Se connecterThe ground was perfectly fine and the councilman stared at me in amusement.“Your Highness,” he bowed before Lilith.Her teeth chattered loudly and from where I stood, they sounded like the shattering of a hammer on ice.The sound has me raising my hands to block my ears.Lilith made quick work of picking up the arrows.Despite how hard she shook, she still felt up a bow, nocked the arrow, and shot.It went wide.Loud gasps of terror went up in the arena and Lilith stumbled back a few feet as her arrow landed a few miles away from the target.I spun my head around the arena. My focus on Lilith draining as I heard a soft sweet sound.It sounded like bells.Chiming bells but it was laughter.“Mami?” I called out and turned in joy as my stepmother arrived in the Arena.Queen Maryam, she was dressed and decked out in all her glory.“My love,” she purred and open
My first thought was that the wine tasted sour. My second thought was shit. I just drank poison.The effects were not immediate. Starting as light tingling in my throat, I felt my toes begin to grow cold and I grew lightheaded.“Now, for the next and most crucial step!”I felt hands behind my head as a worker began to untie my blindfold.Bright light flooded me and my vision swarmed as I turned my head trying to adjust to the noise and light of the arena.“Lilith! Lilith!” Prince Driven’s panicked shouts cut through the air.Lilith was shaking. I have no idea what she took, but she trembled and shivered like she was made of ice.“Help her!” Prince Driven commanded with pain in his voice.I raised a hand to my chest as the burning in my throat spread down my body.“No,” the councilman shook his head solemnly. “No antidote until she makes bullseye,”I
The councilman went silent for a second before barking into laughter.“Of course, there is your highness! What do you think we are? Killers?” He chuckled and shook his head while I shut my eyes briefly in relief.Lilith let out an audible sigh of breath. She was as happy as I was about his declaration.“But…” My eyes snapped open at the councilman’s tone and I felt Lilith tense up beside me.“Butt the antidote will have to be earned,” the man finished with a sure nod. “Antidote will only be administered after the contestant has shot all three arrows and at least one of them went close to bullseye,”Okay, I took a deep shaky breath. That I can do, my aim is amazing. I’ll be fine,”“That makes no sense,” Lilith argued and shook her head. “How can a poisoned person shoot arrows if they want to survive?”“Well—“ the councilma
The Arena seemed to erupt as the onlookers spoke amongst themselves, some openly showing their dissent of the Queen’s decision to favor me. From beside me, Lilith looked offended at the Queen’s offer.“Silence!”The King commanded.I watched in awe as the arena went dead silent. Devania was full of different wolves from different provinces but the one thing we could all agree on was the universal fear of King Blanchard.“Now, you may place your bets on the royal wives. The contest will start right after!”Bets? My gaze snapped up to Rylan’s suddenly. What was this to the King? A game?As though he could read my mind, a court official stood to his feet.“All bettings for the Royal games have commenced. Place your bets on the Royal wives now. The trial starts in two minutes,”From where I stood, I could see them passing the bet boxes. I scoffed, a bit offended as I realized most of th
I watched silently as Morgana promptly swept out of the room, leaving behind the light smell of Jasmines.Our whole interaction seemed surreal. I turned to Siha in disbelief.“Did she really come here to gift me jewelry? On the morning of my trial?”Siha smiled a bit and walked up to me. “The goddess be with you. Good luck on your trial, your highness,”Immediately, a low whirring sound filled the room.I gasped and turned as a wall on one side of the room began to move up. Siha stepped back and left me alone as the wall fully raised and I faced the arena.It was shaped like a bowl. That’s the best description.Circle like a bowl, with bleacher like seats around the Arena that held the different pack members. I had never seen so many people together in one place and just staring at them had my knees shaking.At the end of the Arena, I spotted the Royal stand, at the center was the King. King Blanchard Grimclaw.He raised one hand and the entire Arena descended in utter silence.“STEP
I took a deep breath and stole a nervous glance at Siha.“Httt,” She kissed her teeth and tapped my cheek lightly. “You’ll be fine princess, I said a prayer to the goddess last night.”Her words brought a small smile to my lips. It reminded me of the late-night, moonlight prayers Mamma would force Nadira and me to do before any major palace event.“I’ll be fine,” I whispered with a nod.“Yes,” Siha gave a convinced nod. “You’ll be perfectly fine,”I looked ahead and tried to calm my breathing.The trial was a few minutes from starting. A court lady had ushered Siha and me to stand in a room underneath the Arena.From here, I could hear the noise of all the people gathered. All the packs in Devania and their alpha’s were present. And I was certain news of the trial results would travel as far as Calantha.What would Baba do if he received news of my death?“Stop that! We’re not dying today.” My wolf, Faith hissed in irritation.I was about to respond when a noise behind me had me whipp
“Sorry,” I blushed furiously and gave a bow, “Sorry, your majesty.”His lips quirked up, and his eyes roamed my figure.“Perhaps the best way to disguise yourself isn’t by wearing my brother’s clothes,”Prince Rylan chuckled. “The material itself is a marker. Here in Devania, the very best material
“I still don’t think following this diet is necessary,” I frowned at Siha as I slowly picked at the plate of carrots she placed before me.“If you’re going to follow the training and the exercises then it’s only right you go with the diet my lady. We need you strong. Strong enough to survive,” Siha







