章節 24: Ch. 21
Today is the day Junkos' fate is to be decided, and I'm nervous. I've thought it out a thousand times, but at the same time, I'm second-guessing my decision.
"Fae." Damien brings me back from my thoughts and grabs my shoulder. "Why are you pacing back and forth?"
I take a deep breath. "I'm not sure I made the right choice, and I don't know what to do."
"Okay, well let's sit down and talk about it." We sit down on the spot. "Talk me through your reasoning."
"So, if I were to enslave her, she could hurt my pups. I don't want her hurting anyone else either. It feels like the only option is to banish her."
"You could have her executed."
I shake my head. "There's barely any females, that would do more harm than good."
"That's true."
"If she's banished and wanted to try to get back at me, it would take her a lifetime to raise an army from scratch."
He's silent for a while. "Sounds right to me."
"On the other side of it, she's still a child. She has her whole life ahead of her, and I'm taking it away." Tears well up in my eyes.
Damien gently caresses my cheek. "Trust me, she will be okay. There are plenty of males over in the Forgotten Lands to manipulate. I can almost guarantee that they will be all over her as soon as they see her."
I smile and press my cheek against his hand. "Thank you, I'll try not to worry about it too much now."
Suddenly there's a knock on the door.
"Come in," I say already recognizing the voice.
Arkell opens the door. "Are you ready my dear?"
I nod. "Yes, I am."
Damien puts his hand on my shoulder. "Do you need me to come with you?"
I take a deep breath and shake my head. "No, I'll be alright. Thank you though." I kiss his head and leave with Arkell.
I kneel in front of the Five Kings.
"Have you made your choice?" The Bear King bellows.
"I have your Majesties."
The Tigress smiles. "Bring her out."
My eyes widen as they drag Junko into the room.
Her hands are bound together tightly. The guard leading her in almost throws her down in front of me. She looks up at me angrily through very matted hair.
"What have you decided?" The Panther King asks. He's still in beast form. He sits up, waiting for my answer.
My heart races, I didn't expect to have Junko in front of me. "I…" My voice trails off.
"Go on." Arkell looks at me, concerned.
I take a deep breath to slow my heart rate. "I chose to banish her, she won't hurt anyone else that way. Whether or not they are Feral."
They all stay silent until the Tigress snaps her fingers.
The guard starts to drag her away.
Junko struggles against him, crying. "Uncle!" Her voice echoes into the silence. "Uncle, please! Help me!"
I look at Arkell, confused.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the Panther King sigh heavily.
"You made your choice, child. Now it is time for you to face the consequences. I thought I raised you better."
Tears run down her face as she hears his words. She's pulled through the awaiting door without another word spoken.
"Now then." The Tigress stands and walks up to me. She stands close and puts her hands on my shoulders. "Since she has been taken care of, how would you like the Panther King to compensate you for the loss of your spouse?"
I try to hide the shock on my face. "Compensate me?"
She nods. "Yes, they need to make up for their actions against you after all."
The Panther King gets up and sits next to her. "I will do anything in my power, my lady."
My mind is completely blank, I have no idea what to ask for. "May I request it later? I have nothing to ask for right now."
They all nod.
"Whenever you need it, please, come and find me." He goes back to his pillow and lays back down.
Arkell stands and wraps his arms around me. "You were very brave today." He whispers. "I'll take you home so you can rest for the rest of the day."
"But I have so many questions."
He caresses my cheek and smiles. "I can answer them later, now, let's go home."
Damien waits with all my children in the main room. As soon as I enter he stands up. "How did it go?"
I breathe deeply. "I'm not sure. I think it went well, I hope. Hopefully, with her banished, we will never see her again. When Arkell gets back, he and I need to talk. I have a lot of questions."
"Oh?" He cocks his head to the side. "Like what?"
"Like why Junko called the Panther King Uncle?"
He looks at me, taken aback by my words. "Even I don't know anything about that."
"I am as shocked as you are."
"Okay, having said that, everything has been taken care of for the day so you can relax." He smiles, and I swear I see his tail wagging back and forth.
I give him a passionate kiss. "Thank you, that's very helpful."
His face turns red and he looks away for a moment.
"The crops should be ready soon, then I can make all kinds of things." I lay my head on his shoulder.
He lays his head on mine. "I like the sound of that, your world must have had a lot of food there."
"Yes and no, there were a lot of people that didn't have access to it."
"That's very sad."
"Mom, what does he mean by 'your world'?" One of the girls asks.
Our hearts drop as we hear that question. We look at each other, unsure of what to say.
My face heats up as I start to speak. "Well, where I come from…the strongest members got the most food. When they finished eating it was given to the rest of the clan as scraps. Sometimes, the ones at the top cheated their way up there. It wasn't always fair in the clan."
Kaylee tilts her head to the side. "That sounds like the Hyena Clan, but worse."
"I guess so." The tension dies down a bit after the kids decide to go out for a walk after dinner.
Damien and I heave a huge sigh of relief.
"I can't believe I forgot the kids were in the same room for a second."
"Never again," I reply.
We spent the rest of the night inside. At some point, I tried to wrestle Damien for fun. I lost, but it was still fun to try.
I scrunch my nose at him. "You should've let me win."
He laughs. "No way, just take it as practice for now."
I sit up and look him up and down. In a quick movement, I tackle him and gently bite the nape of his neck.
He lets out a soft moan and gently scratches my back in response.
Once I let him go, I watched his face turn red in frustration.
"You…" He stammers, unable to speak.
I smirk. "I got you there, didn't I?"
"I'll get you back later."
"Right."
Arkell comes back into the house for the night soon after. "How are you doing Fae? I know today wasn't exactly, pleasant."
"I'm alright." I stare into the fire as it cracks and crumbles. "Life is full of tough choices to make. I'm sure there will be more in the future." I grab some fruit and cut it in half. I hand him half of it as he speaks.
"Well, we can talk whenever you're ready."
"Of course, I just need some time to process everything."
He smiles softly. "I'll be here when you are."
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