Wolves among Kings

Chapter 8 ~ Determination of Fear

As William entered the room of the queen regent, the first thing which hit William was a smell too familiar, too terrifying to the shape-shifter. The musty and heavy stench of death, which seemed to have seeped into every crevice of the room. It took William more strength then he thought he had to not throw up or set off running, he took a deep breath and approached the bed at the centre of the room.

Less than a day before, he had seen the queen regent as lively as a spring fawn. Nothing had ever made him think that something could ever be wrong with her, the smile on her expression and the determination to her tone. He had admired her, not now.

Now she was curled up in bed, her skin a pale grey and her eyes half shut, but from what he could see, they seemed unseeing and dull. Even from the edge of the great room, William did not have to strain to here how pained her breathing was, as though her lungs were being clutched by some cruel being. Making it almost impossible for her to breath, it hurt the young shape shifter to see the royalty like this, it made him feel sick.

Before he could speak up, the queen's maid, a young lithe woman with long brown hair towards the edge of the room. Her eyes reddened with recently fallen tears, spoke up to make her mistress aware of her presence. "Your majesty, the man you requested to come is here, the dragon slayer is here." She said quietly, not making eye contact with William.

The made nodded at him to come forward, and he stepped forward somewhat with caution. Neither did he decide to make eye contact with either the queen regent or her maid, he felt out of place and unwelcome, amongst all the pain and suffering in this room.

"Do you wish for me to leave, your majesty?" The younger woman asked, stepping forward, waiting to be dismissed with a bowed head. But William got the feeling that it was because she was trying to hide the tears in her eyes, then it was an attempt to be polite.

"You may stay, Althea." The queen regent said simply, resting her gaunt head back on the pillows behind her, taking a deep breath after every syllable. As though breathing and speaking alone was causing her the greatest of pain, even the most simple of tasks seemed tiring to the elderly woman. She was in a pitiful state.

"There is no reason for you to leave, this conversation has no need to be private, and there may be necessity for me to have a witness." There was some of the humour that William had seen the evening before, but now it was slightly dulled. The sparkle of amusement gone from her eyes.

Looking a little uncomfortable, but the maid wasn't about to go and disagree with her mistress at the end of her lifetime, she stepped back and sent a sideways glance at William. Who didn't return the favour, remaining still and silent.

 His hands crossed behind him, trying to do his best to look as though he wasn't prepared to bolt at any given minute. Despite the fact that the side of him which was wolf, was struggling against his restraints to set off running. The door now left slightly ajar seemed very appealing to him at this point in time. William struggled to stop himself from looking at it, as he knew that if he did, he'd probably be out of it before he could stop himself from running.

"Good morning, your majesty. I am very sorry about everything which has happened." William said quietly, not sure what else he could do but apologise, he ducked his head politely and stepped forward a couple of paces. Not a hundred percent sure if she was even able to see him, he tilted his head and stood still.

She shrugged her shoulders, as though she was almost bored about what she was hearing she turned her head to look at him. A gesture which seemed to take her great effort, and she looked almost immediately more tired when she had done so.

"Well, there is nothing we can do about that now, I need to talk to you." She said firmly, William made the realisation that she could in fact not see him, but her unseeing eyes shook him a little. They made him uncomfortable, but he couldn't do anything but look at her, he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

"I need to hear you say that you are going to look after this kingdom when I am gone, you are the only person who can do it. You are the only person I will trust to take care of the people I love, and I will not allow anyone else to take care from." Her voice was still firm and determined, despite the situation she found herself in.

Nothing had changed for William, he felt pitiful for the kingdom and those who were close to the royal family, after everything which had happened, but he was in no position, nor any wish to take over the queen's position.

The queen regent would never know, as he would never tell her about his true form if God himself told him to do so. She couldn't understand why, but he would not be good for her beloved kingdom, and he wasn't about to break the wishes of a dying person for their home to be ruined, even if in doing so, he had to ruin a different wish for her.  

"You will never know how sorry I am, your majesty. But I cannot accept this, I will not accept this, you wont understand. But this place would do no good with me at its head, they will follow in your path and it wont be long before this place is in ruin. I could not be the king of this place if I wanted to, and I think I have made it pretty clear that I don't want to." For a moment there was silence, and everyone seemed to be staring at their feet or fidgeting.

"Please accept that, it would burden me for the rest of my life if I went against your wishes, as a dying queen. But, I just could not." He said simply and as determined as the queen was to change his mind, the horrible feeling of guilt was heavy on his shoulders, but he knew it would be best. Even if she didn't.

Suddenly the queen regent seemed angered, and she snapped a little and grabbed out at the mans wrist with a sudden strength that surprised the shape shifter of her speed. He could have torn out of her grip quite easily, but he knew that in doing so, he would probably have snapped her wrist clean in too. And that would not have made him look brilliant so he remained still, stumbling to his knees so that she could whisper in his ear carefully.

"I know what you are, William. I could tell it from the first time that I saw you, you are a shifter, you are probably a wolf from what I could guess. But that is no excuse, this kingdom needs a king, and that king will be you." She said, her voice hoarse and her breath heavy from the sudden effort, but that wasn't about to stop her.

"Or I will make it my last wish as queen, to have every single shape shifter alive, killed in more brutal ways then you can ever imagine. You either take care of this kingdom, or everyone you know. For that is the only reason I could imagine for as to why that you are refusing this position from me, will die." It surprised William, the harshness yet determination and anger in her voice, but he could tell that she meant it. This was no laughing or joking matter, and the queen regent was obviously going to do anything in order to keep the ones she loved safe.

"Do as I say William, I will do it if it is necessary for me to. I don't wish to do so, but I am not about to let my kingdom either die, or be taken over by some terrible man or woman who would do it no good, you are my first and only choice. Listen to me now William, do as I say." She said, her voice was almost terrifying, and he wanted to back away. But her grip was like ice, and she wasn't about to let him go.

He backed away a little bit, staring down at her, he knew that she would do as she was threatening to do, and she very much had the power to make sure that this happened even in her death. His kind had been prosecuted for so long, the deaths had only just been beginning to stop.

 She could very much make sure that this restarted, and the world of the shape shifters could easily come crashing down very easily. The idea terrified him, he had lived in times of both peace and war for the shifters, and he didn't want it to happen again. All because of his actions.

William hesitated, his eyes filled with a certain panic and his tone low, he said quietly looking down at his feet on the well carpeted ground and at last he said very slowly. "Very well, your majesty. I will do as you ask, I will become king."