ZINA
Nothing quite spurred one into action than the idea that one of their own has betrayed them, and that was the exact pain point that Zina had flawlessly pressed on.
Even Rowan who was dragging her out of the room was forced to pause, while the Seven Elders rely narrowed their gaunt eyes on her.
If was clear that they didn’t believe that a traitor would lurk among them in that Cave Manor which was tightly and secretly well guarded, yet it was way too hard to deny that so of her words that morning had all held an unusual truth.
So even if they thought that she was spewing yet another lie, they had no choice but to listen to her.
But Rowan was now infuriated. His ego throughly bruised in the presence of the won whom he respected more than anything.
Slamming Zina against the nearest wall, he bared his teeth at her. "Shall I fillet your mother like a fish before your very eyes? Or do you think that I actually bought that act of yours where you were playing pretend?" He gritted under his breath, spittle flying from his mouth.
Just for the sake of irking him to no end, Zina smiled seemingly unfazed by the pain that seared through her shoulders.
"What? Are you afraid I might na you as the spy?" She said even though she knew fully well that would be a very ridiculous move.
There was a tight knit relationship between the seven elders, Master and Rowan. It was not sothing she could poke at by just rambling about her visions and whatnot. Especially not since she was guessing that Rowan had been raised by the Seven Elders.
"Let her speak," the bored voice of the seven elders ca to her as one. "A spy you say? And who is it?"
"Rose." She said simply while none in the room reacted. "But I know you won’t believe so there’s no need to say so much."
Rowan scoffed under his breath. "Lysandra!" He growled at the old butler who had delivered the ssage, "take Thralgor out of this room and lock her up this instance! I shall have Rose and Orchid amp up her torture since it seems we went too easy on her."
Too easy? He thought loosing his child had been too easy?
But she reined in her anger on hearing his words. She had already done her part for that morning. Doing more would only rain on her parade.
"We were aware that nine nirvanas were use on her. How did she resist the Taming?" The seven elders said in the sa voice, their questions directed at Master who was usually silent.
"There must have been an error sowhere," the man simply said, his gruff voice showing his displeasure at how things had unfolded.
"Give us a few hours elders. I shall have her broken for all it’s worth. Then this wedding shall happen. And after this wedding happens she will use her own lips and proclaim amongst all the people that they can be only one wolf."
While Zina might have been done with what she needed to do that morning, she felt compelled still to drop one last word to the Seven Elders.
"Even if there’s is to be one wolf who will rule all, he will not co from the west." She said in a voice that didn’t scream nor shout. The words simply rolled off her tongue easily.
Seven pairs of eyes turned to her anew, each of them brimming with inflated confidence. "The prophecy ca to us since the ti of old. The wolf that will rule all will be born of the West. You’ve unleashed thr fulfillnt of the prophecy as it is. Submit, and do not fight it."
"Daemon NorthSteed is the only Great Beast Wolf." Zina said, totally ignoring their words like they had been spewing nonsense.
The corners of seven lips tugged into a wicked smile. The act si chanical it almost scared her out of her wits.
"You say you see visions. We take it that you believe the moon goddess exists?"
Zina swallowed. If she was being honest she had always believed she was on the atheist side. Which was funny given her god-given gifts. Maybe it was because she had been plagued with a bad life, but she never truly believed the existence of the gods.
That was until she was fourteen and was forced to see Daemon in her visions. That was when she started to believe that the gods did in fact exist.
So tilting her head even as Lysandra gripped her tightly by the arm, she answered, "Why not? I hear the people of the West call the seven of you the seven moon goddesses. Surely you must believe the glorious woman exists as well."
They all smiled like she was being incredibly ridiculous. Then to Master they said; "We expect the deed will be done in two hours. We will stay here and wait for when you shall bring her back for the wedding."
Then they went about ignoring her while Zina’s jaw ticked from the rage. The old woman, who had a surprisingly strong grip, dragged her out of the room and into the sa room where Zina had been tortured at before.
She pushed Zina down, her face the sa chanical mask it was the first day she had greeted them at the door of the cave manor.
"Lady Zina WolfKnight, you shall wait here for what is to co." She said, referring Zina yet again a "WolfKnight".
The woman was obviously no ordinary person despite the fact she looked ancient. For her to be entrusted with the duty of imprisoning Zina, then she must be strong as well.
Zina stood from the dirty floor, shaking the dust and dirt from her heavy black gown.
"I see that you refuse to address well. Many here call Thralgor, others prefer to call Zina simply, and yet you act so haughtily like the personal attendant of a king when you refer to as a WolfKnight."
The woman remained unsmiling. "I’ve said it before that this manor knows nothing of a Lady Zina NorthSteed." The woman said simply, and then turned to leave.
But Zina was not having it. Because right then and there was the very thing that she had betted her earlier act on.
"You’re the spy in this cave manor." She said matter of factly, her words rooting the woman who was just about to exit the drab room in place.
Slowly, she turned to her, her face a perfect mask that would have otherwise deceived Zina if she hadn’t earlier connected the dots that made her level such allegations.
"There’s no Spy of the Alpha King of the North in this Cave Manor. I will advise that you stop throwing around such empty allegations."
Zina took a step closer to the woman, then another. "Whoever said anything about the spy being that of the Northern Alpha King?" She said slowly, observing the woman’s expression, "the spy could be of another person, no? In your case, it’s highly comndable that you’ve carried on your act for so long."
The blank expression Lysandra wore didn’t slip a bit. Her act was thorough—so thorough that Zina feared she might have predicted wrong. But she persevered nonetheless, waiting for a reaction.
Next thing, a big smile spread on the woman’s lips, exposing gaped tooth.
"What makes you suspect ?" She said, not admitting the allegation either.
But Zina didn’t need her admission. What she needed was the woman’s help.
"At first, it was the code to the door. Rowan’s response in fact. What is dead may never die. I thought to myself, why may and not will? Who would set such door code? Certainly the butler who is you? So why?"
She continued smiling as if Zina was speaking nothing short of mad words. Zina didn’t flinch under the woman’s smile. "I do not see what is wrong with the door code," Lysandra said again, voice cool as the stone walls around them.
"But that’s just it," Zina replied. "It wasn’t wrong. It was intentional. ’What is dead may never die’—that’s not just so morbid phrase. It’s Seer Doctrine."
The smile twitched.
Zina pressed. "It’s the Seers Burden, isn’t it? The first thing true Seers are taught when they’re initiated into the Sight. Possibility. Uncertainty. A thousand truths folding into one. We may all see the truth, but nothing is ever certain. Everything is enshrouded in ’mays’ and never ’will’.
"The vision shows your child will die tomorrow, but if you stay in your house, then your child may not die. It will rain tomorrow. But if the moon decides to misbehave then it may rain tomorrow. Only soone raised or trained in Seer culture would embed a phrase like that as a lock. A test."
Lysandra regarded her carefully, the mirth in her smile thinning into sothing more serious. "You were not supposed to understand that."
"I didn’t understand it in fact," Zina said, eliminating the space that separated them. "Surely you do not think a simple saying is how I’ve caught you?"
"Caught ? You delude yourself...."
"You work for my mother, right? Or let’s rephrase that better, you’re here for my mother?"
Then almost imdiately, the woman’s smile stretched broader. Like she was impressed and sothing more.
"The latter," she answered effortlessly like she had been in fact waiting for Zina to catch her.
"Who are you exactly?" Zina asked her, for while she might have taken that dangerous gamble, that question remained unanswered.
"A seer just like you’ve assud. I am the one they once called Ada the Prophetess. And I foretold your birth to your mother even before it ever happened."
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