The rules of a queen

Chapter Ten: The Rules of a Queen

Her hands felt ice-cold against my skin as she helped me out of my sweat-damp nightdress.

"The purpose of this is to teach you how, where, and what a Luna does," Nira recited quickly, sounding like she had stayed up all night memorizing the words. "And the pack elders will test you in three days to see if you really fit the role. If you fail their test, they can reject you completely. If they reject you..." She didn't finish the sentence.

"Who are the elders?" I asked, my voice still hoarse from sleep.

"They are the Alpha's extended family," she replied, carefully lacing up the back of the grey dress she had chosen for me. It was a plain dress with long sleeves and a high collar that scratched uncomfortably against my throat. "His uncles. His great-aunts. His father's cousins. They run the Nightbane pack with strict blood law. And they hate outsiders more than anyone. Especially anyone from Blood Moon."

By mid-morning, the lesson was in full swing. The sun was nothing more than a pale smear behind the thick glass windows of the castle. She had me standing directly in front of a tall, cracked mirror. My face in the reflection looked like a complete stranger's—pale, eyes hollow, lips chapped, and hair tangled.

"Shoulders back," Nira instructed, tugging gently at the grey fabric of my dress. "Chin up. Not too high, or you will look arrogant to them. Not too low, or you will look weak. You are the Luna now, and a Luna doesn't look at the floor like a servant. But she doesn't look down on people either."

Despite her words, all that occupied my mind was Caleb. Was he actually eating the food Kieran had promised? Was he freezing down there? Was his cell pitch black? Did he have nightmares about Papa too?

But I knew I had to play this game step by step. If I thought about my brother too much, I would shatter right here on the floor and never get up again.

"Who taught you all this?" I asked, just to focus my mind so my eyes would stop drifting.

"Mara," she said. At the mention of the name, Nira's hands slipped on the small buttons at the back of my neck.

The mirror showed her own arms clearly now. There were thin white lines and thick, ropey scars running along her forearms—marks from hard pack work, intense training, or being brutally punished. She tried to pull her sleeves down quickly to hide them from me.

"Show me," I said gently.

Nira hesitated, then walked three steps away from me. She turned around and showed me exactly how a Luna walks. Her back was perfectly straight. Her weight was even. Her hands were clasped loosely in front of her waist, and her chin was level. It was a walk that proudly said I belong here, even if you were completely dying inside.

"No, Luna. I can't keep showing you," she whispered, dropping her gaze right back to the floorboards. "I'm just a maid. I shouldn't—"

"It's okay," I said, reaching out to pat her shoulder. She went completely rigid under my touch, acting as though no one had ever touched her with kindness before in her entire life.

We continued the lesson for what felt like hours. Walk. Stop. Turn. Shoulders back. Again and again.

"Like that," she said, pointing to my feet to show me how to stand with my weight balanced evenly. "Do it so they can't tell if you're scared. Even if your knees are shaking so badly you think you'll fall, they won't be able to see it. That's exactly what Mara taught me."

The next day, the lesson started at lunch. It was a completely different kind of torture.

We didn't go down to the Great Hall because Kieran had sent a food tray directly to the room—a silent, binding order. There was steaming roasted meat, heavy black bread, red winter fruits, and fresh cheese. It was a king's meal given to a prisoner who hadn't earned it.

Nira laid the food out on a low wooden table and stood back to watch me eat, her hands clasped tightly together.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," she instructed, her voice low and urgent. "Don't ask for seconds, even if you are still incredibly hungry. It makes you look greedy to the elders. Don't refuse any food, even if you absolutely hate it, because it makes you look ungrateful. And if Selene asks you questions during the test, you must answer with 'Yes, Selene,' or 'No, Selene.' Don't just say yes or no. She will tell everyone that Blood Moon has no manners and that you are nothing but an animal."

"She hates me," I said, picking mindlessly at the black bread. It turned to ash in my mouth.

Nira looked at me then. Her eyes were wide, terribly honest, and filled with a deep sadness. She had no filter left. "Everyone hates you," she said plainly.

The exact second the words left her mouth, she realized what she had said. Nira clapped her hand over her face in pure horror and fell hard to her knees on the stone floor. She bowed her head so low that her forehead almost touched my boots.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Luna! I didn't mean to—please don't tell the Alpha—I didn't mean—"

"It's fine." My throat felt completely dry, but I forced the words out. My voice sounded dead and flat. "It's the truth."

She quickly poured me a cup of water, her hands trembling so badly that water slipped over the side of the silver cup and onto the wooden tray.

"Mara came to see me this morning before I came up to your room," Nira said quietly, lowering her voice so much that I had to lean in just to hear her over the crackle of the fire. "She told me to tell you—"