BLOOD PLAN-DRAVEN POV

The smell of blood was still on my hands.

Her blood.

Three hours since I’d put the last bandage on Alina’s shoulder. Three hours since I’d shouted at her until she went quiet.

The stone hall was colder than usual. Twelve of my best commanders knelt before me, their shoulders rising and falling. Afraid. Good.

"Stand."

My voice echoed off the walls. They rose slowly. Bayu was in front, his face lined and old. He was the one who used to carry me on his back when I was a kid. Now he was waiting for me to break him.

"Who was on the western border last week?"

Five of them stepped forward. "We were, Your Majesty."

I didn’t yell. I was too tired for that. All I felt was a hot, empty weight pressing down on my chest.

"Then explain it to me. How did she come back with the same wound? Twice?"

Silence. The only sound was the torches cracking and spitting.

"Speak." The word came out lower than I meant it to, but it still had enough weight to make the flames shudder and die.

"We... we didn’t see them coming from the river, Your Majesty," Bayu said. "We failed."

Failed.

That single word hit harder than any blow. Before I realized what I was doing, my fist slammed into the pillar. Not to look strong. I just didn’t know what else to hit. Pain shot through my knuckles, and the crack splitting up the stone was the only thing that told me I was still here.

"It happened last week too," I said, my voice rough. "And now she’s lying down again. Because of you."

I couldn’t look at them anymore. If I did, I’d kill someone.

"Out. All of you. Except Bayu, Seno, Arga."

The stone door shut behind them and I finally let out a breath. My hand was still throbbing.

We sat on the floor with a map scratched into the dirt between us. No one spoke.

Seno was the first to break it. "So we attack?"

"No," I said. "We’re outnumbered. If we go in now, we die."

"So we do nothing?"

"I didn’t say that."

I stared at the map until my eyes burned. My head was empty. Usually it was Bayu who started with the plan, but today he just sat there waiting for me.

"How many?" I asked finally.

"Forty," Arga answered. "Seven of them are the Wolf King’s guards. And there’s a human. His name is Raka."

That name twisted in my gut. Three weeks. He’d been with them for three weeks. Three weeks of Alina whispering his name in her sleep.

"He hasn’t killed anyone," Arga went on. "He’s just been watching."

"Worse," Bayu muttered. "That means he’s learning."

I rubbed my temples, trying to force my mind to work through the ache.

"Wolves need to eat every two days," I said quietly. Not a plan, just a fact. "If we keep hitting their hunting trails, and foul their water..."

"Then they’ll start turning on each other for food," Bayu finished, eyes narrowing. "We won’t have to kill them. They’ll do it for us."

Finally, something made sense.

"Arga, you handle the water and trails. Seno, take the young ones. The stragglers. Don’t touch the strong. Bayu, lock the den down. No one leaves." I paused. "Including the Queen."

"Your Majesty—"

"No buts."

Silence again.

"What about the human?" Bayu asked after a while.

I closed my eyes. "He’s mine."

"Your Majesty, he—"

"I will deal with him."

Saying it felt like pulling teeth. Because the truth was, I wasn’t ready. But I couldn’t tell them that.

"Tonight. We start."

They left.

The hall was empty again. I walked to the corner where Alina was resting. Her breathing was shallow, her face still pale.

I sat on the floor. Not close. Not far.

"Why did it have to be him," I whispered. To no one at all.

Outside, the moon was full. And all I could see was my claws around Raka’s throat.

But not tonight. Tonight I could only slip out of the cave and disappear into the trees.

A war doesn’t start with a roar.

It starts when you don’t even know who to be angry at anymore.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

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