Rue

Chapter 15

Healing took exactly four days. I clenched the envelope in my hand, standing outside the tall doors of the council room. I had been summoned. My heart raced, its beats becoming louder with each passing second, and I wanted to turn and run. I jumped back. The left door opened and behind it stood Stefan. His frown deepened the longer I stood still.
“Come, boy. We don’t have all day.”
I followed him in. The hallway was dark. Candles lit he way; the banners of all the royal families decorated the walls. My eyes lingered on the blue and black colors of my banner before I forced them away. We stopped at a pair of tall doors. Stefan pushed one open, gesturing for me to enter before him.
The council room was made up of two semi-circles of layered seats that faced each other. Around the walls hung banners of our species' crests, and in the center was a table. Stefan took his place behind it, organizing mountains of papers.
He gestured to stand in the middle with him. Rue was already there. She was garbed in the black feathered dress she wore to her mother’s wedding party. Her hair hung loose and, for once, straight and combed. I hadn’t seen her since I had confronted Henri.
Not caring about the lingering eyes, I dashed and pulled her into a tight hug. She returned the gesture. She leaned away, pointing to her shoulder.
“You’re healed? That’s a relief.”
“Excuse me.”
I dropped my arms and stepped back at Stefan’s cough. The council members fell quiet. I still wasn’t told if I was being punished for murdering Henri or rewarded with a crown.
Stefan offered me a bottle of the same potion Rosaline had. I drank it.
“Thank you all for gathering here today. As I mentioned in the memo, we will be discussing the fate of young Felken Adalwulf, cousin to the previous king, Henri Adalwulf. Would anyone like to begin?”
Close to the center sat a man with tomato red hair. His red cat eyes told me he, like Stefan, was a demon, but I had never seen the Demon King in person before. Dressed in all black, a side cloak of red dripped off his right shoulder. Patches signifying his military accomplishments decorated his breast. His eyes lingered on me, and then on Rue, but his interest faded.
“Werewolf tradition says the killer of kings gets the crown. Just give it to Felken,” he said.
Stefan’s eyes narrowed. “If you read the memo, Zavier, Felken didn’t kill the king. Rue of the Winter Colored Hair did.”
Ah! So that’s why both of us were here.
Zavier rolled his eyes and dropped his head on the table.
“Give the crown to Miss Rue, then.”
Stefan’s lip twitched. I had heard rumors of the lazy Demon King and of Stefan having to pick up his slack. Seeing it in person was almost funny.
“I agree. She is a she-wolf Faerie.” A thin gentleman with brown hair and sky blue eyes stood. His skin was pale, and although he wore the commoner’s fashion in America, I knew from pictures that he was the Vampire King. He became king several years ago, despite his young looks.
“She is the first princess of the Faeries. If something were to happen to her mother, she is the next in line,” Stefan answered.
I rubbed my temples. This was getting nowhere. Stefan didn’t want Rue to be the Werewolf Queen, but didn’t want me to be the Werewolf King either.
“You know as well as I do nothing is going to happen to the Faerie Queen. She is having a boy now, and her distaste for Rue is well known,” a woman dressed in purple and black spoke up. She wore the witch and wizard colors, which made her to be Queen Faerydae, Jasper’s mother. She was rather young looking for a woman of over three hundred years.
"We've all read the letter Titania sent. She will no longer take part in our Council meetings, and Rue is no longer apart of her court. We can do with her as we please." I did not know the name of the man who spoke, but by his family colors, I could tell he was a necromancer.
“Why can the boy not take the crown?” The dark-skinned man, Sphinx, tapped his finger on the desk.
“Because he did not directly kill his cousin. Felken did quite a bit of damage to his body, yes, but Rue stuffed Wolfsbane in his mouth at the last second—”
The door blasted open. A gust of wind caught me off guard, thinking the doors were going to explode off their hinges.
“Afternoon, all,” Rosaline pitched in.
“Please leave us,” Stefan hissed. “You are not allowed to be here.”
Rosaline took a seat at Zavier’s desk, leaning back and swinging her feet.
“But what if I have a solution to your little problem?” Rosaline smiled and hopped off the desk. She walked over to Rue and me. Instinctively, I moved in front of the Faerie, blocking her from the demon. Because of her, Henri had tried to kill me, and I had to kill him.
“And what would that be, Rosaline?” Stefan asked, his anger at his wife’s unwanted presence here showing through his usual emotionless mask.
Rosaline looked me over, and then Rue, nodding her head a few times before returning to her seat at Zavier’s desk. The Demon King took no notice of her and continued to sleep through the meeting.
“A simple solution, really. Felken will marry Rue, and they will both rule.”
The room fell silent, echoing my own mind.
“What?” I spat out, wondering if I misheard her.
Rosaline smiled, gesturing to the two of us. “Rue killed the previous king, which entitles her to be king. But can we have that? A Faerie ruling werewolves? That is where puppy comes along. He is a werewolf and played the main role in the death of Henri. If we marry the two, there will be no issues.”
Chatter broke out. Stefan rubbed his hand over his face. “The law states—”
“‘Should an individual succeed in winning against the current ruler, the winning party shall become the new ruler, until another challenger wins.’ There is nothing in the law about the ruler having to be of the same species.”
I stepped in. “Do we not get a say in this? If you’re talking about our future, shouldn’t we be able to protest if we want?”
Rosaline grabbed my cheek, pulling it like I was a child. Stefan or the other council members didn’t try to stop her in the least. I removed her hand from my face.
Rosaline turned to address the rest of the council.
“Is there any other choice? A few of you don’t like the idea of Rue being the ruler, so why not give her a king that can rule? Besides, they have already consummated their love; throwing crowns in the mix just makes things better. You all know, as I do, another war will rise in the future. Felken’s country will be the center of it, which I believe will help shape him into a great king.”
My face turned red, and I dreaded to know how Rosaline even knew anything about my personal life. The woman was something to fear and now I was learning why. I was curious about the war she mentioned, but questions could be asked later. Right now my future was at stake.
“You can’t just arrange a marriage!” I did love Rue, but having her forced to be with me was something I didn’t want. I wanted her to choose, not Rosaline. I remembered the paper on Henri’s desk. He wasn’t king for even a full year and he was already engaged, probably by force.
“Boy,” Stefan called. “Look around you. Most of us in this room have been arranged to be with our partners. It is a common thing, and now that you helped in killing your cousin, you are no different.”
My parents had been arranged into marriage. Rosaline and Stefan were arranged as well. Neither one looked too happy, but they must have stuck it out because of pride. I looked around, counting to calm myself. I breathed in.
“Alright. I will become King, but I have a condition.”
“It’s not a debate, boy. Adalwulfs have been kings for a long time, but that doesn’t mean you are just given the title. Anyone else that changes under the moon can have it.” Stefan crossed his arms.
“Ja, I understand, but please. I will marry Rue. What I want is for no one to know Rue is a Faerie except those in this room.”
If the rest of the werewolves knew Rue was a Faerie, they might not be as accepting as the council. Hiding her pointed ears and blaming the lack of communication of a language barrier would be easy. I looked to Rue, but it was hard to read what she was thinking. Her arms dangled on her side, and she just watched what was going on. Her eyes lingered on the lights, moving to searching the faces of everyone in the room.
“We shall take a vote. All in favor of Felken becoming King of Werewolves, and Rue becoming his bride?”
I held my breath. A few nays were called, but most of the council agreed to my terms. I smiled, feeling relieved. The council chatted amongst themselves, talking further into the matter. Stefan called for silence.
“Now that that is complete, Felken Adalwulf is proclaimed to be King of Werewolves.”
Rosaline’s smile stretched across her face. If I wasn’t overwhelmed by the council members walking down to shake my hand and congratulate me, I might have noticed that she got exactly what she wanted.

