The Wicked Wolf

Book 2: One

Yin and Yang.

Dark and light.

Sun and moon.

My brother and me.

Twins, yet we were so different... opposites even. Two halves, but together we made it whole.

My brother was always different from me. Different in a good way. Special, one might even say.

He was the sun, bright and encouraging and everything good in the world. Music filled his days, and his smiles covered the rest. He was funny, and he had the power to make everyone laugh with him. He made it easy to love him.

I was the opposite. Much like my mother, maybe much worse than my mother… I was stubborn and unmovable. And then I was also like my father too. Intense and a little too wicked, mixed with an enormous amount of pride and overbearingness. There was no sunshine or brightness on me.

Opposites.

Always opposites.

My brother was born minutes before I was, and they said when he came, the world stopped from the glow of him. He was golden. From his eyes to his hair and they said even his skin was golden too. They say the first thing he did when he was born was to smile.

And like his exact opposite, mere minutes after him, I came with black hair and was a ball of fuzz that didn’t stop crying.

They whisper that it rained after I was born, a heavy storm that put the entire territory in darkness.

He was the perfect king, and I was the rebellious princess… The overshadowed daughter.

Literally a shadow.

Being born from the legendary Wicked Wolf, Dorian Krul and equally legendary Vasilisa Rhys, the most perfect of perfects, was not easy. There were expectations and pressures that always surrounded us, but if I’m being honest, we didn’t feel them as much.

At least not in the way our parents did when they were growing up.

Our parents didn’t expect anything from us, and they shielded us well from people that did. We attended events that we wanted to attend. Lessons were as long or as short as we wanted them to be. The lessons themselves were chosen by us, and we got to do what we liked to do at our own pace and our own time. We explored our talents, spent days doing nothing and generally enjoyed life.

Of course, it wasn’t perfect. There were struggles of many kinds which we expected.

But it was close to it.

Close to perfect.

And in a family of perfect people, no one was more perfect than my brother. He was golden and beautiful and everything good and perfect in the world.

But I suppose that was the main problem.

Perfection is not what people wanted.

They were scared of it.

The name Rhys was cursed and anything too good was seen as bad.

That’s exactly what my brother was though.

Perfect and good.

He never had a hair out of place, his lips always curled between a smile or a slight indifference that wasn’t unpleasant. His emotions are always controlled, always neutral.

He was never taught this.

It just came naturally to him.

While he was charming, tolerant and every bit like a king should be, I was outspoken and not well liked. Often I was everyone’s headache and I delighted in it.

He inherited the best of my parents and I, in turn, inherited the worst.

Our parents never really expected greatness from Helios and I. They never pressured us for perfection, brilliance or anything like that. They just wanted us happy.

And we were.

We still are.

“Will you be taking the short way or the long way, Princess?” Julian asks, taking me out of my thoughts.

It’s been a couple of days since I’ve been called back to the fortress, but as always, I delayed as long as I could. “Long way.”

“Of course.” Julian didn’t bother to hide his smile. “I’ll meet you there then. Remember, your father wants you home before dark. He misses you.”

“I know.” I reassured him, allowing my gaze to drift upwards, admiring the way the sunlight filters through the leaves, casting a near ethereal glow on the forest floor.

The dense canopy above seems to swallow up more of the light, casting a dim, shadowed green over the swamp landscape of our land. The trees, thin and twisted, hang low and daunted, like loose limbs, reaching out in every direction.

I know every rock, every slimy pond, every thin tree and coarse grass. I know exactly where the sun shines the brightest— a small hill where my aunt Aurora rests eternally.

These woods are like an old friend of mine. They may change with the seasons, but their heart remains the same. An endless, alive thing. Far older and greater than any of us.

Despite it being early in the day, it always felt like it was dusk here, the trees hiding away the sun.

Helios and I spent a lot of time in these lands, spending our days trying to catch the sunlight in the shadows and watching the world move slowly around us. We daydreamed about the battles that were fought here and whispered stories we heard from the guards to each other.

In the gloom, past the few scraggly, twisted trees that dotted the swamps, the towering mountains were blocks of solid shadow. The biggest shadow of them all was the stronghold we call our home.

The Fortress is not the prettiest castle in the world. It was not a thing of beauty, nor was it lush and alive. Still, it manages to be a true marvel with its dark walls and stone exterior.

