Naomi wished she could find the courage to face her uncle. Ever seance that night, she had avoided him, ducking down halls or baring her head in a spell book. She remembered an old story where a beautiful sorceress helped a poor peasant by giving him the courage to face the wicked landlord with a spell. She had tried that spell twice already and had looked for a courage spell in real spell books. Nothing.
Simba rolled on the floor of the Nibrue throne room, he rubbed up against all floors, walls, and pillars marking his territory. Naomi smiled down at him as he rubbed against the stairs leading up to the throne. "I wish I could mark my territory without facing my uncle," she said. "And I wish I could do it before I'm presented to the King and Queen as the Lady of the Nibrue House." Naomi sighed. "Some lion I turned out to be."
The door at the far end of the hall creaked open. Naomi looked up to see her uncle with his skull cane and his dark panther, Demon limped from his battle with Simba. Naomi knew she would have to face him sooner or later, and seance there was no way out, she guessed it was sooner.
Trad stepped up the five stairs leading up to the throne. Demon had stopped in the middle of the room on the Nibrue House crest carpet, the only thing Simba didn't claim. Simba growled at Trad and stood protectively on the side of the throne. Trad looked at Naomi and where she sat.
"I must hand it to you. You look like you're actually going to rule," Trad said. "Too bad you'll be nothing more then a puppet under my control."
Naomi stared at him. "What?" she asked. "What did you say?"
Trad grabbed her hand and pulled her up. "I said that you'll do what I say," Trad said this as though it was all planned. "Sit still, look pretty, and let me tell you what to do. It will be better this way." Trad pushed her out of the way and sat on the throne.
Naomi crossed her arms. "When was that decided?" she asked, feeling rage rise in her. "I don't remember agreeing to that."
Trad smiled at her. "You're a child. You weren't involved," Trad said, his skull cane's red eyes glowed. Naomi remembered that objects can hypnotize people, and they always glow red. Naomi turned her eyes from the skull. Trad knew that she had figured it out.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you," Trad barked the order. Naomi took the cane from him and looked him right in the eye.
"No," she said. "You look at me when I'm talking to you. I am the Lady Nibrue. I will rule these lands by myself. And if you step out of line again, I'll take away what little inheritance you have left. Don't even think about bringing your unborn child into this because Victoria's still a daughter of the Spark House and, worse comes to worse, you can live there." Naomi yanked the ribbon from Simba's neck, to Simba's relief, and tied it around the skull's eyes. "Use this on me again and I'll tell grandmother what this is." She shoved the cane back to Trad and walked calmly out of the room. Simba ran to her side.
Naomi wished she could see Trad's face at that moment, but instead kept right on walking for fear he had taken the ribbon off. She opened the door and shut it soundly behind her. She looked down at Simba. "I did it!" she squealed. Simba rubbed up against her leg and licked her shoe. "It won't be the last time this lion beats the panther," Naomi told him. "Just you wait Simba, just you wait."
The dark hooded figure watched the young Lady of the Nibrue House and her lion celebrate their small victory. It wouldn't last. Not with his master's plan. The figure clutched the bone-carved dagger Lady Naomi Nibrue would die by, so that her body would bare no marks. All he had to do was wait for nightfall and the girl who slipped through the cracks of his master's plan would be dealt with once and for all.
The lion turned and saw him, it's blue eyes looked right at him. He didn't need to worry about that, or at least he didn't think he needed to worry about the lion. After all, it wasn't even a year old.