Heart of the Wolf Prince

Chapter 34(b)

I look around, confused, when it finally clicks that I have a much bigger problem of my hands. The faces of the crowd are white with shock, and everyone is staring at me as though I've grown a second head. Hushed whisperings start up around me, a sound that begins to buzz louder and louder like a swarm of wasps. I look hopelessly to Kohl. He stares back. I have never seen his eyes so full of dread.

Just then, the king rises from where he was sitting behind the platform, and my eyes whip to him. He's staring back at me with this smug triumph on his face, as though he's won a secret game I'm not quite in on yet.

Then, as though that look was only intended for me, he schools his features into that of an enraged king and points to me. "Hear me now, for I speak only the truth. The girl we see before us is not a girl, nor is she even werewolf. She is a monster, a threat to your families and friends. She is the bane of Wolfkind and shall be dealt with as such."

Kohl whips around to his father, opening his mouth to protest, but I beat him to it.

"You're wrong!" I yell, and to my surprise, the crowd goes silent, intent on what I have to say. I can feel the trepidation all around me, the fear oozing from them. "You attempted to assassinate your own son. I just burnt the Ashwood arrow out the air!"

The king sneers at that, but I can tell by the glittering mirth in his eyes that he is not as pissed as he seems. "Ashwood does not grow in this part of the continent, and I think everyone can agree there is no smell of burning wood." At that, several people near him stiff the air and nod, and my stomach turns to stone. Of course they can't smell burning wood – the thing disintegrated before it even touched my flame!

He points at me again. "You are nothing but a mad woman, throwing around accusations to save your own hide. But you cannot hide in sheep's clothing for any longer, you fiend." He looks around. "Guards, seize her!"

He smirks again, and my body goes cold with the realisation. A set up. This whole assassination had been a setup, to get me to expose my powers before the court. But why? How had he been so certain I would bite the bait?

I don't have time to finish that thought before several guards move into the arena, half of them shifting into their wolf forms while the other half remain human. I look desperately to the bystanders in the stands. How can I convince them all that I am innocent? That I am not a monster – just a girl possessing a magic that once thrived freely among our kind, a magic that died out not so long ago?

Before I can, someone shoots an arrow my way and I use my fire to burn it out the sky on instinct, and as the guard creep closer, I realise I am going to have to play into the role of monster. If I'm going to escape the king, I'm going to need to burn my way past these guards first, something that makes my chest constrict with horror.

"Stop this!" Kohl roars from somewhere in the stands. "Do not lay a hand on her!"

The guards hesitate, and I look up for a brief moment to find Kohl's wide eyes on mine. He looks terrified, and my heart wrenches as I see a piece of the boy I once adored.

The king growls. "What are you doing? Listen to your ruling sovereign. Seize the girl!"

That's enough to kick the guards back into action. They close in around me, and all I can do is look inwards and summon that fire to my palms.

Biting back my terror, I thrust out my arm and shoot a stream of scarlet fire towards a group of oncoming guards. The screams that escape them as they drop to their knees freeze my heart, and I extinguish my fire in an instant. The writhe on the ground, red and burning, and the wind carries the smell of burning flesh to my nostrils, almost as a means to taunt me. Look at what you have done.