Approaching slowly, I stared at the magnificent mountain, its sheer size was unlike all the rest, and knowing exactly where to look, it was easy enough to find the hidden entrance. It hid from sight, easily blending in with its environment.

My lips part in awe, but a gust of wind suddenly hits me and a shiver goes up my arms. The wind continues to blow in an unnatural way, and somehow I feel like it’s telling me something.

A whisper.

A feeling.

A warning.

And just when I feel as though I have to do something, I see my favorite cousin waiting for me at the foot of the mountain. She is dressed in gold and red, the fabric hugging her well. Like the rest of my relatives, their hair glowed gold, their eyes as bright as their hair.

“Welcome back, cousin.” She smiled, her lips perfectly curving in just the right way.

Aphrodite is one of the oldest of my cousins, meaning she was trained traditionally in the way of the Rhys back in the day.

But what I loved about her the most was that her mom was aunt Aurora and, just like her, she had the power to light up any room or mood.

I wrapped her in an embrace, admiring how she felt like silk in my hands. “Good to be back.”

Not that I envied any of my cousins or my brother, but there was always something about them that just felt unearthly.

They took grace and elegance to another level completely.

Especially my cousins who had the Rhys training. They were always above the rest without even trying. It was the way they spoke, the way they moved, the way the environment itself seemed to bend to them. Everything was just so perfect.

I tried not to think about how I was the only one in our family outside my father that has the Krul features. Everything about me was a Krul from my eyes to my hair and to my overly tanned skin. It’s as if my mother’s genes didn’t even try with me. I was all my father, except my eyes were the natural Krul green eyes.

“Successful battle as always?” Aphrodite grinned while pulling away. “I hear they didn’t even stand a chance against you. Some heard your name and ran without even trying.”

I waved away her compliments despite the fact that I was beaming inside because of it. To be praised by her meant a lot. “It was all Julian. I barely did anything.”

She steers us towards the entrance of the fortress. “Oh please, Julian was probably eating the entire time.”

“Just don’t ask what he was eating.” I told her quickly.

Aphrodite grimaced, but even that was pretty. “Duly noted.”

“So where is he?” I asked, looking around as if expecting him to come out of nowhere.

Aphrodite merely squeezed my arm. “You know where. He’s always in the music hall with his piano.”

Despite the many years of care under Rhys raised women, the fortress looked much the same. Solid stone and cavernous walls, the entirety of our home is carved into the heart of the mountain. It did not lose any of its harsh features, continuing its foreboding and intimidating appearance.

It is still impenetrable with the interior boasting the riches of the world proudly like the royal family of the past did. Thin wispy curtains softened the otherwise sharp edges of the place, the winds coming from the split of the mountain blowing the fabrics all around.

It’s warm within our home, the magma within the walls heating up the otherwise cold interior.

Everywhere I look, there are exquisite paintings and artworks that are proudly displayed along with plush, comfortable, hand crafted couches along the edges of the hallways. The openings in the mountain were like pieces of art, with the way the view of our land can be seen.

To someone that doesn’t live in the fortress, the rich decorations looked rather out of place in the harsh interior, yet for me, it showed the history of my family— my father’s family.

How every little piece, every little area was carefully planned out. It spoke of power. It spoke of dominance. It spoke of royalty.

There was nothing out of place or distasteful about it.

The fortress was its own version of daunting and extravagance.

To me, it’s the most beautiful place in the world. It’s home. It’s where Helios and I grew up. And there’s nothing quite like it in the world.

It wasn’t long until I heard the delicate sound of music that filled the air, the entire fortress seemingly quiet as if listening to the music as well.

I stopped in front of the room where I always find him and opened the door gently, hoping not to disturb him.

Beside me, Aphrodite quietly excused herself to give us time, winking at me as she stepped away.

At the center of the breathtaking music room, adorned with glass marble and musical instruments, Helios smiles to himself while playing the piano. He sways to the music, breathing life into a melody that I felt deep within my soul.

Sunlight always seemed to follow him, casting an eternal glow on him despite the dark mountain we were in.

I was his sister, but even I could tell just how brilliant he is.

He was much too handsome. Perfect. A Rhys. But he is more than that.

Helios hummed to himself, quietly piecing together musical notes all while his eyes were closed.

But even then he knew.

“You’re home.”