Nomad {Editing}

::Epilogue ii:: Monster Hunt

Resting his head on his chin, he looked at his wife as though nothing had happened. Like he had been there the entire time, the grin gone from his face. Yet the gloating to his eyes was still there, beneath a layer of something much more dangerous.

Knowing there were few things left to do, Lucy took her seat on the other side of the desk, though it couldn't have been called willing.

Now they were done with their little game of musical chairs, she spoke again. "I am not going to let you do this, what in the name of hell has possessed you to even think of this. Do you not have plenty of your own men to manipulate and experiment on?"

"From what we've seen, it appears that the subject must be young for it to be successful," was the King's bored response. As though they were talking about the weather, or what they had eaten for breakfast.

Like the subject of the conversation wasn't on that of their youngest son.

"Then find a peasant boy from the orphanages, god knows there's plenty of them. Just not Charlie," her growl echoed from her throat. She was shaking with anger and wouldn't have thought twice about taking it out on the nearest wall.

Snorting aloud, a less then elegant gesture for the King. "Charlie is infinitely stronger then any weakling we can find in those destitute towns, he is the best person for the job. This may give him purpose, he will thank us when he's older."

Purpose, the use of the word made the queen growl. The boy was a child, not some weapon to be utilised. Robert, a king, Arthur, a general, Violet, a healer and now Charlie. But an experiment was something she could never imagine.

"Plus I'd rather it be of my own blood than some common boy, someone who is all too easily swayed at the option of more money," the king added. He had never thought very much of the people he called his subject.

The people he ruled over with an iron thumb.

And the people who were now rebelling to overthrow him from the throne.

Now the queen found herself almost unable to blame them. She almost wanted to join them.

But if she did, god only knew what he might do to the children as a result.

Would he turn them all into monsters, again she growled. All in vengeance of me.

"He's eight!" She snapped, fury sparking in her eyes again. "And he's ours, this could kill him."

"If this doesn't kill him, war will."

This was a man who had suffered speaking, a war veteran and a king before a father. This was a man Lucy couldn't believed she had ever loved. And now the product of their love would be subject to something worse than death.

And they didn't even know if it would work.

"For all we know war will be over by the time he's even old enough to fight, all this would be for nothing." She insisted, pulling on even the most meagre threads in a desperate attempt to change her husbands mind.

Anything to keep her son safe, if she had thought it would convince him she would have offered herself as an experiment.

Even if every experience she knew of him told her that once his mind was made, there was little to be done which could have changed it.

The King glowered in his chair. "Even if this war ends, there will be more. The people want me dead, and it wont be long until another uprising until they get what they want. Either they all end up dead, or I do. And as much as I hate to admit it, there is a lot more of them then there is of us."

"And whose fault is that?"

Low blow after low blow, but the King didn't as much as flinch at her words.

The queen found herself barely able recognise the man that she had once loved.

War had changed him so much, she thought as her gaze flickered across his scars. Usually hidden by vast amounts of makeup and careful hairdressing. But not now, she saw him in all his age and pain.

But she found himself unable to pity him, not that she tried all too hard, it had been a long time since she had been able to bring herself to feel sorry for him.

Moments passed with nothing further said, they simply stared at one and other without a word passing between them. The Queen had no idea what would be said next, her husband was nothing if not unpredictable in the most awkward of times.

At last after a tense moment of absolute silence, the King opened his mouth again.

"You have two choices here, my dear." He said firmly, though something flashed in his eyes. Part of her almost wanted it to have been pity or sadness, but she knew better then to assume he had any love left for her.

"This is going to happen, with your permission or otherwise." He spoke firmly, maintaining eye contact the entire time. Eyes alight with a fire which could have burnt through even the toughest of diamonds.

Choices, he'd always been one to love to pretend that his victims had a choice, but they never did. However, he'd never been brave enough to pretend that she had any, not until today. He must think Ive gone mad, a growl slipped from her.

He ignored it, for now. She might not be so lucky a second time.

"So either you can stay with us," he said finally. "Help your little boy through what will be the most difficult years of his life, help him learn to control his new powers and keep him safe from the outside world."

The outside world you are trying to plunge him into all too soon, again she stayed quiet.

As much as she hated herself for not being able to find the courage to say the words which made her heart want to explode.

He was careful to choose his words. Deciding on each one in order to make his wife feel as guilty and scared as possible. Lucy didn't know why, but it appeared as though he needed her. It made the Queen regard her husband with utmost caution.

"Or you can leave."

His words, as much as she had guessed that they were to come, hurt her to the core.

As she had guessed, there was no choice.

It had never crossed her mind that he might exile her, force her out into a world which wanted her dead almost as much as they wanted the King dead. It only went to show what lengths he was willing to go to in order to keep her here.

She glared at him, but said nothing for a moment. Knowing better then to think that he was going to let her get the last word in. But she wasn't going to back down, it was her son on the line.

"What is your choice?"

Laughter would have filled her on any other occasion, sarcastic and bitter. I never have a choice anymore, but ow she was entirely silent. Cold and hateful, something entirely different then what they had once been. "Do I have one?" She growled lowly, fists clenching at her either side. Resisting the urge to plunge one through his chest and take out his heart. Though the found herself doubting if he had one any more.

How could anyone who suggested something so cruel have a heart.

"No," she wouldn't have called it an admittance, but it was something.

The queen almost grinned, but it came out more a grimace than something that could have been described as a smile. Like venom on her lips, the sound she emitted was purely animalistic even for her all too human voice box.

Not even a wolf protecting her pup, this was something entirely more feral.

But she had no choice, even if her husband pretended to give her one. She couldn't abandon her son, if she did the King would still go ahead with his horrific plan, and when he did it would leave her youngest without a mother.

He'll think the whole world has abandoned him, the idea alone made her flinch.

Her sweet little boy, all alone in the world.

She really didn't have a choice.

"I'll stay."