the Maiden

chapter four

the fox with an angel's heart

I was going to condense the story, of course. I'm sure no one wanted the dirty details of every moment, and I also didn't feel like telling them. They only need to know the parts that matter. The parts that...started all of this.

"Start at the beginning," Calix offered.

I gave him a polite nod as I eyed my wine glass. "Yeah..." I grabbed it and gulped it down to the dregs. "It all began when Geiya decided she wanted to rock the boat a bit. Did you know she just sits up there and watches us? It's her daily amusement, she says. Most days. Other days she gets bored. She has her angels with her, but they're also tired of doing the same old tasks. So she planted a seed.

"Searii Selvaggio was a good candidate because she was of royal blood from Celestia, her favorite realm. She gifted Searii with Foresight, so that she may glimpse bits of the future Geiya was about to set in motion. To Xaedri LaGuardia, she gave the gift of powerful black magic, of which she used to create the first werewolves. Ilsegh she gifted with astral magic, so that Eloria may be the keepers of magic. And Ryiao...she gifted Searii. And they fell in love.

"Xaedri announced the werewolves to the other fey. They were cautious and scared at first, but slowly many came around to the idea and enough faeries were transformed to wolves. The packs we know today were formed. All but one."

I paused to take a sip of water. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, prying and pressing and trying to peer through. I noticed it didn't bother me the way it used to when I first arrived here. Maybe it's just curiosity.

"Ryiao and Searii got married, temporarily uniting the realms of Rozarya and Celestia. Searii was soon with child, then I was born."

Elliressa's jaw dropped. "That makes you my...great...?"

I waved her off. "If you need to, think of me as a distant aunt. I am technically far older than our late High Lord."

Nishei groaned. "I can't believe you just offed the old bastard just like that."

"He's just upset you beat him to the punch, is all," Alidriseth assured her. "He's dreamed of killing his father ever since he found out what happened to his brothers."

I frowned. "What happened to your brothers?"

"Don't ask." He shot Alidriseth a glare. "Continue with your story."

"Right. I was born, but there was a slight...hiccup. You see, back when Xaedri was doing her werewolf initiation ceremony—Ryiao joined in on it. Searii wasn't happy about that, but what could she do? She'd been having strange premonitions and visions, but none of them had come true yet. Then I was born—glowing eyes, shadows hovering around my shoulders, and two sharp canine incisors. That's when they knew something was up. No one listened to Searii when she spoke about her prophecies, nor did they understand."

I paused as I scowled. "They called me a demon. Mutant. Monstrous. An abomination." I shrugged. "Didn't stop me from proving I was better—stronger, faster. I was an apex predator. Even my magic was dangerous—Chaos is what I call it. I draw on the chaos around me to manipulate into shadows and clouds and demons."

I felt myself grin. "I trained beneath Xaedri herself. And I dared to start a pack of my own. I disrupted her hierarchy, so she hated me. When my pack thrived above all the others, even her own—she challenged me. We fought a duel. The winner picked the loser's punishment ... It's no surprise that I lost, but it came as one to me. I had gotten cocky, overconfident—even my skill couldn't beat her years of experience. She turned me into a fox. And I stayed that way for four years."