RowenaI hurried down the hallway at camp, keeping my head down in the wake of everything that had happened with Heather and Dr. Reynolds—but apparently, it seemed that I didn’t need to.One apologetic glance turned into another, followed by the occasional sympathetic murmur, and soon, I was realizing that my classmates actually…
RowenaEric’s wide blue eyes stared down at me for a moment, his broad frame practically blotting out the light streaming into the hallway through the large windows before I managed to collect my bearings.“How’s your arm?” I blurted out, taking a step back and adjusting my satchel on my shoulder.
Rowena“Did you see the look on Liam’s face when you beat his high score on that zombie shooter game? He was so flustered!”Emma rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “Yeah, well, that’s what he gets when he assumes that girls don’t know how to play video games.” She paused for a moment before shooting me a sly grin. “You and Eric seemed to be having a pretty good time too, by the way.”I felt my cheeks flush slightly at her implication, and quickly looked away to hide it. Last night, Emma, Eric, Liam, and I had gone out to a local arcade; we had spent the night playing games, eating pizza, and… well, just acting like normal people for a change.It had been nice. But there was nothing more to it.“Yeah,” I finally managed, rubbing my hand along the back of my neck. “It was nice to spend some time with him.”“Mhm.” Emma drew out the sound, shooting me a coy look. “If you say so. But you two would make a pretty cute couple if, you know, you weren’t related.”My heart stuttered in my chest at
RowenaI hovered anxiously over the warrior’s bedside, my teeth gnawing at my bottom lip as I watched him strain against the thick leather restraints binding him to the cot. A thin sheen of sweat glistened across his brow, his eyes wild and glazed as he thrashed around—growls and snarls ripping from his throat like a feral animal.He had been sedated, which reduced his fury immensely. I wondered what it would be like if he hadn’t been.“God,” Eric muttered from somewhere behind me, low and full of worry. “He’s... he’s completely gone, isn’t he?”I swallowed hard, my grip tightening around the pen I held as I watched a thin line of white foam dribble from the corner of the warrior’s mouth. This was bad—so, so bad. The Wolf’s Fury virus had progressed so quickly, far more quickly than I could have imagined. Just minutes ago, he had seemed relatively coherent save for his unfocused gaze and jerky movements. Now…Now he was practically feral, utterly detached from his humanity.A shudder
RowenaI whirled around at the sound of Adrian’s voice cutting through the chaos, my heart leaping into my throat when I saw him storming toward us.Without a moment’s hesitation, Eric immediately stepped in front of me—his broad frame forming a protective barrier between me and Adrian.“What do you want?” Eric growled.Adrian didn’t so much as break his stride, his lips curling back in a sneer as he rapidly closed the distance between us. When he was just a few feet away, he jabbed an accusatory finger in Eric’s direction.“You’re infected,” he bit out. “I know you were bitten! I saw everything the other night!”Before I could open my mouth to protest, Adrian’s hand whipped out and seized Eric’s wrist in an iron grip. With a harsh tug, he yanked Eric’s arm forward—causing the sleeve of his jacket to ride up and reveal the stark white bandages I knew were concealing the bite mark hidden beneath.My stomach flipped as I watched Adrian rip the dressing away, exposing the angry red gashe
RowenaA soft sigh escaped my lips as I focused the microscope lens. Carefully arranged on the glass slide were thin smears of the warrior’s infected blood sample—the very sample I had secretly obtained right before…Well, everything.My jaw clenched, and I couldn’t keep myself from thinking about Eric’s pale, motionless form being hauled into that white van like a sack of bad potatoes. I squeezed my eyes shut against the memory, forcing myself to take a slow, steadying breath.He was still in there, I reminded myself firmly. Still fighting, still Eric. I just had to find a way to cure him of this virus before it consumed him completely.With renewed determination, I refocused my attention on the microscope, adjusting the knobs to increase the magnification. The warrior’s blood stared up at me in stark red detail—every single corrupted cell visible in high resolution.Tainted. Diseased. But beyond repair?No. I refused to accept that possibility—there simply had to be something, some
RowenaMy heart hammered against the inside of my ribcage as I was led down the sterile hallway toward Eric’s quarantine cell. The harsh buzz of fluorescent lighting overhead mingled with the dull hum of voices, distant growls, and beeping machines.It was like something ripped straight out of a dystopian horror film. Each window I passed revealed Wolf’s Fury victims in various states—pacing, snarling, tied to beds.
