The Usurper's Throne

17

Damien held my hand tenderly as we drove up a long, winding path. Halfway through our journey, the smooth asphalt turned into twin tire tracks of packed dirt. Still, we drove on. I glanced out the window at the thick forestry.

Then I turned to look at Damien.

He was complicated. Fiercely protective but sometimes possessive. A compassionate leader but sometimes harsh.

"Damien."

"Yes, dove?" he said softly.

"Why are you fighting the Wereking?"

He sighed. "To free the old magic."

I paused, hesitantly licking my lips. "But why?"

"Because of people like you. You have the old magic, and because of that, people took advantage of you. They should have revered you. The Wereking—he has flipped everything on its head. The weak lead. The powerful are oppressed. The humans have cast us into hiding."

"The humans? You want to do something with the humans?"

Damien sighed. "Unfortunately, that is a bigger conversation with the other werewolf kingdoms. North American has only a single seat in the council. Asia has seven kingdoms, each with a seat. While they may never agree among themselves, they always present a united front in the council. For now, I am settling for fixing the problems the past four Werekings have caused."

"By trapping the elementals?"

"By that. And other reasons. Unfortunately, the council agreed with our Wereking that the elementals should be put away. They were invited to North America and there all trapped."

"The elementals weren't all American?" I asked. Then I realized how stupid I sounded. Of course they weren't all American. "I mean, of course they weren't. I just...figured because they were all locked up here, they all lived here."

"Admittedly, the last generation of elementals were all American. Our kingdom was the last holdout for the Old Magic. The land of the free. So, their great-grandparents migrated to North America so they could practice without fear of retribution. The Wereking's family hails from southeast Asia, but the past six generation have lived in the United States."

"Where is your family from? I didn't know your siblings well enough to ask them." I asked. Suddenly, I realized how little I knew about my marked.

"Norway," he said, smiling. "My family came over and settled into farming land in Minnesota. Nothing fancy. How about you?"

"I don't know," I said. "I've never known anything about my parents. No siblings, but that's not unique. Do you just have the two?"

Damien nodded. "Daniel and Daria."

"Your parents?"

"Assassinated."

I jumped. Assassinated? "What?"

"My parents were freedom fighters, pushing for the Old Magic to be released once more. The Wereking had them killed after a rally one night."

"Oh my gosh. Why?"

Damien shrugged. "They represented everything he hated. A contention to his own power. A call for strength to rule instead of weakness. They challenged his ability to rule and he took their life."

"Is that why you've challenged him?" I asked quietly.

"I am challenging him for the same cause my parents died for. I have just become more powerful than my parents could have ever dreamed."

"You can use the Old Magic."

He nodded. "And I have an extraordinary gift. I can stop any werewolf from shifting."

"Why did you do that to Daniel?"

We pulled onto a small alcove looking over the hills below. "Let's save that question for another time, dove. Now, it's time for you to fly."

Any concerns flew out of my mind as excitement pumped through me. Flying. I reached for the door handle, but Damien quickly locked the door.

"Please," he said, laughing. "Let me open the door for you. It's a sign of respect."

I nodded briefly and he exited the car and jogged around to open my door. "Can I unbuckle myself?" I asked teasingly. He dove over me and unbuckled my seat belt in a blur, sending me into a fit of giggles. "You are a dork," I said.

"I am a gentleman," he said, smiling. "Come see the view. Can you walk or shall I carry you?"

I blushed and quickly stood up. "I'll walk." He closed the door behind me, and we walked up to the edge overlooking the forest below. The view was stunning. A low cloud hovered over a distance mountain and the trees covered the land as far as my eye could see. A river sliced its own path.

I felt Damien's hand tracing down my wing. I glanced at him; his eyes were locked onto my wings.

"It's weird," I said, "I keep forgetting they're there."

"They're a part of you. Just as much as your arms and legs." I nodded.

"You are going on a hunt?" I asked. He nodded. "Okay." I turned on my heel and walked back to the road.

"Are you not—?" he began before I sprinted toward the cliff.

I sprinted by him and leapt into thin air.

Then, I flew.

+++++++++++++++++

"That was the best," I said. He smiled.

"I'm glad. I enjoyed my hunt as well. Caught three rabbits."

I scrunched my nose. "I really hope that a fresh worm never appeals to me like it does to a bird. I can understand why a werewolf would like raw rabbit, but hopefully it doesn't work like that for me."

Damien laughed. "It won't."

I wasn't sure how we both ended up in the bed together. We had started standing near it talking. Then we sat. Then, we lay down. Now, we were chatting like a married couple, only a few inches between us our own raging hormones.

The change in him since this morning was like day and night. The anger had vanished.

He was right: he had been through a lot. And he might die this week. I may as well care for him as much as I could until then. After Saturday, he may be gone forever .