A Crown of Bones

~4| CHAPTER~

WE WAITED FOR ten minutes.

Father tapped his foot impatiently.

Though we technically had arrived early, I smiled on the inside at the frustration that was showing from my parents.

Those ten minutes though were it.

The doors opened to reveal the man himself.

The Wolf King.

I had heard stories of him.

Small legends of how great his power was.

That he sent fear into your heart just by being in the same room as you.

That his beast was so powerful, he could take down armies and slaughter them all without aid.

That he controlled such force, such strength, he was a reincarnation of the devil himself.

Looking at the doorway, and the man that stood in it, I thought if such legends were purely that.

Legends.

He walked with powerful steps towards us.

His blond hair was gelled back, his green eyes devouring every part of me.

I felt shaking and looked over in surprise to see mother's pale face.

My sharp eyes didn't miss the slight tremble that coursed down father's hands.

I looked back up at the man, curious as to how he could cause such a reaction in them.

He stopped short a few hairs breath from me.

"Beautiful," his breath washed over me, and it took all my self-control to not gag.

It smelled horrible.

I wanted to ask him when he last brushed his teeth.

It was not like in the stories, how his breath smelled of blood and ashes.

I knew full and well the smell of blood. This was not blood.

Father's gulp was audible, and I wanted to groan from the embarrassment of how weak he was.

The King took a bold step towards me. His chest was pressing against mine.

A satisfied growl ran through him as his hand came up, touching the loose curls that I had left hanging to frame my face.

"I want her."

He turned to father then, his eyes glowing red in his demand as he let his beast surface, reeking of dominance and desire.

Father nodded, but I could tell it took all his strength to collect himself in that moment.

"You already saw the price I would set for her?"

Again father nodded.

Mother and I did not exist. We were just ghosts. Or rather, toys for their amusement.

I looked up at the King.

He seemed to frighten mother and father with his dominant power, but I felt nothing. No fear, no panic. I wonder how he was even King?

The King's eyes turned to me, his green mixing in with red as he let out a soft growl.

It took me a few seconds, looking from my mother's horrified face and my father's shaky pale one- to realize that I had said the question out loud.

"What?"

The King already stood as close as he could be to me.

Any closer and we might as well have been embracing each other.

His warm breath of fury washed over me as I blinked it back.

"Would you like to repeat those words?"

I felt my lips pull back, and saw then, the defeated look in my parent's eyes.

It was over. And they knew it.

"I asked, how something like you is able to be King?"

The King's hand shot out as he gripped my neck.

"You question me?"

The canines within his mouth slowly rose, growing sharper and more threatening as he let me examine and take them in.

Instead of fear though I felt nothing but fury.

Fury at what should have been mine.

Fury and jealousy that he had what I did not.

This feeble, pathetic excuse for a King.

"You think I'm weak?"

He must have read it within my eyes, even as he had his hand locked around my throat.

"I could kill you this second, without even blinking. Without even trying."

The grip on my throat tightened and then- I started to laugh.

Or at least I tried to.

But the bubbling laughter came and issued forth from my lips, finding its escape as a strangled garbled mess. I couldn't stop.

The King's eyes widened as he took me in. Really took me in.

I saw his sight flicker to the scars upon my shoulder.

I was not afraid of my truth and the darkness that lurked within me. I would not omit pieces of me to make my parents, and those around me comfortable. To fit within the world.

And so my laughter continued.

"How- weak," I managed to gasp the two words out between his hold on me.

He dropped me then, letting me fall to the floor. Father pushed mother back, taking a few steps away from me.

"The deal's off," the King looked at my parents and their faces of despair.

"The Conversion clearly didn't work on your daughter. I would suggest the best thing for all of you, and put her down."

Like a dog.

Like a rabid sick dog.

I got up then, making the King take a few steps back as well.

"It is a shame really. I have never seen someone as beautiful as her."

I hissed at his words, making all three eyes turn to look wearily at me.

"Beautiful is a lazy and ugly way to describe me."

The King began to slowly retreat away, taking me in one last time- a look of longing and regret clear upon his face.

"That is okay little wolf King."

I saw father tense up, his eyes widening as he realized I was not yet done.

The King's own eyes once again took on a hint of red as he stared at me.

"I don't know how a weak creature such as you became King. Thought he could entice me with his power and dominance when he had such little of it? I deserve something more than this. I deserve more power than this. I will get more." I bared my teeth at him.

"What are you?" He growled out his words, eyes like flames as he took a step closer.

"I'm the monster you created."

He shook his head at my declaration.

"She will not leave my palace until she is put down."

My father hesitated before nodding.

Mother said nothing. Did not even cry as they casually discussed my death.

"Remember King," I whispered my words but he paused at the doorway, stopping in his actions of getting a doctor to take care of me for good.

"Beautiful rose vines are just as lovely when they wrap tight over your limbs and shatter your bones."