Royal Wolf Box Set by Haley Weir

Chapter Fourteen

Aeron’s defiance to lose anyone else that he cared about started to consume and unravel him. He thought of nothing else.

As soon as he had returned to the castle, he went to Samar’s side, kissed her softly, and professed how much he loved her. He told her not to worry and that he would save her again this time. Samar was weak and confused about what he was saying. But even in her deteriorating state, she could see that her death would be Aeron’s undoing.

“Aeron, please, don’t worry about me,” Samar said with tears in her eyes. “I’ll be okay, no matter what happens. But you need to keep going. You need to watch over your family and protect your kingdom. Wherever I am, I will always be with you, watching over you and loving you from afar.”

“No!” he shouted as he stood up abruptly. “Stop talking as if you have already died. You are not going to die. I won’t let it happen.”

“But you can’t—”

Before Samar could say anything further, Aeron bent down to kiss her again, and then he left to go scour every inch of his kingdom for anyone that had knowledge about Kitsune. The humans in the kingdom might not have known that such things actually existed, but they still heard stories of them. Perhaps in one of those stories which the humans believed to be fairytales, there would be an answer to help him save Samar.

* * *

Rubius worried for the king’s mental health, but soon, his worries became even more urgent. Whispers were circling that the other kingdom was preparing to launch a second attack. Rubius should not have let the survivors retreat. He should have killed them all, but he was merciful and good-hearted, and he saw no point in commencing with needless death. Unfortunately, one such survivor was the alpha, and they had not run away into hiding after learning their lesson. They had simply pulled back to regroup. The other kingdom still had enough in number to be a formidable force since they hadn’t come with a full battalion before, and perhaps that had played into their hand the entire time. Perhaps they had meant to flee so that they could come back even stronger a second time, after Aeron’s people had been weakened. It seemed to be about more than just the Kitsune now. It was a matter of pride, a matter of avenging fallen companions. Rubius suspected their greed to overtake Grenvich was even a factor. The other kingdom and its alpha were not so easily going to walk away in peace.

But Aeron was much too busy focusing on trying to save Samar to pay any attention to the security of the kingdom or what was going on outside of its walls. The entire royal family began to worry that the next attack would be worse, and that they may not win a second time. Especially not with the king so distraught and distracted. While Aeron was out in the city, still searching for answers to save a dying Kitsune, the rest of his family gathered in one of the meeting halls of the castle to discuss what to do. Cassandra was shocked when she saw Samar come to stand at the doorway of the hall.

“Samar? You’re out of bed! Is everything all right?” Cassandra asked as she rose to her feet and walked over to the doorway.

“Yes,” Samar said. “Can I talk with you for a moment?”

“Of course.” Cassandra took her hand, and the two of them walked back toward her bedroom together.

“Cassandra,” Samar said once she had gotten back into bed. “I want you to take me into the forest.”

“Why?”

“Because that is where I am going to die.”

“How do you know when you will die?” Cassandra asked her with a grave look on her face.

Samar smiled at her with sad eyes and told her about the death of a Kitsune.

“When I die,” Samar said, “my body will vanish. If I die by my own hand, then I will be able to control the exact moment of my death. And if you are holding onto one of my tails when I die, then my tail will stay with you.”

“I don’t understand,” Cassandra said with a look of slight abhorrence on her face. “You want to kill yourself?”

“I am going to sacrifice myself in order to make sure that you can keep my tail and give it to Aeron,” Samar answered.

“No, I’m sorry,” Cassandra said, shaking her head quickly from side to side. “I can’t do that. I can’t condone you taking your own life just so that you can leave a tail behind.”

Samar reached out and took Cassandra’s hand in hers.

“I’m dying anyway,” she said. “It won’t be long before this option won’t even be available to me any longer. There’s nothing that anyone can do to save me, not even Aeron, although I know he is desperate to try. But if you can help me with this, then at least a part of me will remain here with him.”

Cassandra looked torn. She knew that Aeron was going to be heartbroken. She also knew that he would be furious at her for helping Samar during an attempt to take her own life.

“Besides,” Samar continued, “I have heard what you and your family have been discussing. The war is not over, and this time, you are far less prepared. You will not have your husband’s full attention on the battle so long as he is focused on me. And you will not have me to help with any of my magic. If Aeron has my tail, it will ensure that he wins the war.”

“How can that be so?” Cassandra asked. “How can one fox tail ensure victory over a war?”

Samar grinned weakly.

“It’s not just a fox tail,” she said. “It’s a Kitsune tail. It will grant Aeron power as the alpha that he has never had before. He will be a force to be reckoned with and will be able to defeat countless enemies with ease. In the hands of an alpha, a Kitsune tail will make him nearly unstoppable.”

“Why aren’t you granted that same sort of power then?” Cassandra asked. “It’s your tail. Why didn’t it help to save you and make you as unstoppable as you say it does for an alpha?”

“That’s just not the way it works,” Samar answered thoughtfully. “Did you know that Kitsune are considered to be tricksters? Perhaps that is the greatest trick of all, that in order for us to be the most powerful, we must give up the power of our lives.”

“It doesn’t sound like a good trick to me,” Cassandra frowned. “It sounds like a cruelty.”

“Will you help me?” Samar asked. Her eyes begged Cassandra to grant her this last wish.

Cassandra sighed with reluctance and then conceded.

“Fine,” she said. “But I do this for you, not for anyone else. I do it because it is your dying wish. It is a great burden to be the last of one’s kind, and you deserve every honor that I can give to you.”

She leaned forward and gave Samar a hug. Then Cassandra went to get Rubius to help her carry Samar into the woods. The three of them would go alone, without telling any of the others. Samar planned to end her life in one last, glorious burst of magic in her shifted form, while Cassandra held onto her tail. Then, it would be over, and Samar’s tail would contain all of the magic that her life was made out of. Cassandra would give it to Aeron, and she would be prepared to deal with whatever wrath of fury and devastation of grief would follow. When Aeron came back to the castle, Samar would be gone, and for that, Cassandra felt guilty. She wished that she could at least give her husband the opportunity to say goodbye. But Samar insisted that there wasn’t time, and that she would visit him someday in his dreams to say goodbye to him there herself.

As Rubius carried Samar’s fragile body through the secret corridors beneath the castle that led out to the forest, Cassandra noticed the light in Samar’s eyes start to dim and weaken. She reached over to hold her hand as she walked beside Rubius.

“We need to hurry,” Cassandra told him as they quickened their pace.

When they arrived in the clearing of the forest, Rubius gently set Samar down on her feet. She shifted one last time into the form of her beautiful chestnut fox with all of her tails softly curling down by her feet. She tipped her muzzle up into the air for one final deep, fresh breath, and then her black fox eyes looked at Cassandra.

“I’m ready,” Cassandra said as she carefully held lightly onto one of Samar’s tails. “Goodbye, my friend.”

In a single brilliant flash, Samar was gone. All that was left of her were the silent shed tears of her loss streaming down Cassandra’s face, and Samar’s beautiful tail in her hand.