The Fire Seer

9 - Forsake

I loosed a breath as the story ended. Oliver was quiet. I did not look at him. "Sabrian Patel had been the Beta of Sháńdíín Ooljééʼ, a Navajo Pack from the same mountains as us. Thirty years ago, our war with them wiped out their numbers. Six years ago, he finally gathered the forces to attack. I assume he had been scouting when I found him, and he used me for information. I was in that attic for six years, lingering on my guilt, unable to know peace or happiness. A month ago, that changed."

I stared at the floor as the music played on, beautiful instrumentals stringing from a quartet of violins, cello, and piano. Oliver placed a hand on my leg, startling me from my thoughts. I looked up at him to find glassy eyes. "You never deserved that, even for a second, Davina," He said quietly. I looked at him, startled to find someone say that to me. After long years of guilt and self-hatred, someone had said to me what no one had before. Tears welled in my eyes, and I sniffled, fanning them. I would ruin Rebecca's work if not. "Sorry, I--" My voice wobbled, and I covered my mouth, looking at him as my face twisted with pain and tears. "Thank you, Oliver," I got out, my head drooping. I took his hand, pressing my forehead to it, a sign of submission and fealty to wolves. "Thank you."

"Raise your head, Davina," He said sternly, and I did, looking up at him, figuring I looked a mess. He didn't seem disgusting or unnerved. He just smiled. "Don't let them see you wilt." Laluin had said the same thing. I nodded. Oliver handed me his glass. "This is your night, Seer. That devastation is behind you. If Ironfang ever made you a prisoner like that again, they would have the rage of every pack on earth bearing down on them. You are free."

Free. My heart felt lighter. The truth of that day pouring out saved some part of me I thought I had lost: the part of me that dared to dream. I took the glass, finishing it in two gulps and slamming it down on the table. I giggled softly. "Thank you, Oliver," I said quietly, "for giving me this gift."

We chatted the rest of the night, and by the bottom of the next glass, I was a giggly mess on him. I took his phone from him and put my high school email address in, joking that he couldn't one-night-stand me, and I thought I saw his face turn a little red with his laughter. We told stories of our childhoods. He told me of Scotland and the rolling hills and the ruins of long lost civilization and the sun through the clouds. I told him of the breadth of the mountains and the streams of silver fish and the glow of sunset over the forests.

Suddenly, my shoulder yanked sideways, and I looked up into the rageful eyes of Elijah. A shiver of terror ran down my spine. "What have you been doing all this time? Fraternizing with the Scotsman?" He snarled. My daze of joy was shattered, and I drunkenly stood, stumbling as I jabbed a finger into his chest. "You do not get to speak to me that way, you asshole!" I screamed, and people's eyes were on us. Elijah's teeth bared, growing longer as his maw formed fangs. "How dare you, Davina. Here you are, drunk and spilling secrets. Do you never learn?"

"That's enough." Oliver stood, buttoning his suit and staring Elijah down. "I don't think you have any place to speak, Alpha Sinclair. From what I hear, you have performed a grave crime in the eyes of Ilya. She forgave the girl and gifted her, yet here she is, a thinly veiled existence as prisoner still."

Elijah looked at him, black filling the whites of his eyes. "Need I remind you whose pack territory you stand in, MacLaren?" He growled. Absolute Authority wiped over the room as two alpha's auras clashed in a heated exchange. I put out my arms, separating them, slurring out my words. "That's enouf'," I pushed out. "Elijah, why do you care who I talk to?" I questioned, glaring at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but he seemed to be lost for words. A realization came to his eyes. Beatrice came from nowhere, taking his arm. "Love, don't concern yourself with them," She whispered, casting me a cold look with those sage eyes, "They are not worth it."

