Transmigrating Narcissus

3.03 - Lion Pride

"Pride, a stubbornly stained veil but removable nonetheless." - Elise Owstoni

"For speaking to a different shifter species and for avoiding your responsibilities in the mines, you two have been sentenced to death. As an elite member of the cat shifter race, I - Crown Princess Leona - sentence these two shifters to death!" 

She pounces on me, the force knocking me to the muddy ground as her claws dig into my arms. I wince at the twist of my flesh and the blood running out of my veins as my body tries to speedily heal itself. However, the wounds can't fully close as her sharp claws are in the way. Her elongated fangs barely pierce my jugular, and only my shaking legs are pushing her back from going in for the kill. 

"While I am honored to be considered a meal for Your Highness, " I bite out through the pain in short puffs of precious oxygen. "A better present would be the throne, would it not?"

Her eyes narrow suspiciously, and she snarls at me. I close my eyes to block the disgusting spittle. Ugh, spit. 

"We can help you overthrow King Leopold. We know how you dislike his hideously gruesome ways, Your Highness. You can change Atrium for the better, and you would gain the support of the bird and fish shifter subjects," Casper adds, having finally figured out how to change into his human form. 

Out of all the potential candidates for the throne, Princess Leona is the most sympathetic to the other shifters. She was labeled weak and unfit for the throne, later killed by her own father. It is unknown what caused her to be more liberal than the others. King Leopold disdains any form of weakness, his lion mane too proud to accept frailty among the cat shifters. He rules with iron claws, tightly grasping the reins of society. 

She drops the act of the cruel crown princess and gently pulls me up into a sitting position. 

"We should not be speaking about this out in the open. Follow me, and we will discuss more." She doesn't wait for our response before moving. 

Casper and I struggle to keep up as she dodges between Roost's commercial area, smoke from factories clouding the air above us and clinging to the tall buildings struggling to stay upright. Princess Leona sticks to the shadows of the trees and buildings, her silent form as lithe as a ghost from her years of training. The gloomy atmosphere adds secrecy to our actions. 

We stop before a storefront called Avian Attire, the mannequins in the glass window draped in drab clothing. Because the dye is reserved for cat shifters, tailors and seamstresses in Roost make do with the whites, beiges and gray of undyed fabric instead of matching clothing with their bright plumages and spirits. There are discrete claw marks embedded into the wood door, making the pattern of a crown held by claws, the symbol of Atrium's royalty. 

Princess Leona pulls out a ring of keys from a hidden pocket in her flamboyant dress and unlocks the door with one of them. I take out a match from my pants pocket, an absolute must in Roost, and I light a candle beside the entryway. I hold the wax wand with a sparkly, flickering flame as it points the way inside the dim shop with a low ceiling that barely brushes Casper's head. 

We walk through a door placed in the back corner of Avian Attire obscured from the storefront windows' view by the strategically placed racks of clothing. The white paint on the back wall is almost completely covered in hooks for hats, gloves, scarves, and bags. The stairway in the small, confined space leads up to another locked door. The cat shifter uses another key to open it, and we are brought to an ostentatious apartment literally fit for royalty. 

She gracefully situates herself on a gold gilded sofa, the white cushions barely sinking from her weight. Casper and I flounder awkwardly, not knowing the boundaries between us and her. She looks at us with a confused expression.

"Are you two not going to sit after our long walk?" Princess Leona asks. "Sit and we can converse." 

She gestures to the cushions beside her with a smooth wave of her hand, and I place the candle in the gold tray centered on the glass table before us. I plop myself on the soft padding, resting my head on Casper's shoulder. I decide the break the ice and confront the elephant in the room. 

"Um, aren't you too trusting of us? Just to let you know, we aren't spies," I nervously laugh. "Please don't kill us and eat our bodies so nothing remains."

She wrinkles her nose in disgust. "Of course, I know that you are not spies because the rest of my family would never stoop so low as to recruit non-cat shifters for their dirty work." 

Jin plays the sound of crickets chirping, and I harumph in annoyance. I cross my arms over my chest. "Why am I not surprised?"

"More like we are above being servants to them," Casper remarks. 

"Thank you for the self-confidence booster."

"Am I witnessing a couple moment?" Princess Leona asks, her tone somewhat flustered. 

"NO!" I say at the same time that Casper agrees. He looks at me with dramatically hurt expression.

"What, you don't like me, Wifey?"

Princess Leona clears her throat, saving me from commenting, phew. 

Are you joking about not being a couple with him?

I'm embarrassed! I would like to be an emotionless ice cube. Beep boop, feelings are weird. 

... I do not believe that is what ice cubes sound like, Earthling. This is the third world you have spent with him, and you have yet to accept your growing feelings for him.

They're not growing if they never existed in the first place. 

"Well then, let us move back to the topic of me ascending to Atrium's throne. I am competing with three of my siblings, all of them male. While I am the oldest and rightful heir to the throne, I must still prove that I am worthy. I have been training hard to defeat my rivals in the bloody battle to the death in Boughs's arena once my father finally dies. I have tried countless times to kill him, but he always manages to avoid death."

"Maybe you haven't tried hard enough. So, shall we plan for his funeral now?"