Lucy’s POV
When you got used to living in a nightmare, it was important to have things that anchored you to hope-the belief that one day, things would change.
Hope.
I cleaned the dishes left behind in the kitchen, carefully using the soapy sponge to scrub off the dried food residue on the plate.
Settling into the role had been a little too easy for me, but it gave me something to think about and focus on.
After I finished washing the stack of plates given to me by the kitchen head, who was just a member of the Shadow Howl that had been given the position, I dried off my hands and stepped outside to get a little air. Of course, I could feel eyes watching me as I moved. We were always watched.
Somehow, the enemies had found a way to keep us on a supply of Wolfsbane, which greatly reduced our werewolf capabilities. If we weren’t being poisoned, we were chained down with silver and locked in a place with no light, food, or water. But the latter was the more severe fate given to those who were adamant and made mistakes.
I picked a flat rock and used my hand to brush off the dust, before settling on it. I wasn’t supposed to take a break yet, but I was done with all my chores for the moment. I watched the sun fully rise from beyond the clouds, and settle right above our heads. It was going to be noon soon, so I would have to go inside and help with meal preparations soon.
At this point, I couldn’t even feel the wolf on the inside of me, but I knew it remained. Somehow, I just knew it was there, waiting for a time when it could be free once again.
The admiral hadn’t stopped at taking Moongrowl captive, as expected. Since she had most pack leaders right in the palm of her hands, it was very easy for her to dominate the packs that had been thrown into disarray after the disappearance of their leaders.
The spot where I sat was one where Tessa and I would meet to just communicate a little bit. She gave me hope, and I comforted her in the best way I could. The girl was truly resilient, but I hated that once again, she had to find herself as a slave.
As noon got closer, I found it strange that she hadn’t shown up like she had for the past month. I didn’t want to go back inside without seeing her, and yet the longer I stayed out, the more likely it was that one of the Shadow Howl guards was going to come and fish me out as we weren’t supposed to be on our own for too long.
However, I didn’t have to worry for long, because soon, a panicked screaming reached my ears.
I followed the sound, leaving behind all my fear about returning late. Across from where I sat was the fountain of a wolf that was situated just in front of the villa. Just ahead, I caught a glimpse of people moving oast it.
“It was a mistake allowing a child to work!” A woman grumbled, smacking a little girl, whom she was holding by her long red hair in familiar braids that set my heart on fire.
“No!” I screamed, running after them. I couldn’t let anything happen to her. Damn the consequences. “No, stop!”
The woman stopped and turned. I didn’t know her, but from the look in her eyes I knew that this was one who was wicked.
A Shadow guard was already jogging towards me. “What are you doing out there, slave?”
I paid him no attention, and turned to the woman. “Please, she’s just a child. Leave her be.” It was just like before, when I had been trying to free her from the woman she worked for.
“She’s a waste of space and can’t get anything done right. I’m giving her to the admiral so they can whip some sense into her.” She pulled on Tessa’s hair again, and the poor girl shouted, crying her heart out. Hearing this made me boil on the inside.
Right then, the admiral came outside from one of the nearby homes. One of her men stood by her side, and I caught the little splash of blood on the front of his uniform.
The woman near me cackled triumphantly. “Finally, she’s here.” She threw Tessa forward to the approaching admiral, like how meat was thrown to animals for them to feed. “Admiral Fern, please, I’d like you to discipline this unruly slave.” She pointed to Tessa. “She never does anything right.”
The admiral looked down at Tessa, and then turned to me, raising a brow.
The guard had already reached my side, and was trying to drag me back inside, but I resisted. “No!” I was tired of it all. I wasn’t going to watch another person I loved suffer right in front of me. “Leave her be!”
“I thought I had broken your spirit already,” the admiral said, looking at me with little interest. Like I was an insect not worth her time.
I gritted my teeth. “You have not.” If death was the price of my boldness, then so be it.
A little amused, the admiral tilted her head to one side. “I see how you look at that man in my room, slave. I would know it anywhere because I have ended the lives of many with that same look. He will suffer more for your insolence.”
Shaun. I didn’t want to make things worse for him, but I couldn’t go on living the way I did.
“You act powerful because you have people around you. You make others do your bidding, and you dictate because you feel it makes you powerful. But power doesn’t come from cruelty.” I pointed at the bloody blade in her hand.
Admiral Fern scoffed, her scar whiter in the sun. “So what is power then?”
I clenched my fists, unable to believe the words that were about to leave my mouth. “I challenge you to a duel!”
“What?”
“I challenge you . . . to a duel.” I lifted my head high, and squared my shoulders. “And if I win, you must relinquish your seat as the leader of the Shadow Howl.”