"You bitch," I snapped. The crowds grew rigid with this shift. My pack knew the danger of it. I was insulting their future Luna. "You conniving, snake-eyed bitch!" I laughed. "Do you have any idea how insignificant you are right now? There you go, inserting yourself where you don't belong, just like your whole family. Why don't you tell daddy to fix it for you? Fix this whole mess? That's what he does, right? Like some damn hero? Takes my father's place--my father's legacy--your mother takes over my mother's school, and you take what belongs to me. Have fun on your throne, the one that is mine, while you lie through your teeth to try to make yourself worthy of it." The words just came out, slightly broken up and slurred but impactful. Beatrice's eyes filled with rage. "How dare you, insolent cunt," She snarled out, nasty insults for a nasty heart. How I didn't see it in all those years, I hit myself for. Had she always coveted my spot? Had this always been her dream? Well, what about my dreams? What about my life? I hated her. I hated her and I wish she had frozen to death in that basement during the storm. The hatred burst through me like nothing I had ever known. Every bit of it tore from me as I turned towards the crowds. The music halted. Everyone looked.

"You want to know the life I led before this month? Imprisonment under Alpha Elijah's command for a sixteen year old child's mistakes! My pack turned their backs on me, and now they wish to worship me like none of it ever happened!" I laughed, putting out my arms, stumbling onto the dancefloor and into the sight of all. The alcohol numbed my nerves.

"You want to know what the Oracle of Ilya says? I forsake Ironfang Pack! I curse them and all who have hurt me! Say nothing of my best friend," I pointed at Elijah, my eyes filling with tears, "My best friend, Eli, who made me a prisoner without shoes or clean clothes or proper meals, for six years while he sat in luxury and ruled like a king. I will never recognize you as my alpha, Elijah. You say you will never forgive me? I will never forgive you. I call on every pack in the entire world to shun Ironfang Pack and all who live here for the crime of punishing a child for their own weakness! If your pack was decimated by rogues for the words of a little girl, you were never worthy of survival to begin with." The command reverberated, something pulsing from my heart. The wave of it washed over everything, like the whole world had been shifted. I recognized it. Absolute Authority. From me.

I sobbed, and Oliver caught me as I collapsed into a puddle of tears on the floor, crumpling like worn paper. I looked up at Elijah and found his eyes wet with tears and anger and despair. Then I looked on the other packs, who turned to my pack members and snarled, closing in. "Tell them to stop," Elijah said pleadingly. "Tell them to stop!" He fell to his knees. "Davina! Tell them to stop! I'll let you go, I'll let you be free! Don't let them all die! Please!" I laughed through the tears. "Why? Why is this any different than six years ago? You wanted this, didn't you? To prove that I am Evil, that I am the Betrayer and the Defiler and the Fool? Well, here you go!"

"Davina," Oliver said quietly. "Stop this." I looked up at him, dumbstruck. "Why?" I breathed out. "Why should I?"

"Because you're better than them. And this proves you are everything they feared."

I dug my nails into my hands so hard I smelled the blood from them, and I looked at Elijah, tears rolling down his face. "DD, please! I'm sorry, okay? I'm so fucking sorry! Just don't hurt them!"

Shouts came from around as my pack members joined in, begging for their lives. I covered my ears as the other wolves bared their fangs, ready to leap at my order. I pushed it away. I pushed it all away.

"Let them go, Davina," Laluin said. I felt warm arms wrap around me, pressing into my hair. I knew it as her essence, her very being tying around my body in an embrace. "Stop the hatred and the bloodshed here. We are free."

"Stop!" I screamed. The whole room went silent. I unfurled myself. Elijah let out a gasping sigh, sobbing as he held his hand over his heart. Oliver took my arms, helping me stand.

The whole room was silent save for the screams of horror from the mothers. The children. The children. What had I done?

I looked around, at all the eyes, more sober than anyone, and found a wickedness in myself I never knew existed at all. "I'm sorry," I whispered. Sam and Rebecca looked at me from across the ballroom, horror and betrayal and pity in their eyes. "I'm sorry," I said to them. I looked down at Elijah. "I'm so sorry." I looked at Oliver. "Take me far away from here."

We walked from the ballroom, past the people who had once been family, past every memory I held onto, out into the light. His pack followed behind.