Page 124 of With Fangs and Claws (The Wolf Queen 1)

Chapter 49

We finished our breakfast, Dane feeding me so full of pastries I was unsure how well I’d move when we got to the temple, but, regardless, in we walked. There was a small group of women there. Selene, Ayala and Orsha, I recognised, but not the others. I was struck by them as we approached, though. They were all tall, each wearing a stretchy black bodysuit that only seemed to further draw attention to their long, lean muscles. Their hair was all braided tightly back from their faces, making them look even more dangerous.

“Where are the others?” I asked as I looked around. No Malia and her coterie, and no fumbling students either.

“One of the tutors will work with the ones who really need help in another room,” Selene replied with a smile. “Today, we wanted to work with you one on one. These are the Wolf Maidens.”

Each woman clasped her hands in front of her and then bowed in my direction, but not Dane’s.

“Your Highness, you are here to oversee the proceedings?” Selene asked Dane.

“I’m here to make sure Darcy takes breaks and has something to eat and drink, yes,” he replied in a cool tone.

“Then you’ll need to do so from over there,” she said, gesturing to where a chair had been set up.

“Train hard,” he said, moving as close as he could considering he was still holding the package of pies in his free hand. “I will be here, always.”

And when he pressed a kiss to my cheek, I felt myself flush hot.

“Ah, young love,” one of the women said. “The prince certainly wasn’t hovering around Malia like that, this time last year.”

“Darcy is his mate,” Selene said, a more sombre mood falling over the group. “Of course, he watches her.”

“But you said—” another said.

“Each woman who participates in the Maiden’s dance,” Selene informed me, “does so with her ‘pack’ for the night. It might be one born of family bonds, or friendship. Sometimes girls are just thrown together through the training period and they become a pack for the night, but you haven’t had a chance to do any of those things. So, for the night, we’d like to invite you to dance with us. You’ll become a Wolf Maiden for the festival, will run and dance with us, see what it truly is to become part of our pack.”

“Because you want me to join you,” I said, my voice a little flat. I looked at all the women and could see the compliment they paid me. To be like them, just as tall and hard and impervious to everything. To wear actual warrior braids in my hair. I could see it then, how it might be, the lot of us walking up to the edge of a cliff and looking down at our enemies, ready to attack…

“It isn’t a matter of wanting or needing,” Selene said more gently. “It’s recognising what is. What is an inherent part of yourself that, if ignored, will poison every other aspect of your life.”

She stepped closer then, placing her hands on my shoulders.

“Every woman is raised to fit a role. To be a dutiful daughter, caring sister, beautiful maiden, then loving wife and mother. There is nothing wrong with any of those things. Far from it. Each one can be a fulfilling, worthwhile life for innumerable numbers of women, if that’s what they choose.”

She smiled, real hope flaring bright in her eyes and that seemed to transform Selene’s face. She looked like a goddess right then, as if the Maiden herself stood before me, speaking.

“But what if that’s not enough? What if you can’t fit into those roles? That instead of being a welcome place within a wider society, what if they are cages you feel herded into? Trapped, cut off from the truest part of your soul. Do you want to be queen?”

“What?”

My mind struggled to process the last question. it came from nowhere, seemed to not fit with all the previous sentences, and yet Selene stared at me evenly.

“Do you want to be queen? It’s why Queen Aurora has you down here. She doesn’t want you taking her position when her sons ascend to the throne. But if you become their mate, that’s what will happen.” It felt like I could hear the iron clang of a cage door being shut behind me, one I hadn’t been conscious of walking into. “You’ll sit on the arm of Prince Dane’s throne, just like all the other queens have.”

“Not all the other queens…” I said in little more than a whisper, because I could see it, feel it in my head. How heavy the throne would be, how hard the ermine robe would pull at me, forcing me to work to take another step forward. But I could, would, one after another until I sat down on that stone throne, my pack arrayed around me. Each one would be armed to the teeth, ready to rend to pieces any who might stand against me.

“Their queen will be expected to serve them, to be an adjunct to their power and to pop out little princes. If that’s what you want, me and mine, we’ll protect you, with every breath in our bodies, we’ll ensure your line is safe. But, Darcy…” Her grip tightened then, squeezing my shoulder. “I don’t want to have to serve a queen who’s dying inside, a little bit more each day. Be sure of what you want, because once you’ve made that decision, there’s no coming back.”

I performedthe dance with the pack, and it felt so different as to be an entirely new thing. This wasn’t a dance; it was an evocation. We were calling down the Maiden, the moon, all the symbols of new femininity as we moved as one, each step welding us tighter and tighter together until we became more than the sum of our parts.

“Time for a drink.”

That masculine voice intruded, tore through everything we were trying to create. I whirled around then, fangs bared, ready to see off this interloper, and instead found Dane.

“Drink and then you dance again,” he said in a reassuringly calm voice. “Dance until you drop, I think. Dance until you find your way through this, whatever it is. You either come back to us or you go with them, but you will know. Now drink.”

I did.I danced and danced, then took my rest breaks, though they weren’t really breaks. I knew what Dane was doing; he was safeguarding the needs of my body, even as my spirit needed something else. I was up as soon as I felt like I’d spent sufficient time resting and then I was moving again.

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