ZINA
A Short Story (5 Years Ago)
Zina puked into the natural stream of the Moon Shrine that had co to beco her abode while soft, firm hands patted her back as if to tell her everything would be fine.
"This Taga eting must have been bad?" Sybril’s gentle voice carried on to her.
Zina wheezed, ashad that she was showing such weakness before a woman who was supposed to be her teacher and ntor.
"It wasn’t that bad." She tried to object, unwilling to show any weakness despite the fact that the horror of the things she had heard at her twelfth Taga etings left her numb and made her rethink on just how many lives had been destroyed by the lies she levelled against one man.
Like a plague, the effect of her false visions kept on spreading without any cure at sight.
The elderly woman kept rubbing soothing circles on her back. "When the wicked rule, it is the people that suffer Theta. Don’t ever forget the pain you’ve heard today, and the tornt a bad Alpha brings to the pack."
PRESENT
"I am afraid your majesty that this decision is not one you can make by yourself. You will have to consult your subordinates, and as far as I can see, it is only I, the Theta, who still stands with her head intact as your direct subordinate, and it is my duty to protect the rear of the pack."
Zina wished that she had regretted the words the mont they rolled off her tongue, but that would have been a lie from the bottom of hell. She felt everything but regret, and not even the anger set taut in Daemon’s hard body was enough to sober her up.
She recalled the mory of the first day she had ever objected to Eldric’s decision. What had followed, the abuse Zina had experienced, only marked the beginning of the many scars that now peppered her skin.
Scars that she was grateful Daemon had been so out of his mind when she was naked in the tub to notice. Scars that greatly shad her and reminded her of an even greater sha. A sha she owed the people.
Those scars—even though they reduced as ti passed by and Eldric was confident he had finally tad her—never left her.
Their physical presence echoed of a morbid past while their mark on her soul echoed of her vow to never allow such a thing to repeat itself... her vow to make sure she put everything to an end—both the guilt, the sha, and the origin of her problem to the back.
It was for the presence of her scars that she made up her mind to eliminate Eldric in her own way, and it was because of her scars that she was now objecting to Daemon.
She had regained so clarity after the madness of her heat ebbed away so she refused to be the sa scared, grovelling young woman that Eldric tad into an unspoken truce. She refused to be ignorant to what happened around her, and she refused to allow a tyrant to grow in any form.
Even if that form was that of a man that whispered directly to her heart.
Daemon took nacing steps away from the map table to where she stood. "And for what reason do you object to my orders, subordinate?"
Zina breathed deeply, maintaining her stance and not cowering before him. She smiled broadly, "How would I dare object to your grand plans? Now that the Red Moon in the afternoon has confird your legitimacy as Alpha King, I simply do not find it wise to wage war at this crucial ti."
"And might I ask what gives you such standing to think you have the right to raise an objection?" He gritted, enunciating the words carelessly one-by-one like he found Zina to be nothing more than a re nuisance.
Zina smiled even broader if that were possible. "Have you forgotten that I am the Theta and the Great Seer of the pack?" She said sweetly, almost revelling in the fact that the man’s anger simred in his eyes.
Stepping forward until they stood re inches sort in the middle of the great hall, she leaned into him and whispered low enough that only both of them would hear. "While your subordinates, I an, subordinate deliberates on your decision, you can take your ti tending to the woman whom you’ve been frequently visiting at the infirmary."
Zina stepped back from him abruptly, afraid that his glare would turn into a sharp knife that would slit her throat open.
And in a voice loud enough that everyone in the room could hear her she said. "The Alpha King has seen reason with my suggestion. Of course, the Alpha Trios punishnt still holds, but the matter of war will be revisited once again when we have settled the people."
Everyone nodded, grunting their agreent although that was in part because they were exhausted from the nurous summons from Daemon and not because they liked her in any way.
anwhile, the rage in Daemon’s eyes had coalesced into amusent. He covered the space between them, leaning in to whisper.
"So what will you do while I tend to the woman at the infirmary? Laugh at the dry jokes of my so dearest younger brother?"
Zina’s cheeks heated from embarrassnt at his untoward shalessness. "His jokes are not dry." She deadpanned, not amused in the least.
Although she supposed she should be proud that Daemon had cared enough to observe her. But she couldn’t enjoy the feeling of her pride when combined with the fact that Daemon had acknowledged the woman stowed away at the infirmary.
Who was she by the way?
A mistress? A lover? Or worse, a wife?
The gods, she would run crazy at that point.
"Everyone is hereby dismissed." Daemon declared, his eyes simring with the glint of a challenge.
As everyone left the hall groaning from relief, they both faced each other as if preparing to engage in a fight which was just so ridiculous because just a glimpse at their figures and it was already obvious that Daemon had the ability to squash her in all but one second like an errant mouse.
The fact made Zina’s nostrils flare from annoyance. Begrudgingly, she bowed to him, beelining for the door as his hot stare threatened to incinerate her back.
"Are you okay? Your face is red." Falcon, who had been waiting for her by the door, observed, startling Zina who hadn’t seen him at first.
"I am fine." Zina said despondently, rembering Daemon’s earlier scathing comnt.
Of course Falcon was funny! He was a fine man in fact!
"Do you have any plans?" Falcon asked expectantly, eyes shining with hope that he was still holding onto Zina.
Zina shook her head vigorously, rembering that she needed to see soone that they were banishing from the palace.
Forr Luna Queen Bella NorthSteed.
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