Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir

Chapter Fifteen

Although shifter pregnancies were thankfully very short and fast-paced, Cassandra was unable to shift while pregnant, and that made it seem all the more prolonged and tedious. Now, not only was she trapped inside of the city, and inside of the castle, but she was now also trapped inside of her own body. She couldn’t even wander the streets to provide her with a comforting distraction because she had to be kept from the curious and prying eyes of the humans, who surely wouldn’t understand how she could be growing so fast. Explaining the sudden appearance of a baby would be yet another challenge, but Aeron assured her that he would have it handled and that she need not worry herself over it.

She worried about the growing tension between the two men. Aeron had prevented Rubius from coming to see her at the castle out of jealousy. He still hadn’t told her that he knew about her love affair with Rubius, but it was obvious to both of them that he did. For whatever reason, he still didn’t want to give it acknowledgment. Perhaps, in his mind, Aeron felt that speaking its truth would give it the power to be real. But everyone knew it was real, all the same. She also hadn’t told Aeron that she knew the child belonged to Rubius. Obviously, how could she even attempt to talk to him about it if Aeron wasn’t even willing to admit to her that he knew about the two of them. It was all such a convoluted mess, and all that Cassandra really wanted to do was have the baby, talk to the two men that she cared about, and then shift for a solid run in the forest. But it didn’t seem as though the time was ready for any of those things to happen yet.

Instead, she spent all of her time with Theo. He was the one who was always there for her in a way that wasn’t pushy or threatening. He just simply loved his mother and wanted her to be happy and well. Theo spent several afternoons reading stories aloud to the baby inside Cassandra’s belly while she sat and got lost in her thoughts to the backdrop of her son’s voice spinning fairytales from his storybooks.

“I think she likes the story about the Fae the best,” Theo said one afternoon as he looked up from his books. “I can’t blame her really; the Fae prince is very interesting, and some of the tricks that he does to fool the humans are extraordinarily amusing.”

“Who are you talking about?” Cassandra asked him.

“The Fae prince,” he answered.

“No,” she said as she shook her head and rested her hands against her swollen belly. “That’s not what I meant. You said she likes the Fae books the best. Who is she?”

“The baby,” Theo answered with a look as if his mother should have already known that. “My unborn sister.”

Cassandra looked at her son with her head cocked to one side.

“How do you know it’s a girl?” she asked.

“I can just tell,” he smiled. “I think she likes me already.”

Then he frowned and looked worried.

“Does that make me strange?” he asked. “Am I not supposed to be able to know that she is a girl yet?”

Cassandra grabbed Theo into a hug and kissed the top of his head.

“It might make you strange,” she said, smiling. “But strange is a good thing. It means that you have a special talent that other people don’t have. Just think about all the humans and how boring and similar they all are to each other. It’s nauseating to think about. You don’t want to be boring and nauseating, do you?”

“No,” the boy said, shaking his head. “I’d much rather be strange.”

“Exactly,” his mother said. “I’m glad the baby is a girl. You’ll make a wonderful big brother.”

“But will I make a good king?” Theo asked.

“Why do you ask that? Don’t you want to be a leader?”

“I do want to be a leader,” he answered. He was feeling and sounding very wise this morning. Perhaps it was the idea of being an older brother that accelerated his maturity. “But I don’t want to be a king.”

“Those two things are one and the same,” she tried to explain.

“No, they aren’t. I want to be a leader in the pack. I want to be an alpha, like my father, and maybe even a leader of all the packs someday. But I don’t want to be the king of a human kingdom. Why would I want to the king of a bunch of boring and nauseating humans?”

He definitely had a point.. “Well, they’re not all bad.”

“Well, you have lots of time to decide whether or not you want to be the King of Grenvich.”

“I get to decide?” he asked with a flicker of hope in his eyes. “I thought that I had to become king one day.”

“Of course you get to decide,” she said to him. “You always have a choice in the matter of what you want to become.”

“Then how come you don’t?” he asked.

The question was innocent enough, and it was a good and truthful one to ask. But it pinched something inside of Cassandra’s stomach as if she had swallowed a set of pins. Theo was right. She was not happy in the kingdom, and as much as she tried to find ways to make it okay, she couldn’t hide her unhappiness from him. Theo saw that his words had wounded her, and so he changed the subject.

“Besides,” he said, “who would be king if I didn’t do it?”

Cassandra thought for a moment about his question, then she patted her belly and sat straighter up in her chair.

“Well, you’ll have a sibling soon. Perhaps the burden of rulership will fall to her if you choose not to claim it.”

Theo wrinkled his nose at his mother.

“But she can’t be king; she’s a girl.”

“And what of it?” Cassandra said. “If she cannot be king, then she will be queen. And I’ll tell you a secret, my precious son.”

Theo leaned in closer to his mother to hear her voice as her volume lessened. It was as if she was imparting a very special, and very important secret to him and him alone.

“Have you ever seen a queen?” she asked him.

“Of course I have,” he answered. “You’re a queen.”

Cassandra smiled widely at him.

“Oh, well, see…you already know this secret then.”

“What’s the secret?” he asked impatiently.

“Queens are much more powerful than kings. Don’t tell your father I said that, but it’s true. Think about the time your own life was saved, for example. Who was it that stood between you and certain death?” she asked.

“You,” Theo answered.

Cassandra winked at her son and then set him back down to finish reading his story aloud to her. Theo picked up the book and was just about to get ready to read when he thought of something else.

“Since you are so powerful, I think that you should make your own choice now too,” he said.

Then he picked up his book and started to read again, picking up where he left off. But his words resonated within Cassandra until they echoed in her skull so loudly that they sounded like a scream. Theo was right; she should make her own choice now. She got up to go and talk with Aeron.

“Hey, where are you going?” Theo asked. “I’m not done with the story.”

“I’m sorry,” she said as she leaned down to kiss his cheek. “You’ll have to finish reading to your sister a bit later. I need to go talk to your father.”

Theo was so happy to hear that his mother believed him about the baby being a girl that he simply went back to reading the stories in his head to himself.

Cassandra strode down the hall toward the throne room and found Aeron sitting there talking with some of the court.

“Leave us,” she said as she walked powerfully into the center of the room.

Everyone around her scrambled to their feet and got up to leave.

“We need to talk,” she said as she and Aeron stared at each other.