Avarice | Sample 10 Chapters

A v a r i c e | F o u r

F o u r

❝A young girl rejected her mother's passion;

she betrayed her mother who is ashen.❞

THE CREATURE BEFORE ME WAS NOT a wolf. I wasn't sure what it was. The beast was larger than any bear or wolf I'd ever seen and had a tremendous amount of fur cushioning its body. Its beady eyes seemed to be glaring at me, daring me to step closer. The lycanthrope had been standing on all four paws before I'd stumbled upon him.

Now, he stood on two and seemed to be as tall as a tree, although I knew he wasn't.

His front paws were covered with the blood of the being he'd torn apart mercilessly. His beady eyes locked on me, and I couldn't run. I was frozen under his gaze, unsure what to do even while my instincts screamed at me to run until this monster could no longer be seen. The lycanthrope made no move toward me, either. He just scrutinized me as he licked the dark red blood from his lips.

And then he started to run to me.

"Move, dammit!" Suddenly, I was jerked back to reality as a body collided with mine, knocking me to the ground as the person yelled at me to go. The person above me, a male, quickly took to a stand and held up the bow and arrow he was carrying steadily. With no hesitation, he shot the arrow at the beast just before the lycanthrope got a chance to reach us.

But the lycanthrope didn't die. The man had shot the lycanthrope in the eye, and yet it was still alive. After stumbling and pawing at his face, the lycanthrope turned and ran from the scene and I was brought back to reality.

I blinked up at my savior.

"Who are you?" I questioned in a shaky voice. I coughed a bit to clear it up and looked up at him expectantly.

The man looked down at me harshly, his gaze threatening. He didn't even apologize for knocking me on my bottom. "That is nothing that you need to know," he said, and then walked confidently off towards the forest. Had I not nearly been killed, I might've gone after him and told him how rude I thought he was.

Sadly, I had nearly been killed and I really didn't feel up to do any sort of interrogation tasks.

My attention switched to the body. Now that my mind was a bit clearer, I recognized the body as not a human, but a horse with decorative clothing on it.

I waited until a group of people returned from wherever they'd run off to before I escaped to the haven that was my home.

Mother was waiting for me.

She must've heard the commotion from outside, because the second I walked into the room she dropped what she was knitting and took me into her arms. "Oh, Cerise!" she cried. "Are you alright? I heard people yelling from outside."

I lied. "Oh, really? I hadn't heard a thing. Probably just men at the bar getting all riled up." I smiled tightly at her. "I'm fine, Mother." She looked doubtful, but she nodded and let go of me.

"Well, alright then." Mother nodded blankly and sat back down in the chair she was always sitting in. Suddenly, her face lit up. "We were invited to dine with the royals three days from now."

"Oh?" I questioned while I began to remove my cloak. After all, I knew I wasn't going to leave the house, so I might as well get comfortable. "Why?"

Mother seemed to be very excited by the prospect of simply being around royals. She had always fancied the king, but didn't most women? "Your father wasn't specific. Something to do with a meeting about the wretched lycanthropes, I believe."