Wrong

Rosalind’s POV
After that cryptic woman left having dropped that ominous warning, I laid back in bed thinking and thinking about the ways I could escape with minimal risk.
I couldn’t risk my life on the off chance that Killian didn’t feel like bailing me out.
Cillian was mercurial and while some days he seemed like an absolute darling, it never lasted.
Things might change now that I was his fiancee but I sincerely doubted it seeing as he wanted this engagement about as much as I wanted it. Which was not at all.
So no, I wouldn’t wait for him to save me. That being secured there was only one way out of this room. It was the door.
I would be monitored by the guy in black, River, but at least I would be able to check my vicinity to make sure she hadn’t been lying about us being in a different kingdom.
I stood up pleasantly surprised when I didn’t swoon or have sudden upsetting headaches. The drugs had worn out.
Then I went to check the washroom and the dresser. There was water and there were some dresses in the closet. I wasn’t quite sure how to put on some of them so I just reached out for an impractical grey princess gown that esteemed like it was made of gossamer and had a train that was higher in front with a pair of hip-high slits.
It also came with grey-coloured tights that looked about my size.
I checked the door making sure to bolt it from the inside before entering the bathroom.
While I dressed up, I realized that the dress wasn’t just around my size. It was my exact fit. Was this a coincidence? If it wasn’t then just how long had they known they would abduct me?
They had kidnapped me the day after the Princess trials ended. How could they have planned everything out so well in such a short period of time?
These people might be more dangerous than I had thought initially.
Fully dressed, I let my hair do its thing because saving my life was a higher priority for me than waiting for my hair to completely dry before brushing it out.
I opened my room door and River was standing outside.
“You were faster than I anticipated, Princess.” He drawled.
In this lighting, I could see that his wavy ink-black hair that was pulled back in a ponytail had deep purple highlights and his dark eyes looked at me from head to toe as though he found something severely lacking in my appearance or just me in general and I bristled at his attitude.
“Look River, I will only say this once so listen closely. I don’t want to be here any more than you want to be around me. I am not crazy about this place, that weird lady from earlier or even about you being my guard but this is the situation we are in, so let’s do this.”
“You’ll show me respect and I will show you the same in return. While we are at it, don’t call me princess, I prefer Rosalind.”
When I was done talking I was breathless and River was staring at me with something vaguely but not quite resembling confusion.
I was at least partly sure that he would laugh snidely or just ignore me but he surprised me by nodding.
“Fair enough. River, your bodyguard and information drive, at your service.” He bowed extravagantly.
At a different place and time, I would have smiled but I was abducted with my life on the line so I only smiled tersely.
“Rosalind, pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Okay so maybe he wasn’t totally bad.
*****
We definitely weren’t in the Southern Paw pack anymore.
There was something in the air that made everywhere feel… charged and when we stepped out of the building we were in, my jaw dropped.
The flowers and plants seemed greener and more colourful than they were supposed to be. It should have looked unnatural but somehow it seemed just right.
“Close your mouth, Rosalind, it’s just grass. Have you not seen them before in your pack?”
I slanted River a side glare but he only smirked unaffected.
So he wasn’t particularly an angel. His idea of fun mainly consisted of making me feel silly but he was beginning to grow on me against my wishes like mold.
“You never did tell me,” I asked as we walked down a footpath to Goddess knew where. He kept telling me where we were but the names were so many and fancy that I had forgotten at least half of them before taking a few steps forward.
“About that woman who came to take me up.”
River paused before sliding his hand around my waist to assist me so I didn’t trip over a peculiarly placed cobblestone.
“What do you want to know about her?” He asked.
I frowned. “Why doesn’t she like me?”
Okay, that might have come out from. It wasn’t like I expected everyone to like me but it was like she had something against me specifically.
River paused and looked me over like I had gifted my brains to somebody for the hour.
“And why would you think that she doesn’t like you?”
I recalled the look she had given me. “Just a hunch.”
River shrugged.
“For the record, Estella might be the only person here that likes you, apart from me, of course.”
I ignored the last part of his sentence knowing he was just itching to get a rise out of me. In fact, I ignored everything he said except for her name.
“Her name is Estella? What is her deal though? Does she have a big role here? She acted so high and mighty, like she was condescending to speak with me.”
The corners of River’s mouth twitched like he was fighting back a laugh.
“Sorry, I have to be the one to burst your bubble but she was condescending to speak to you.” River didn’t seem very apologetic. “She is our leader. The purest of the purebloods and you are… well, you know what you are.”
Before I could react to the ‘you know what you are’ jibe or even could question him further on what he meant by purebloods we reached the place he wanted to show me to.
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t do anything but watch with my jaw dropped.
