Red Riding

05

I WAS DOWNSTAIRS exactly ten minutes before the clock struck three just like I had been asked of. Father was waiting below the staircase with Gethwine and her family—apart from Kade—pacing back and forth with hands behind his back in anticipation, only coming to a stop when he noticed me. He gave me a once-over and pressed his lips into a thin line. Mother was nowhere to be found.

The grandfather clock beyond the hall ticked ominously.

"Do you have everything?" Father asked before my feet even found the floor and I was bathed in the afternoon sun flooding in through the windows surrounding us in the hall.

I nodded, turning briefly to glance at the young Lycan worker carrying a leather case in her arms as she followed after me as my boots thudded heavily against the floorboards. She'd insisted, backed by Father's verbal orders, I pack several belongings with me such as clothing and personal essentials for my long trip, like I had needed any more of a reminder. So I'd thrown together a small pile of shirts and trousers and toiletries, not fully paying attention to what had gone into the case before it shut. But I had avoided the framed photographs and the little trinkets which decorated my desk and bedside table.

Father hesitated for a second, a hand outstretched and brows furrowed subtly in contemplation. He looked a little bothered, possibly by the fact he probably had better things to do than escort his daughter down the hall to greet his own nemesis. Without a word, he waved a hand to the end of the hallway where a a large chandelier dangling from the domed ceiling of the foyer caught my eye. We passed his office and the living and dining rooms where a peculiar number of memories began resurfacing from. I shoved them all back, focusing on the sound of my own footsteps overlapping others as I tried to calm myself for the third time since I left my room.. Gethwine walked quietly next to me, her mother and father looking on solemnly behind us.

It sort of reminded me of all those times when I had watched Lycan guards guide prisoners up to the Tower where they were kept until trial and interrogation.

I wondered if that would be my fate. I hadn't really thought about the consequences of agreeing to this arrangement until now. If Kier wanted me chopped into prices, no matter how many times Father read the Treaty or begged, I belonged to the Morgenstern pack and that meant I was at their disposal—and I would get chopped into pieces. If Kier wanted to interrogate me or torture me, it was also entirely up to the mood of his sadistic mind. Or maybe he wouldn't even do anything to me. Maybe not personally, at least.

Surely Father had thought of that. But even if he has, there was nothing more he could do now. He'd already recalled his men and withdrew from the front lines like promised after he had signed the Treaty. Even if he tried to back out now, it would only be in vain.

I also wondered how much of the pack agreed to this. Of course most of the Elders and their outdated morals. One in exchange for many. A necessary sacrifice which could mean peace guaranteed that any shred of hope which still remained in hearts was not destroyed, so I supposed the pack wasn't in complete opposition with this condition.

I had forgotten how big the foyer was until I stood in the middle of it again, after years of finding my way down the winding steps at the back of the manor to the hospital wards. This used to be a place of laughter and liveliness, the front door opening wide for guests and embracing the city.

Now it was used to store supplies. Lots of it.

Silver knives, packets of silver ammunition, silver-plated armour—there were hardly any left. I only realised now just how much of our thinning resources we had depleted just to fight for our lives. A part of me suddenly almost felt glad to be traded off to the enemy pack. Well, if it meant help was given and the reformation of the pack could commence.