The Vixen Trials

Not My Choice

"I chose to hurt rather than be hurt"

Dakkoul

The Prince held up his hands. "I control the Fourth Round, Lady Tynie, not you. My challenge is simply this: my bride can demand any bride-gift she chooses. Lady Tynie, what will you ask me for?"

​Lady Tynie fluttered her eyelids. "I'll ask for the skins of a hundred wild foxes."

​"And why is that?" The Prince folded his arms across his chest.

​"The skins will be used to make Fox-dresses for me, garments of all kinds, so that I may properly be the Fox-Queen wherever I go."

​He bowed to her then turned to Keilah. "My bi-coloured beauty," he said. "What will you ask for?"

​She swallowed, then said, "The life of the Hattavah."

​The Prince's face became stone. "And why do you ask for that? I have already chosen justice for him."

​"You have been just. I declare to all your justice. It is not that. It is more personal."

​"Personal? You were lovers?"

​"No," she said, in a tone of horror. "Never that."

Dakkoul clenched his teeth. No, they were never that, but did she have to look so horrified at the thought?

​"I know he's done terrible things," Keilah said in a rush. "That people want him dead, and rightly so." It hurt, more than he could have ever imagined, to hear her say it.

"It is not really for the Hattavah himself I ask, but for who he was."

He found himself holding his breath, saying in his head, don't say it, don't say it, but then she did.

​"It for Dakkoul. The boy I knew. We grew up together and his heart is hooked to mine. When my parents were biting each other's tails, I would flee to his home and find welcome. He like a brother. Then he was taken by Lord Rustavan and tortured until he became the Hattavah. It is Lord Rustavan's fault that Dakkoul's done all those things."

​Dakkoul could not accept that. He pushed himself up into something like a kneel and croaked out, "I chose to hurt rather than be hurt. I made myself the Hattavah."

​She looked at him then, a long slow look that seemed to take in all his injuries, all his pain, all his heart then she turned back to her Prince. "It is for Dakkoul I ask. Only for his life. Nothing else."

​The prince stared at her. "And if I exile him and you never see him again?"

​"I will not protest. I will be grateful."

​He mused, "Someone unexpected told me I should desire kindness in a wife." The crowd tittered.

​"I laughed too, but they argued as a husband I should want kindness. Kindness towards me, and kindness also towards you," he waved his hands towards the watching crowd, silencing them. "One girl begs for the life of a unworthy slave, the other asks for the lives of a hundred wild foxes which would almost certainly antagonize our Enderaii neighbours. Whom should I choose?"

​A circlet of gold appeared in his hands and Dakkoul felt his heart still. Keilah shouldn't have asked for him. She should have asked for anything else other than that. The Prince wanted him dead, he'd made that clear.

​"Lady Tynie," the Prince said. She perked up in anticipation, stepping towards him with an eager light in her eyes. "Your request is practical and necessary for any Fox-Queen, in truth you ask for nothing more than you would naturally receive, despite the risk of war. You show me by your answer that you would be sensible and proper in your role as Queen."

He held out the circlet of gold towards her. She flushed and clasped her heart before reaching out to take it and Dakkoul groaned. How could the Prince pick her, when he had Keilah in front of him?

​"No," hissed the Queen-Priestess marching on to the stage and snatching the circlet out of his hand. "Use your eyes my son – look at her." She gestured at Keilah. 

​The Prince examined Keilah, coldly, but with interest. 

"The eyes," the Queen-Priestess said. "The Fox speaks through them. She is the chosen one."

​"She is not my choice."

​"The Fox speaks," insisted the Queen-Priestess. "You must listen to her."

​For a long moment the Prince held his mother's gaze, a duel sparked in them, that she defeated somehow and he came with dragging steps towards Keilah and thrust the circlet on her head.

​"Speak," the Queen-Priestess cried. "You must honour your betrothed."

​He spoke with polish, a speech that seemed to come from a defeated part of him, "My Lady, you will be an altogether different Queen. As the Fox has blessed you, so you will wear the crown," and in saying so, he placed it on her head. "This is the sign of our betrothal," he said. A flush rose on Keilah's cheeks and Dakkoul thought he had never seen her wear anything more fitting. She had finally attained all the recognition she deserved.

​"We shall be the fairest Fox King and Queen in history," the Prince said. In the corner of the room, a band of musicians thumped out a triumphant tune and Dakkoul dropped his head so that he would see her no longer.