The roar of the massive bonfire crackled against the night sky, sending sparks dancing like tiny orange stars toward the moon.
Around us, the West Way was alive with a different kind of noise—not the clash that ca with war, but the low, rhythmic hum of a tribe settling into safety.
The sheep looked ridiculous, honestly. A sea of pink, shorn bodies huddled around the heat, wrapped in whatever spare hides and blankets we could scrounge up from the kingdom.
They looked like they had just been through hell, but they were alive. And they were eating.
Carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, and cabbage they could find from their wrecked village’s storehouse that strangely seed intact after all that chaos.
I guess since the hyenas and rugged wolves couldn’t exactly eat vegetables, they didn’t even approach the storehouse.
I snagged a bit of all of that as well, giving them to Fenric to help prepare a al for us. He hasn’t worked with many vegetables, but he has worked with cabbage so he should grasp the general concept of them all.
With that, the at soup wouldn’t just be a soup of at, spice, and salt.
I’d have cooked the al myself, but I was just too exhausted to do any of that. My limbs felt like they could go on a vacation from my body at any mont.
Plus, I was doing my job as a nursing mother and feeding the cubs as much as I could. Their little snout’s buried in my breast as they sucked enthusiastically.
These cubs really have no worries, haha.
I shifted my weight, leaning back against the moss-covered log. My posture was a bit slumped now, finally letting the exhaustion seep into my bones.
Then, after a while, my babies began to nap against my chest, their tiny bellies full and their little paws twitching in their sleep.
A sleeping cub is a free mother, they say.
"Here, Arinya. Eat before it gets cold." Fenric appeared by my side, handing a steaming bowl of at soup. The aroma of spice and slow-simred broth hit , making my stomach growl loud enough to rival the fire.
The vegetables were quite the sight as well. It made the soup look like a proper broth. One you’d find in a soup restaurant.
"Thank you, Fenric," I murmured, taking a spoonful. It was heavenly. He had a way with a campfire that made even the simplest al feel like a feast. "You really missed your calling as a chef, you know."
Fenric let out a low, rumbling chuckle, sitting down on my right. "I don’t know what a ’chef’ is, but I’ll take that as a complint. Arinya only knows the good things." I nodded. "And besides, a hungry Arinya is a grumpy queen. And I bet a grumpy queen is a danger to the entire kingdom."
Well, he’s not wrong. I tittered.
On my left, Damar sat coiled in his half-shift, his long silver tail resting protectively behind my back like a heated cushion. He held his own bowl of soup that Fenric had handed him and was blowing on it softly.
I turned my head to look at him. The paleness that made worry was finally fading, replaced by the natural, healthy glow of his skin.
"How are you feeling, Damar?" I asked softly, reaching over to rest my hand on his arm.
Damar turned his gaze from the soup to . The hollow ’reaper’ look in his erald eyes was gone, replaced by a quiet, steady warmth.
"The poison has left my blood, Ari. I am only tired now. I wish to lie with you after this al."
Ah, how brazen he has beco.
I chuckled.
"You did a lot today," I said, leaning my head against his shoulder to feel the coolness of his skin. "Both of you did."
"We did what was necessary," Damar replied, his voice a low vibration that I felt in my chest.
"But it was you who saw through the chaos and ca up with the solutions. Without you, none of this would have happened. And the sea would forever be in danger."
I looked out at the pink crowd of sheep. They were chatting with so of the local wolves, sharing stories of the ’land mother’ who stood on a warrior’s shoulder and told them they could be shields.
Gosh, that title gives goosebumps. I liked it when they called the Rose Tiger, but land mother?
It felt surreal. A theater student playing a tree was now the queen of a cross-species kingdom.
Noah wasn’t here yet. He was at the Great Hall, surrounded by elders and the nervous remnants of Garrow’s faction, cleaning up the political ss with words instead of fists.
I knew he was hurting, but I also knew he was doing exactly what a King had to do.
"Peace," I whispered to myself, savoring the taste of the soup and the warmth of my husbands. "It’s a lot louder than I expected."
My mind drifted for a second, wandering back to that hidden alcove by the cliff. I thought of the rman—the one with the translucent purple hair and the face that belonged in a museum.
I wondered if he had woken up yet. If he had found his way back to Jael and the others.
’I hope you’re swimming in clear water now, Pearl rman,’ I thought with a small, private smile.
The heat of the fire and the steady breathing of my cubs began to pull at my eyelids. My thoughts started to blur, the image of the shimring scales and the bloody sand fading into a blissful, dark velvet.
For the first ti in weeks, I fell asleep without worrying about a thing.
The next thing I knew, the world was exploding.
It wasn’t a nuclear bomb or a spear. It was a voice—a high, shrill, and absolutely furious female roar that cut through the morning mist like a jagged blade.
"WHERE IS SHE?! WHERE IS THIS ’QUEEN’ I’VE BEEN HEARING ABOUT?!"
My cubs lifted their heads, looking up towards the chaos.
They had been awake for a while, playing with Fenric and using his shoulder as a climbing platform.
The peace was officially over.
"Oh, you’ve got to be kidding ," I groaned, rubbing my face. "Who is screaming at this hour?" I grumbled, my voice thick with sleep.
Damar, who was also awake was watching the entrance with a narrowed gaze, shifted closer. "Do you want to chase them away?"
"I’d appreciate it," I muttered, rolling over to try and find that sweet spot of dreams again. "Tell them to co back in three to five business years. I’m tired."
But the racket didn’t stop. If anything, it grew louder. The female outside was practically screeching now, demanding to see , threatening to start ’throwing things’ if I didn’t present myself.
I sat up, the peace of the morning officially shattered. "That sounds like a problem," I sighed, brushing my hand over my hair.
I got to my feet, my irritation bubbling into a cold, sharp fury. I didn’t even bother fixing my hair or shaking the sleep from my limbs. I just marched toward the flap serving as a door and threw it open, stepping out into the crisp morning air.
Standing there was a wolf girl. She had sleek grey hair, a sharp, pretty face, and an expression that scread ’privileged and pissed off.’
None of that mattered to . All I saw was a giant obstacle between and another four hours of shut eye.
"You’re the one making all this noise?" I asked, my voice flat.
The girl—Talia, apparently—puffed out her chest, her eyes scanning with blatant disgust.
"So this is you? The little cat who thinks she can just walk into the West Way and sit on a throne? You don’t deserve to be Queen. You should step down before you embarrass yourself further."
I stayed silent for a second and then blinked at her, deadpan. My arms folded over my chest instinctively. I’d fought a sea-poisoning, survived the winter while pregnant, navigated a battlefield, and survived a night of adrenaline, and this was the greeting I got?
"So, let get this straight," I brushed my hand over my temple, the fogginess of the sleep giving a headache. "This whole ruckus... It’s about being Queen?" I asked, tilting my head.
"What do you an by that?" She asked. "Just get off your high heels before you fall."
"I should be telling you that," I tilted my body, vexed heavily. "So, this whole ti you couldn’t make yourself Queen, and now you bla for ’snatching’ your position? Are you brain-dead or just stupid? Because I really don’t tolerate stupid people so early in the morning."
Talia’s face went a spectacular shade of crimson. She stamred for a second, her hands balling into fists.
"I—I was waiting for the right ti! You just showed up and took what was ant for a true wolf of the West Way! You’re an outsider. Stay out of our affair."
I sighed. This is what I have to deal with so early in the morning. How tiring.
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