Queen of the Beasts✅

3

"Esmeralda!"

Fear and shame engulfed me like a ton of bricks as I slowly closed my mouth and turned around from the large table. My mother stood in the middle of he ballroom, arms crossed over her chest, glaring. "Yes, mother?" I asked with a stuffed mouth.

"A princess never, ever, ever stuffs her mouth with chocolates!" I nodded my head as I gulped down the sweet food.

"I was feeling hungry," I admitted unabashedly. We had hardly eaten lunch. Well I had hardly stem due to the fact that I had to fit into the extremely tight ball gown. The corset was killing me.

"Don't act rash because of a feeling," she reminded me. I nodded, exhaling painfully. "Are you in pain, my dear?" She questioned, looking over my face.

I nodded. "My corset."

She laughed softly, covering her mouth and laughed harder. "Esme, you always have to smile. No matter what you've been through, you don't want anyone to see you...how do they say..sweat? Yes, you don't want anyone to see you sweat. You're royalty, we don't perspire."

It was my turn to laugh. "Tell that to father!" My father sweated entirely to much for a man who lived in a cool climate.

"Queen Elizabeth! Prince Eddie is stealing the sweets from the kitchen!" One maid shouted.

My mother glared at me. "I bet he gets this behavior from you."

"We both get it from father, actually."

She gasped. "Oh that man! Gluttony is truly his downfall!"

***********
"Esme, Esme! Esssmmeee!" I woke up to see two large blue eyes peering up at me. It was Eddie. He looked tired. I don't even think he got any rest.

I looked around the carriage. There was the man who had defended Eddie when that man tried to take him away with us. But that was it. I held Eddie close to me as the man's eyes snapped open. Was he even sleep? Or was he just resting his eyes?

"Hi," Eddie greeted the man, waving at him tiredly.

"Hello," the man said gruffly. His hair was dirty blonde and close to his head, short. He had dark brown eyes, and  tanned skin. He had a shirt on....compared to before when he was shirtless covered in blood.

A pang of pain washed over me. We were on our way to the Lycan kingdom. The Beast Nation.

To get me out of the castle, they had to sedate me. I didn't want to go. After collecting the crowns, I was brought to my room where I collected my favorite things. Then a medic came in and many painful things happened. He was a beast doctor, not a mundane. He had done things differently.

He had numbed it, stitched some parts up, and put me in some odd cast. He had definitely got it from our medic rom in the castle though. After that, the King came in and told me I needed to change my dress. He was right, it was covered in blood. I had changed then slipped a dagger that my mother had given me when I was fifteen in under my dress. After that we had tried to leave. I had protested more, but to no avail. No one cared what I wanted. I was a mundane princess who he had mercy on for an unknown reason. I had no rights.

"What is your name?" I questioned the man, as he looked me over. His eyes full of uncertainty.

"Rowan," he answered. "I am the King's Beta."

He had mentioned Beta before...to the soldier. That must be a high position. "What is a Beta?"

"A Beta is the second in command. In ancient days there used to be multiple packs. With one Alpha, the first in command and a Beta, the second in command. Now there is only one Beta, and one Alpha to rule the lycanthropes."