Valerie

Chapter Twenty

                                                                                   ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

                                                                 I was to wait in the wilderness. 

                                                                                   ❂ ❂ ❂ ❂

We went out to this new place by car, and I quickly noticed how the glass skyscrapers had been replaced, first by farmland and then by rows of trees. Then we drove further still, down a winding road with only one lane. When I pressed my face to the cool window, I could see mountains cresting the sky, dotted with even more trees. I turned to face the driver, who was shielded from me by a thick paneling. But I could slide a little of it open. I wondered if I asked, would she tell me where we were going?

The hours slid by and I sank into my seat. My lids grew heavy, and my body dense. I tapped my fingers on my stomach if only to stay away. I might come back with the first fruits of disaster growing in my body. I shuddered. Aeneas's mother was somewhere in the capital right now, calling on all their priestesses, hoping it would happen. And all the courtiers would be praying for it too if they truly believed that pregnancy calmed a woman down. I smoothed my flat stomach. I wish it would be flat for another ten, another fifteen years even. Eighteen was too young. And my mind...I was in no state to be a mother.

My thoughts wandered. King⁠⁠—if I was to be King then Aeneas was to be removed, but not killed. I think I could keep him like a well-trained dog. He could be a weapon, a general, and kept on a short leash. But, if I removed him, a noble would rise up to kill me, then him for conceding to me. Plus, Aeneas would never concede...not in his right mind.

So what else could be put into play? The witches had been thoroughly subdued years ago. They fared far better than humans, though not as well as werewolves. They made up the middle classes. The few times I had seen a witch before the wolves mutilated me, it was always as I passed the pharmacy or a shop. They owned small stores and wrote minor prescriptions. They eked out a living and sometimes rose to the top working for a landed or wealthy family. I didn't think they could be of use.

Then there was us⁠⁠—no, not us. The humans. The starving classes, the servants, the farmhands, the laborers, the housemaids, the nursemaids, the whipping boys, the kept girls, mistresses, and childhood companions. Naturally, as this was a human country, they outnumbered the wolves ten to one. But did that say anything positive when they still managed to be completely dominated, without dignity and without hope? I scratched my face and sank down lower. There was trouble in the East though, not so long ago. It wasn't caused by humans, but by wolves. And I didn't doubt that there would be more trouble in the coming months. Alpha Shreer would avenge his daughter: if he could have me by the throat, then he would have Aeneas in the economic markets. Or maybe, he would not shipments of grain to the capital city. And maybe even, he would be willing to revolt if pushed to shove. Maybe if Raveena were attacked again...and maybe if the humans were armed about the time of this revolt...

"Then they would be killed," I murmured. There just wasn't enough a gun could do, not in this country. There was a time, according to old stories, when there were compounds that could weaken a wolf. Then even a human child, a girl-baby, could kill him. Now? The animals are unstoppable, and the humans kept in the zoo.

I let my head sink to the side. No more ideas came. I would be lucky just to be barren at this point. I drooped further and closed my eyes. I didn't sleep though; I couldn't sleep. I just sat and felt the rocking of the vehicle as it went over the once-in-awhile bump, my hands crossed over my stomach, and my heart in my throat.