Page 101 of The Kingdom's Crown

"Stars," Aric gasped as we reached the first break in the narrow road that opened to the city.

The city now overtaken by animals. And in spite of the strangeness of foxes and deer and groundhogs strolling the road, the scene was calm, as if the city had been abandoned in order for wildlife to take over. The only sign of humans were the faces plastered fearfully to windows, staring out of the shops. I wanted to paw at the glass, draw the humans out to show them that we were safe creatures, not monsters, but an enormous strange tiger banging on a window probably wasn't the most effective tactic.

"Griffin said she'd be watching for conflicts from overhead, but if the council is calling on the army, that's where they'll likely break out first," Aric called to us, frowning briefly and shaking his head. "Feel like a zookeeper with you lot looking at me like that. Or dinner."

I grinned at him, not the most reassuring sight in this form, and pushed my way around my shifted Chosen to lean against his side, making him stumble. He reached down, patting at my head, and above us a soft gasp exhaled, a shop girl leaning out of a window with wide eyes.

"My lord, aren't you frightened?" she shouted to Aric, squawking as a squirrel ran along the building ledge past her, chasing after a bird. "One hardly knows if they're real beasts or not."

"How many tigers do you think are roaming about the capital generally?" Aric barked back with a roll of his eyes. The girl only gaped at him, and he shook his head, muttering down to me, "Not sure I enjoy being called milord." He eyed me in silence for a moment, and his frown quirked. "And I'm surprised to find I don't enjoy that you can't talk back at me. I'd expected to savor your silence."

I growled and butted his hip with my head. Truthfully though, I felt strange in this form for so long, especially not being able to communicate in more than animal signals with the others. Cresswell's warning growl as I moved too far ahead sounded more like a threat than concern, and it was a struggle keeping my human brain in control.

And unfortunately, that control didn't grow easier when we found the first instance of violence in the city, and it wasn't even from the army.

I caught the whiff of fear, a horrible warning stench, and hurried around a corner to see four young men crowded around an upturned crate.

"Ughhh, stars, smell that? Look what you made it do!"

"Bryony," Aric shouted as I bounded in their direction, snarling.

Cresswell, Thao, and Wendell were quick behind me, and one of the young men let out a wild screech at the sight of us, the others whirling around.

"Shut it, Cowper, it's just one ofthem," one of the larger men snarled, and he stepped forward with a sharpened stick thrusting in our direction, his teeth gritted back at me. "You'll be put to death if you so much as scratch me, you fucking beast!"

Wendell's back was bunching with tension at the perceived threat to me, and I knew his control must've been as thin as my own. Cresswell was trying to prowl in front of me, but at the thought of him being stabbedagainon my behalf, I leapt up, not from paw but from my feet.

"And what do you think will happen to you if you scratch your princess or one of her Chosen?" I shouted.

The young men gasped, and one stumbled right into the gutter of the street, falling on his ass. The one with the stick in his hand paled and fell to his knees, or seemed to until I realized he was attempting some strange kind of low and humble bow.

"Begging your pardon, Your Highness, we didn't know you were—"

"What should it matter who I am? You have a fellow Kimmerian trapped under that crate. Release them at once!"

Wendell was still growling, but he eased up as I dug my fingers into the fur at the ruff of his neck.

"But they're just—" The man's argument died on his tongue as he looked between the crate—which reeked horribly and made it pretty clear they'd caught a skunk two-natured—and up to myself.

"You heard the princess," Aric said, looking fierce with one hand on the hilt of a dagger.

"Whatever word you were about to use applies to me as well," I hissed.

"A-a-apologies, Your Highness," the one who'd fallen first whispered, scooting forward and throwing off the crate.

Sure enough, a sweet-looking black critter with its white stripe running down its back appeared and scrambled away from the men, more of its horribly pungent defensive smell appearing. But instead of running to safety, the skunk transformed in front of all of us, revealing a massive, scarred man with dark hair and the characteristic soot marks of a blacksmith.

"You four better fucking watch yourselves," he hissed, the men paling. "Get back inside, you smell worse than your personalities."

They were boys really, and were probably just out of school. I hoped the skunk smell clung to them for days.

The blacksmith turned in my direction, lips quirking. "Never can tell, can you? Would've pegged you for more of a kitten type, Your Highness," he said, with a surprisingly gallant bow that did nothing to diminish the oddly flirtatious feeling that rose up from the comment. He vanished back into a skunk and hurried away.

"I suppose I would've imagined him as something more robust," I mused, watching the skunk's retreat.

"What's that look in your eye?" Aric asked, frowning. I smiled and transformed back into my tiger without answering. "Come on, let's get to the barracks."

Cresswell nipped my shoulder in punishment for hunting down trouble, but I ignored him aside from nudging back. This was why I'd chosen Thao's bite in the first place and why I was so determined to join the march.

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