Rue

Chapter 4

"Tighter."

Henri glanced up at me, frowning, but tightened the chains regardless.

"Are you sure? Your hands are turning red." Henri slipped some old rags from a bag and stuffed them in between the metal and my skin. It gave some relief from the rusted metal rubbing against my skin, but each movement caused it to dig in further.

"If I escape again, Uncle will kill me for sure."

Henri leaned back, tucking his hands behind his head. "I'm jealous of you, cousin. You get to sit and relax all night. Father has taken the fun out of hunting. It used to be fun when it wasn't planned. Do you know what happens if we do not catch something? The next change we have to catch two animals! One is bad enough—"

"Thank you, Hen," I cut him off—his would go on talking all night if I let him.

Henri smiled. "We're family. Everyone is worried about you, Father included. He thinks about you more than everyone."

I snorted. "I doubt that. Come summer I'll be living outside again. And my meals—once a day is hardly caring! It's his fault my wolf self hunts anything that moves."

Henri's smile faded. He leaned forward, his eyes checking the door before his mouth opened. "It's because Father is worried about you. He fears if he treats you like one of us, you'll get a little bit too confident and try and steal back your father's crown. He's trying to keep you weak." His smile returned. "I doubt you'd do that to me, right? I'll be Alpha soon and I'd hate to have to kill you."

The corner of my lip faltered for a moment before I brought it up in a fake smile.

"I don't want the crown," I said. Whether this was a lie or not, it was hard to say. Ruling was never something I thought of, even when I was a prince. Now I was nothing more than a prince's cousin.

I glanced at Henri's arms; the once scrawny boy I grew up filled out without my realization. My cousins all had to perform chores involving hard labor, and I never did. I thought nothing about it, but the pieces were lining up. Uncle was trying to keep me skinny and weak. Even right now, I would be no match for Henri.

"It seems there is still a bit of time before the change. Shall we pass some time by playing cards? War, perhaps?"

I nodded.

Sunset was in an hour, but I had asked Henri to be with me for as long as possible. I feared the woods, and the creature that lived within them. I told no one about its existence. Henri would probably laugh, and Uncle would scold me for making up stories. Perhaps they would have listened, but even I was yet to see the creature that had tried to kill me.

Henri split the deck down the middle after shuffling the flimsy cards. He placed one in front of me, face down. He flashed a smile before taking one for himself. When the deck was divided, I straightened my cards into a neat pile.

"Ready, cousin?" Henri flipped over the top card, revealing a nine.

My fingers brushed the hard paper, flipping over my own. Three.

Henri smiled, dragging both cards and adding them to the bottom of his pile.

We flipped over another, this time it was my victory.

"Listen, cousin."

I looked up.

"Take it easy tonight, will you? Your escapes are becoming more and more of a nuisance to the family."

Henri won.

I shrugged my shoulders raised my cuffed hands. "It will be kind of hard with these," I forced out a chuckle.