Not My Fairytale

Chapter 4

A Smelly Situation

Theory was, thankfully, the last of my fathers plans for training that morning. Better yet, he had even cut it short, with an ominous promise that it would be much improved next time, with more preparation. It wasn't the theory, though, that hung on my mind as I made my way back to the castle, the afternoon sun streaming down on me through the sparse clouds. Nor was it the cool-down lap my father had run with me, a startling oddity even after the morning I'd had. It was the words that had come after, while we were both bent in half on the ground, stretching. The conversation that had started out well, but had taken a turn I never could have expected.

"Matteo has done a very good job with your training." He had started. Startled, my eyes shot to where he had previously been quietly brooding. But his eyes were more focused on the present than they had been all morning. "Next time, we will spend less time on the basics. I want to focus on combat practice from now, moving forward."

"Next time?" I could hardly believe my ears. Would Matteo not be picking my training back up, as usual?

"Yes, next time. Matteo and Francesco will join us as well." It had taken every ounce of my self control to keep the smile from my face at the prospect of at least having Franco's company tomorrow morning when I relive this hell.

"And to what do I owe the honor of being granted both the alpha and beta as my morning companions?" For all my efforts, I couldn't keep the cheeky question from rising to my lips along with a small smirk.

The dark look that suddenly dominated his eyes, had the smirk dropping from my lips quickly. "Have you heard of what happened in Brigna?"

I had quickly wracked my brain for every piece of information I could gather on Brigna. "The human town?"

His responding nod was met with a confused tilt of my head, urging him to continue. The sigh that slipped from him had been as dark as it was short as he had slipped on what I liked to call his 'king face'. "Two nights ago, a group of men attacked Brigna under the cover of nightfall and killed nearly fifty people."

That had caught my full attention, I nodded for him to continue. "Brigna was not the first attack. Nali was attacked five nights ago, and Reglia early last week."

The words had had my eyebrows scrunching in confusion, "Those are all human settlements."

The news was too dark to enjoy the small, proud smile my father had shot me. "I sent Matteo to Brigna today with a team of our best detectives. I'm hoping that they can find some kind of clue that the town's own detectives missed, anything to give us an idea of what we are dealing with here. But, as it has been more than forty-eight hours since the incident, we are not certain how much untampered evidence they'll be able to find."

"Are humans the only victims?"

He nodded once to my question, but I had hardly noticed the brusqueness of the gesture, my mind reeling as it attempted to process the information, growing frustrated as I couldn't immediately solve the mystery. "Brigna, Nali, and Reglia are not even in the same region of the kingdom."

His dark, humorless chuckle had fallen over us then, still huddled on the ground, though our stretches were long forgotten. "Three separate attacks, in three separate regions of the kingdom." His jaw ticked, the only outward sign of his frustration. "And three separate dukes trying to convince me that they must be isolated incidents." The silence that had followed his statement was brief, as he seemed to remember why this conversation had started in the first place. "I want you and Francesco both battle ready. If we can find a way to get a step ahead of them, I am going to need as many skilled fighters as I can get."