ZINA
Garuk NorthSteed looked nothing like his older brothers; not a bit like Eldric, Daemon or Falcon.
He possessed an air of indifference where Eldric would have otherwise looked crazy. He looked carelessly broody where Daemon would have otherwise looked serious. And he possessed an air of naughtiness where Falcon would have otherwise looked preppy.
They were currently in one of the rooms used by previous Alpha Kings to entertain royal relatives. A tradition that Eldric had abandoned in his fear of his brothers taking over his position. The wing looked abandoned, and Garuk was lounging on one of the chairs which he had dusted, his legs crossed while his brown eyes looked from Falcon to Zina like he was appeasing alien.
"Is she the help you talk about?" Garuk said in a light voice that could have been mistaken as soft if not for the air of sarcasm that was tinged at the end of it.
Falcon’s soft features heated from anger. "That is no way to address your Theta, Garuk."
Garuk simply chuckled, readjusting himself and crossing his legs anew. His light eyes lingered on Zina for so seconds before they finally moved back to his brother.
"Is that thing still going on between the both of you?" He asked much to Zina’s horror. ’The spoiled brat!’ She and her wolf chanted the sa like they were of the sa thoughts.
Zina might not look like much, but she hadn’t expected Garuk to so crudely speak about the nonexistent relationship she had with Falcon.
Falcon was about to lash out at Garuk when Zina stopped him from doing so while she herself faced the younger man squarely. Falcon shot her an apologetic eye before bowing his head shafully like he was the one that was responsible for the brattiness of his younger brother.
Zina couldn’t imagine the extent of his guilt and sense of protection towards Garuk who didn’t look like he understood just how much of a precarious situation he was in. But beneath his attitude, Zina could see the scared boy that laid underneath the whole battalion of fake armour that Garuk was wearing.
"Are you aware of the kind of man the new Alpha King is?" She asked him, drawing the words slowly as if that would make its aning more profound.
Garuk scoffed. "Am I supposed to know anything about his majesty save that he must reign forever?"
Zina ignored his sarcasm and the fact that he was obviously goading her. "Alpha King Daemon is the exact kind of man that would have the head of the man who intentionally allowed the people to fall into despair by stealing that ten million grams of gold."
Garuk’s eyes darkened while he stood slowly from the chair. "Are you threatening just because you’re the Theta?" He growled nacingly.
"This is far from a threat, it is sothing that could possibly beco your reality."
"Sounds like a threat to ," Garuk said, smacking his lip while scratching his hair like he found the whole situation preposterous.
The man was brutally handso in fact. In the way that a woman would be beautiful except his had a certain masculine, rugged edge to it.
"I only ca here to submit myself to any punishnt that awaits . Already, your king has had my brother imprisoned without good reason, I can’t have Falcon going to prison again just because of my cri."
Before Zina could digest the words that were equal parts brotherly and equal parts insulting, Falcon extended his hand and slapped his brother so hard that Zina actually gasped.
He then proceeded to grab Garuk by his collar. "Who asked you to care for , ugh? You should think about yourself first, and believe , insulting the monarch at every chance you’ve got is certainly not the behavior of one who should look out for themselves."
"That monarch is my brother!" Garuk scread, eyes glowing with his wolf. A sight that was mirrored by Falcon’s eyes that was glowing the natural color of his eyes.
"Then you refer to him as your brother with the respect that should co with it!"
Garuk chuckled manically, "I would have, except that man is no different from Eldric! In fact, he is worse that Eldric! Always parading that illegitimate shrew called Yaren instead!"
Zina, who once felt bad for the fact that Falcon had been forced to raise his hand on his brother, no longer felt bad. No matter how wronged Garuk felt, he had no right to underestimate the suffering that Yaren himself had had to go through.
But then, there was no expecting a man who was suffering from a terrible abandonnt issue to see sense. Garuk was peeved because he thought Daemon had not only abandoned him during his childhood, but was now treating him the sa as how Eldric, who was Garuk’s true blooded brother, treated him and Falcon.
The fact that Daemon had imprisoned Falcon over his declaration to claim Zina if he wouldn’t hadn’t helped the Garuk’s mindset of Daemon, obviously. And now, he only felt a need to step up on his involvent with the gold because he feared for what Daemon would do to his older brother should he find out on his own.
Zina exhaled harshly. The more this encounter stretched on, the more she felt like she was engaging herself in a nefarious conversation that she should not have any party to.
This was an official matter slash sibling squabble, as such, it was only right to take the matter to Daemon. But the more Zina watched the despair on Falcon’s face and the anger peppered on Garuk’s, her heart was tugged and she simply could not bear to act on her own. Not when she saw too much of herself in them.
While it was true that Daemon had been the one that was banished and had to suffer in a foreign land, people like Falcon and Garuk who were mostly maltreated by Eldric were easy-to-forget pieces on the board. They were chanted as lucky ones when in reality they had also suffered.
No matter, this was sothing Daemon should decide on. But when Zina rembered the heads that rolled that fateful day because of the missing money, and when she rembered how Daemon had banished his legitimate three older brothers to the NorthWestern borders to fight the white monks, Zina found that she shared the sa doubt as Falcon on whether Daemon would be rciful in the least to Garuk.
Her doubts were confusing her thoughts and she was suddenly at a loss over the right thing to do. She didn’t need to think much about it because suddenly, a voice sounded behind them.
"Well isn’t this the perfect family eting."
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