RowenaYawning, I rubbed my eyes and shook my head as if that would somehow dispel the exhaustion that had settled in my bones. My room was lit solely by the small lamp on my desk and the early morning sunlight seeping in beneath my curtains. It was early—but I hadn’t slept all night.How could I sleep? How could I give myself that time to relax when Eric was currently locked up in quarantine, his condition worsening by the day?
RowenaThe sun cast golden rays on the carpet as I stood in the middle of my bedroom, surveying the half-packed bag on my bed with a frown. Would this be enough for three months of training?Finally, after deciding that I wasn’t quite ready yet and stuffing in a few more shirts, I zipped it closed and slung the strap over my shoulder. A soft sniffle made me turn toward the doorway, and I felt my face drop slightly when I saw the sad faces staring back at me.My parents lingered there, my mom’s eyes red-rimmed and glistening with tears. She attempted a watery smile when she saw me looking, but I could see right through it. She didn’t want me to leave.“You’re really going, huh?” she murmured.Crossing the room with a sigh, I pulled my mom into a tight hug and shot my dad an apologetic look over her slender shoulder. “It’s only for a few months, Mom,” I reassured her. “I’ll be back before you know it.”“I know, I know.” She squeezed me tighter, her fingers digging into my back. “It’s ju
RowenaI stood in the hallway just outside the parlor, my heart pounding in my ears. The voices behind the door were hushed, but I could still make out every word through the thick wood.“Your Majesty, we can’t thank you enough for making this journey,” my father’s voice echoed softly. “I can assure you that, had circumstances been different, we would have liked to have met you much sooner.”There was a pause, and then a deeper, richer voice responded—one I didn’t recognize yet. “Please, call me Stefan. And the honor is all mine—you protected my daughter despite everything. Although a part of me still can’t believe my little girl is actually alive after all these years.”My heart leapt into my throat. My father—King Stefan from the Northern kingdom. I knew he was coming to visit, but to finally hear his voice… It was unreal.A trembling hand came up to rest against the door as I tried to conjure up any memory of my father, of my past life. But there was nothing, of course; I had been
RowenaMy heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as I watched Eric mouth those two simple words to me.“Kiss me.”His bright blue eyes bored endlessly into mine, and in those moments, time stopped. Kiss him? Kiss him? Now? In front of everyone?“C’mon, Ro,” Eric murmured, sensing my fear. “You promised.”I gulped, unsure of what to say; and at that second, I felt myself being thrust back to our childhood, back to one summer afternoon so many years ago when things were so much different…“Hey, Ro?” “Yeah?”“Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you were born in a different family?”I remembered that day clearly; Eric and I had been laying out in the grass beneath the big oak tree behind our house, watching as the leaves waved back and forth. I was nine, and he was going on twelve. Oddly enough, I remembered exactly what we were wearing: he had on a blue shirt, and I wore a pair of overalls. I think I remembered the shirt because it matched his eyes, and the color
EricI tightened the cloth wraps around my fists, feeling the familiar ache in my knuckles as I stared across the sandy expanse at Darius. With Adrian and Heather gone, it was just the two of us left.Darius grinned at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Quite a show you and your girl put on back there,” he said, loud enough for just us to hear over the roaring crowd.I allowed myself a slight smirk, although my stomach still twisted painfully when I thought about how close I had just come to losing Rowena forever—all thanks to Adrian and some demented scheme to assassinate the Northern princess.“My girl?” I said, feigning ignorance.Darius smirked at me. “Oh, come on; everyone has suspected that she’s not actually a Griffith for months. And we both know what you two were doing the other day in her office.”The tips of my ears turned pink, but I couldn’t help but shake my head and laugh. Of course everyone had known. I hadn’t exactly put in the greatest effort to hide it since I