Where we stood was on an outcropping on a higher ground level so we were able to view everything on a larger area and I was able to see the full scale of what was happening.
There were a few shifted wolves fighting and chasing each other in what could only be called duels due to their unmatched intensity. They were ferocious as they went after each other.
Then close to them, I saw an injured wolf with someone in human form hunched over it with their hands pressed to the wound and then in a few seconds, the wolf had rebounded while the unshifted wolf still sat on the floor as though she had just carried out a strenuous task.
Then a flash of light drew my attention to the other side of the field where two werewolves fought in human form and around them, four others watched.
The only thing was they weren’t fighting with their claws but with sparks of light and fire? I heard a rumble and River held on to me before the light waves of an earthquake tremor hit and he steadied me.
I looked up at him with wide eyes. That was exactly what had happened in the palace.
“What the hell is all of this?” I looked around, seeing even more puzzling things that my mind was unable to comprehend.
River was impassive.
“What do you think? It’s magic or as your people prefer to call it. Witchcraft.”
I shifted away from him suddenly realizing who they were. The rogue wolves that had overthrown the Western leadership. The rogue wolves that were said to have bargained away their souls in order to acquire power beyond the reach of normal wolves.
“It is forbidden,” I whispered, my tongue feeling swollen in my mouth. “It is twisted, unnatural, wrong.”
No wonder the nature around this place seemed altered, their warped powers must have altered this landscape.
“No, it isn’t.” River scoffed like I was being unreasonable. “It is natural. As natural as you shifting into your wolf form.”
I shook my head. That was different. He was the one being unreasonable. We were werewolves, what else were we supposed to shift into if not wolves? Bears?
“Witches are dead. They are extinct.”
I mumbled to myself trying to fight my rising panic attack. I couldn’t be the only non-witchcraft practising wolf or whatever abominations these were here.
Yes. River was also a wolf like me, not a witch like them, I knew his scent. He was a werewolf through and through. I was safe. I was
“I feel very alive.” River replied snidely and I gawped.
“You… how is this possible? You can’t be a werewolf and a witch.”
I always assumed that those wolves practising witchcraft would smell different as we had heard. They would smelt rotten. Wrong. But now, I was no longer so sure.
“Where did you think lycanthropy came from?” River tilted his head to the side. “Are you up for a little history lesson? Mind you, this is the real stuff. None of that political propaganda from your kingdom..”
I paused looking down on the field beneath us and their different movements and manoeuvres and while I still felt repulsed by it, I felt a strange draw towards it.
I sat on the ground shielded by the wood cover. “Tell me.”
River sat next to me, his shoulders brushing mine.
“I’ll ask you again. Who created us?”
Was this a trick question? Everyone knew who it was. “The moon goddess blessed us. We are her descendants.”
River nodded resolutely.
“The Mother, you call her the moon goddess, is the source of life and our powers. But Lycanthropy was made by the curse of a power-hungry witch on her fellow witches in a bid to steal power.”
Our shifting abilities were a witch’s curse? How was that even possible? Could a witch really be that powerful?
River continued speaking, noting the disbelief on my face but made no comments, choosing to continue the story.
“The Mother, angry at this, wiped out the witch’s entire lineage. Then she gave witches the power over their animal sides that the curses had activated. Over time, we evolved and as the original bloodlines got diluted, rare. Their grip on witchcraft lessened, giving room for more dominance of the wolf side.”
Hence the rumours that witches were dying out. It made sense now. Because they were dying out.
River’s black hair moved with the movement of the wind.
“The ones with purer bloodlines held the throne while the magic-less wolves served. As the pure bloodlines reduced, discontent arose alongside jealousy with the magic-less wolves. Then city by city overthrew their pure-blooded rulers destroying the proof that they were the stunted versions.”
River gestured to the cleared grassland beneath us with their soldiers’ training.
“From millions that covered the entire earth’s surface, this is all that is left of us. We are a dying species, Rosalind..”
I was stunned and silent by the conclusion of the story. That was it? So after years of survival, infighting and trials, this was how it would end for them?
It felt wrong, sad even.
Then I reminded myself that they were the enemy. I couldn’t sympathize with them. For all I knew, they could be lying.
I shook my head, refusing to believe or accept his words.
“You are lying. This can’t be true.” I had seen history texts in my time learning to read with Cillian. I might not have read the entire text but I had read enough to know that something didn’t mesh well in River’s story.
“History can not lie and there is nothing about you. About this.”
River’s face hardened and he stood up.
“History is written by the victors. I won’t force you to believe me. Bury your head in a bucket of doubt if you wish.”
He began to walk away when I stopped him.
“Wait.”