I gave Henri a grand funeral. He tried to kill me twice, but he still deserved the best. He was family, after all. It wasn’t his fault everything had happened. I should have told him from the start Rue lived in the woods, and perhaps he would still be alive. I blamed Rosaline for it all.
Six days after officially being crowned, I returned home in the middle of the night. I took a final tour of the house and lit a match. The drapes caught first; the fire then licked the walls. I stood in the burning house, watching my parent’s portraits burn along with everything else. My mother would have understood. I didn’t need a picture of them anymore; they were watching from another place. I was starting a new life.
Men from the village ran to put out the fire once it had been noticed, but it was already too late. By morning, all that stood was an ashy frame of what once was a mighty house. The foundation was cracked and charred. I heard the talk of rebuilding, but nobody returned to the site after a few days.
I disappeared into the woods. I was sure Aunty would forgive me one day for what I did. She would have known it was me who killed her son the instant I became king and she was told her eldest son was murdered. I longed to visit and comfort her, explaining Henri was long gone when he died, but that would have troubled her further. My attempts of contacting her and my cousins failed.
I pushed the cabin door open and dropped a handful of supplies. As king, I had access to royal funds with mountains of money. I could have built a new mansion standing on the highest hill if I pleased. Instead, I bought supplies to fix up the cabin.
I managed to replace the windows with new ones and built a new door. I patched a few holes in the walls, making sure that with the upcoming winter, it remained warm inside. My goal was to build a new table and chairs, but my skills still lacked. I’m sure everything I had done would need to be replaced in the future, but for now, I was proud.
Rue watched from the bed, petting the old wolf by her side. Now that it was safe, I convinced her to abandon the den and stay in the cabin with me. I thought it would take months to persuade her, but all I had to do was build her a trunk to keep all of her new dresses. She wore them on special occasions, but still preferred to keep her white one. The black blood still stained the corner, reminding me of what I had done to protect her.
I told Rue about my plan to confront Titania, but she refused to let me go. I tried explaining to her that she could have her emotions back, but all I got in response was a tiny crocus. I had grown accustomed to reading her body language instead of her facial emotions and voice, but a few other council members were starting to find the lack of them annoying.
I finished up fixing part of the floor and decided it was time for a break. I wiped the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. The summer was blending into fall, but the heat still held.
“I’m going to the river,” I said, carrying the cooking pot along to fill with water.
Rue grabbed my arm. I patted her hair and gestured for her to lead the way. She dashed off, skipping and spinning until I lost sight of her. I caught a glimpse of a white wolf running ahead.
I followed.