RowenaI could only stand there, frozen in place as Heather and Adrian were hauled away by the guards. Their hateful glares burned into me until the very last moment when they disappeared into the tunnels.And then they were gone. It was over… For now, at least.A sudden cacophony of sound slammed back into me all at once—the roaring of the crowd, shouts and exclamations from students and spectators alike. I flinched as hands grabbed at me from all sides, my parents’ frantic faces appearing like a lifeline through the throng of people.“Rowena! Oh god, are you alright?” My mother clutched at me desperately and drew me toward her, tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked me over for injuries. “We were so worried, we thought… We thought…”She trailed off, unable to put her worst fears into words as she smoothed my hair back from my ears, checking me over as if I were made of glass. My father wasn’t much better, one large hand cupping the side of my face while his eyes bored into me
RowenaEverything seemed to move in agonizingly slow motion as Adrian’s arrow sailed straight for my head. Time itself seemed to go still, the crowd’s roar fading into an eerie silence.In that endless moment, a thousand different thoughts raced through my mind. Eric’s handsome face, his last wink burned into my memory. The way his fingers had threaded through my hair just this morning as we had secretly made love under my sheets. My parents’ smiling faces from their seats up in the crowd, now twisted into masks of horror.So this was how it ended, then? Struck down by a coward’s arrow in front of thousands of spectators? My identity revealed to everyone, only for it to be snuffed out before I even had the chance to meet my biological family?There was no time to move, no time to even scream. All I could do was brace myself, my eyes squeezed shut as I awaited the impact. The embrace of death. I hoped it would be quick, if nothing else.But it never came. Instead, a sudden whistle of a
RowenaThe roar of the crowd was deafening as Emma and I made our way through the tunnels toward the main arena. I could feel the vibrations of thousands of stomping feet even from here, and it made my heart pound in anticipation.Inside of me, my wolf was practically roiling with excitement; I had grown used to her presence over the passing days, although it felt completely and utterly natural from the beginning.“Are you ready for this?” Emma asked with a grin, giving my arm an excited squeeze.I took a deep breath, squaring my shoulders. “As long as I’ve got you by my side,” I replied.When we finally emerged into the bright stadium lights, I had to blink a few times to adjust. The massive arena stretched out like a desert in front of us, the sandy pit already prepped for the combat rounds. Lining the walls were the colorful pavilions and banners for each warrior and manager pair.My gaze immediately found Eric, standing tall and proud beside his pavilion across the way. He caught
RowenaEric and I sprang apart at the sound of the doorknob turning, frantically smoothing our clothes down and covering ourselves just as a group of warriors walked into my office. I felt my cheeks flush hot as the apparent leader flicked on the light, blinking in confusion.“Rowena,” the warrior at the forefront said, glancing back and forth between Eric and me for a moment. “I wasn’t sure if you were in here. Why were the lights out?”Before I could answer, Eric stepped in. “I was just helping her change the lightbulb,” he said, gesturing to the light dangling from the ceiling. “You came just in time.”“Oh.” The warrior seemed to buy that, at least. Thank goodness.“What can I do for you?” I asked in a shockingly confident tone despite myself, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear and pushing my glasses up on my nose.“Well, we heard that you both made it on the list and we just wanted to wish you luck,” the lead warrior said easily, shoving his hands into his pockets. “As the
RowenaTaking a deep breath, Eric and I pushed our way through the crowd so we could see the results. As we approached, we received curious looks from the other students—no doubt word of what had happened at the party on Friday, or at least what people thought had happened, had spread like wildfire.Or…As I read the names on the list, I knew now why they were really staring.“Eric,” I gasped, gripping his arm with one hand while I pointed at the list with the other. “It’s you!”I couldn’t help but grin as I looked up at him. Even Eric was beaming from ear to ear; he was at the top of the list of the three warriors who would be competing in the tournament. Of course he was—he was the best warrior at this camp, after all. He had earned it, fair and square.“Congrats, Eric!” a nearby student called out. “I can’t wait to see you fight next week!”Eric’s smile grew. “And I can’t wait to win,” he quipped, eliciting giggles from a nearby gaggle of cheerleaders who were smiling and twirling