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ONE
Tara
The air is crisp, carrying with it the promise of a new day. It’s been more than a week since I came to this shifter castle, and I’m excited to be able to finally get to explore the town better. And with a new friend. A new friend who has been visiting me often. Unlike my husbands, who only show up at bedtime.
This part of the town is familiar to me, because it’s similar to the path I take to get to the blacksmith’s shop each day, but Lady Scarlet has promised to show me even more. She says we will be shopping, together, and exploring, together.
Is this what it’s like to have a friend?
As I turn to Lady Scarlet, I see that she has a smile dancing across her face, and I don’t blame her: this shifter town is beautiful. It’s so different from back home. In the Witch Territories, girls spend their days indoors training in the different magical disciplines, while the boys follow their fathers, learning practical skills, working jobs that don’t require magic. There’s simply no time for anything else. Here, children are everywhere, close to their families. Happy and full of life.
It feels… so different. Better.
“It must have been amazing to grow up in this town,” I tell her.
She tucks her long blonde hair back behind one ear, and her smile widens. “I didn’t grow up on Prince Arlys’s lands. I visited a lot, though.”
“Really?” How did that work?
She nods. “My parents have their own manor a few hours from here. It’s not as grand as the castle, and the town is much smaller, but I like it. I just come here when I want a little space from my family.”
“Space?” I say, snorting as a few people pass us, and they cast us curious glances. “What’s that?”
“Did you not get a lot of space back home?” she asks, clearly curious.
“I got more when my mom went to battle…” I stop. She doesn’t need me to remind her that my mother has killed countless of her kind. The shifter and witch battles are always in the back of everyone’s minds already when they see me here–no need to attract more attention to it. “But regardless of whether she was in town or not, her instructions were followed by our people. I was mostly isolated, learning one-on-one with a tutor. If I wasn't learning I was alone in my room, or alone outdoors, when I could get away.”
There’s no way I’m going to describe the extent to which my studies intensified because of how bad I was with magic, nor that even when I had an opportunity to be around others, it didn’t go well, because no one wanted me around. I can’t tell her to imagine walking into any room and having all the people either instantly ignore you or actively treat you like shit.
No normal person understands that level of soul-deep loneliness.
She smiles. “Well, between Princes Rinan, Arlys, and Drogo, you won’t be alone much.”
Except that I am. Not that I’m going to tell her that either.
She glances at my purple dress, her gaze running over me. “We really did make a lovely choice, and the dagger pulls it all together nicely.”
“Thanks,” I say, even though I still feel a little uncomfortable.
I’m not exactly a beauty, standing next to her. No matter what I wear.
We’d finally left the castle after I spent the morning wading through my wardrobe and trying on different outfits to cover the scratches on my chest from the bear attack. My dagger at my side, which has become a constant companion since the bear attack, brings me comfort, but I still feel like a lumpy pile of ugly compared to the tall beauty beside me. Still, the lovely town makes it hard to focus on the ways I'm lacking. I’m just busy walking amidst the lively blend of children and adults and wolves. It's the most fascinating thing I've ever seen in my life. Children… playing? I’ve never seen anything like it before.
There’s laughter behind me from a group of kids who had recently started shadowing us as we walked. I’d thought their curiosity would have waned by now but, apparently, we’re just that interesting.
I turn and smile, then give a little wave. “Hi!”
The kids laugh harder, but there’s no cruelty, only innocence and curiosity in the sound. They’re excited to have a new person in town. A new princess. And a witch.
I turn back and see Lady Scarlet watching me. “What?”
“You’re just different than I expected.” Her expression is hard to read, though.
“Different bad?” I ask, suddenly feeling uneasy.
She shakes her head, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Different good. Come on, there’s so much more to see!”
And there is! The town, with its endless streets and wooden structures, feels like an extension of the forest itself. It’s a stark contrast to the small coven, the stone castle and cave systems I’m accustomed to, and the novelty fills me with excitement. In a city this big, I could get lost. I could just wander, letting my thoughts wander along with me.
