matter?” Vicky asked when she saw my angry face as I walked into her tent.
“My f*cking brother is the matter!” I shouted, trying to keep my anger from boiling over. “Why can’t he just listen to anyone? For even a mont?”
She poured a cup of cold water and I gulped it down, trying to cool myself. “Seriously, Vicky, what the actual f*ck are we going to do about this?”
She sighed and shook her head. I knew she had no answers either.
None of us did. I’d co to vent, but I was only upsetting her.
“I don’t know,” Vicky said. I saw tears welling up in her eyes. It hadn’t been easy for Vicky, especially when Ethan poured most of his unfair fury on her brother. Those who were closest to Ethan were hurt the most.
I put my arm around her shoulder and hugged her. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t an to make you cry.”
“It’s not you,” she said. “It’s just... this is all so hard.”
“I know.” I agreed with her there.
If this continued, sooner or later, Ethan would totally lose his soul, and by, then only two things could happen.
Either his lack of rational sense would make us lose the war, and we would all be killed by Jas or Kal; or he would defeat his enemies, but beca a terrible tyrant himself before leading us all to destruction. Either way, it was hopeless.
We needed help– he needed help.
I prayed to the Moon Goddess to help him get out of this situation without costing him the little he had left—his mate, his son, and his life.
Reviews
All reviews (0)