THE KING'S SLAVE BRIDE

HIS MAJESTY WANTS AN AUDIENCE

NA’IMAH

I was back in camp, but I still couldn’t wrap my head around the conversation I had in the palace yesterday.

Jodi had hurried to my tent the minute she heard the news that I was back. She had been worried, her voice shaking as she bombarded me with questions. I can't blame her. I know everyone thought I wasn’t coming back. Being summoned to the palace wasn't good news around here. It usually meant either getting killed or being used for something horrendous.

My clan members loitered outside my tent, waiting for me to step out so they could ask me if I was okay. I appreciated their concern, even though it felt like I didn’t deserve it. I know some of them blame my family for this predicament that we’ve found ourselves in.

We are not the first hybrid clan to be hunted and forced into sl*very by Lycans. The enmity between their kind and my kind has gone on for centuries. Even before I or my grandparents were convinced. I heard in the tales of old that both factions once lived in harmony. Until we became the hunted, the outcasts, we became the thing they feared even when we did nothing, and stayed out of their way, and Lycans became our worst nightmare.

So many clans of Hybrids have been imprisoned in the past years. When King Nirohl was still on the throne, he was bad news. I heard the kings and queens before him weren’t any better either. But my clan has been able to evade their clutches for years. We could only manage that because we never stayed in one location. I grew up with a warning to always watch my back. I was the Princess of my clan. I was royalty and that meant I was the most vulnerable. If my father had listened when I told him we needed to start moving. I shook my head. I shouldn't put the blame on him when I know very well why I woke up in chains a few months ago. If I hadn’t been so foolish to trust Eseh, we wouldn't be here right now, enslaved and our ability to shift or access our hybrids taken from us.

Father was so certain the new king wouldn’t harm us, he claimed King Kaedyr was still young. It didn't matter that Kaedyr had been ruling for the past five years and in those five years he’s become a menace. Actually, he wasn’t a menace. The last month has shown me that he is a terror to everyone who isn’t like him. A personification of evil and the Queen Dowager wants me to marry him in order to save my people.

I walked out of the tent of the teenage girl I was treating yesterday. A sigh escapes my lips as I look around the camp. Some clan members are being led back into the camp by guards who took them this morning. The look of exhaustion on their faces breaks my heart as they walk past me.

The cries of little ones echoed around the camp, and the hushed voices of families trying to ration their meals followed me as I walked through the camp, making my way back to my tent.

I cast my head down as guilt eats me alive from inside. If my father hadn’t been so stubborn and had just called for the clan to move, none of this would’ve happened.

Eyes followed me, tight smiles greeted me and some weren’t at all friendly. These people rely on me to make their lives a tad better and to help them lessen the pain of their new reality. Even if I come up with an escape plan, how many of them will I be able to save and how many will die while trying to escape?

I had been praying to the entities of the earth and the forest for a sign, a miracle. A way out for my people and now this...

“Na'i, Na'i,” Jodi’s voice rings behind me and I stop abruptly, turning to face her.

“Is anything the matter?” I ask as she catches up to me.

“No, not really, I just,” she sighed. “I’m worried about you, Na'i. Ever since you returned from the palace, you’ve been quiet. Did something happen? I overheard the guards this morning while they came in to round up workers. They said the Queen Dowager was the one who called for you, and they sounded like it was serious.”

“It’s nothing you need to worry about, Jodi. I have it under control. The Queen Dowager proposed a better opportunity for our people.”

“And what does she want in exchange? Because I know people like her wouldn’t give out crumbs for no reason. They are the type to give a dog a bone and take its teeth in exchange.”

"I..." pausing to look around, I grabbed her hand, walking us inside my tent. “Can I trust you not to tell another living soul about this? At least not until I’ve come to a decision. It would barely be a secret if I agreed with what she wants.”

“I won’t breathe a word to a soul. Na’i, you can trust me; you know that, right?” She asks and I nod. I know I can trust her. She’s been by my side since birth. “What does the Queen Dowager want?”

I sigh, looking around to make sure there are no shadows or anyone loitering outside the tent.

“Na’i?” Jodi calls in a weary voice.

“Me,” I responded

“What?” She frowns. "I don’t understand Na'i. Whatever would the Queen Dowager want with you? Wait, she wants you in her bed." Jodi leans closer as she whispers the last part.

I almost smiled at the question. Would that have been easier? Perhaps. Shaking my head, “No. Not in her bed. In Kaedyr’s bed.”

“In Kaedyr’s bed. Who is Kae-? Oh my god. Na'i,” her eyes shine with horror as realization starts to set in. "The King? She wants you in the king’s bed," Jodi asked, horrified, and I nodded.

“She wants me to marry the king,” I tell her.

“You can’t.” Jodi started to shake her head, grabbing my hands in her palm. “You can’t. Please tell me you didn’t agree to do it. He’ll kill you. Haven’t you heard about the things he does to his bed partners? He hangs them. He keeps their body parts as trophies in his chamber. He cuts off the tongues of those who speak ill of him or even dare to challenge him. You can’t marry him. You won’t survive a day in his palace,” Jodi pleads.

“Our people will be moved from the camp to a better settlement. If I agree, the first course of action will be to move everyone into a better settlement. Someplace where there are better supplies, access to cleaner water, medicine, and three rations of food daily.”

“No, no, no. That's a lie. They’re just lies. You can’t trust anything she says. That’s too good to be true.”

Sighing, I squeezed her hands. “We don’t have much choice. I can’t afford to lose anyone else after the clan members who lost in the attack. I owe everyone here a duty to protect them and, if I can, to reduce their suffering. The Queen Dowager already has everything she promised in writing. I just have to sign the papers. They’ll stop taking people to the farms or the mining fields. If I can soften the King’s heart, I can seek better opportunities for you all. I can give us all a better life.”

“Na’i, you can’t sacrifice yourself like this for everyone. It’s not your fault that this is what our fate has become.”

“They’ll take my parents off death row. I might see them again. I just… I can’t just watch as everyone suffers.”

“You won’t survive, Kaedyr. He’ll kill you. That Lycan doesn’t have a heart that is worth loving.”

Sounds of heavy boots from outside the tent reached my ears and I motioned for Jodi to keep quiet.

“Who is there?” I ask.

“The palace calls for you. His Royal Majesty demands your presence.”

"His Royal Majes..." My eyes widen at the same time as Jodi’s.

“The King,” she whispers shakily as tears stream down her face.

I barely have time to comfort her when the guards rip the curtain open, dragging me out of the tent without finesse.