Page 106 of The Princess's Chosen

"Why should a matter of the rights of men not be suitable for our princess's ears, Nathaniel?" Sir Weston asked, having remained near my chair with his arms crossed.

I couldn't have hid my triumph even if I tried, but it was Weston that Roderick glared at, and the room fell into a deeper hush.

"Shifters are notmen, they are beasts in men's clothes," Roderick growled, and I was too startled by the murmurs of agreement and the nods of many men in the room to be properly appalled at his words.

"I think you forget that not all of Kimmery shares your views," Sir Weston said at my back.

Lord Thomlinson laughed low and relaxed into his seat, continuing to sip his drink and let his cigar smoke billow gently toward my nose. "And you forget, Weston, that themajorityof the council does share it."

"I do not, Lord Thomlinson," I said, biting around the words and baring my teeth at the man. "In fact, I happen to be especially fond of shifters, as I am of their rights, and indeed the rights of all the people of Kimmery. What is proposed?"

Lord Thomlinson's confidence faltered, and Lord Roderick looked to him with a nervous apprehension. "Surely His Highness, the prince, understands I mean no slight against himself or his family," Lord Thomlinson said, suddenly realizing who else was in the room with me, his eyes flicking toward Thao. "It is an entirely different kind of thing."

"Gentlemen, what is proposed?" I snapped.

The room was quiet and it wasn't Sir Weston who spoke up, but one of the younger men, the one who'd gotten up and opened the window. "There is a party of the council who proposes that registered shifters and their kin be moved into monitored work camps, rather than being allowed to live freely."

Beneath the table, Owen's foot pressed gently on top of mine. Here was one of the three.

"Your name?" I asked.

He hesitated with a bow. He'd appeared plain at first, but there was something striking about him—perhaps not handsome, but something that held the gaze. "Jack McCallum, Viscount of Cambell, Your Highness."

"Your Highness, as it stands now, shifters are permitted to live freely, disperse, unlawfully procreate with decent people and create more of their kind, or go into hiding. They should be contained!" One fiery declaration was made from an older man near the young viscount.

"Live freely?" I asked sharply, my hands forming claws against my lap. "As I understand it, the council has already ensured that shifters must identify and be registered, must only serve in particularly exhausting and labor intensive positions, are subjected to particular taxes, denied the majority of public care, and are excluded from many potential privileges that their fellow Kimmerians look forward to!"

"Your Highness—" Lord Roderick started.

"No!" I stood up suddenly, glaring back at the man, meeting the fire in his stare with my own. "What youpropose, Lord Roderick, is an abomination of law. Of a kingdom's duty to its citizens."

"We seek to guard Kimmery's citizens against those who may be a threat!" Lord Thomlinson barked, his face turning deeply red. "You are a girl, not a queen."

"I am a princess! I am of the queen's line. I wield the magic of the Hunger, and I will take the throne," I answered back, every word clapping around the room, making the men sit back in their seats. And some of it was with offense, yes, I could see that. I hoped what I read in the others was respect as I imagined it would be. I hoped there wassomedecency left on this council, or at least a little fear.

"You fear the two-natured. Why? Because they aremorethan you?" I asked, frowning at the men. "To be sure, you have now in this room with you three spectacular specimens," I said, and with that statement, I caught the stiffening of the third man in hiding, but it wasn't them I spoke of. It was Thao and Wendell who approached my side with confidence and then transformed themselves, making men on either side of me race away with great gasps and one horrified screech. Owen pushed his seat back to give Wendell room to rub against my side, his great white head leaning into my waist.

"Is it their claws?" I asked, raising a hand and smiling as Wendell's great paw rested gently on my palm, his claws flexing carefully. "Their incredible strength?" Thao rose up, his own claws clacking against the wood table which groaned beneath his weight. "They are majestic, these men, in their second-natures. They are ferocious. They could certainly eviscerate you in one leap, one bite." Wendell licked his jaw and showed off his fangs to the room of trembling men.

Behind me, there was a soft whisper and then a great huff and a stifled growl, before two massive brown and padded paws rested on my shoulders, Cresswell standing twice as tall as me at my back, his fur brushing against my skirt.

"My guard has never been more capable of killing my enemies than he is now," I said, holding Lord Roderick's hateful gaze. "But these supposed beasts you see before you? They are still men. I no more fear them now than I do when they stand handsome at my side in their gentleman's clothes. And if I, a small young woman, have no fear of them, why gentlemen, should you?

"You use their strength for your gain while trying to tear it from their own grasp. You forget that Kimmery's blessing has always been its magic, for as long as the queen's line has ruled. It is not just the two-nature who set us apart. We have powerful mages. Many of our people bear gifts we barely know of yet. This should be a matter of celebration, not legislation," I said, barely catching Owen's eye and smiling.

The young viscount had his hand over his mouth, but I could see his gently shaking shoulders. The man in the red waistcoat had wide and reverent eyes fastened to me. The one who'd stiffened when I spoke stared mournfully down at his wrinkled and spotted hands, but he nodded slowly to himself.

"A very witty argument, Your Highness, to be sure," Lord Roderick said drolly. "But the council is not acircus, nor should matters of Kimmery's legislation be. You are our princess, but not ourqueen, who puts her faith in us. You have no real say in this room."

"She is to inherit, Roderick," Weston breathed, even as he remained shrunk away from Thao's swatting tail. It really was absurd that these grown men should be more afraid of Thao and Wendell than my own grandmother was, I thought.

"She has notyet," Roderick snapped back.

It didn't matter. I dropped Wendell's paw and he restored himself to a man as I reached into the deep pocket of my skirt.

"I didn't know your family had shifter blood, Pope," Sir Speares said, sneering.

Thao stood again too, sweeping elegant black hair from his face. "Ambassador Pope's second-nature is my gift to him," Thao said. "My family takes our privileged forms with the utmost respect and deference to our ability. It is a blessing to our bodies and to our people. We have long frowned upon Kimmery's treatment of this blessing, however it varies from ours, and I will write to my family to seriously consider their alliances, if Kimmery should treat our kind with such exceptional disrespect."

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