Chapter 31 Chapter 31: The Briar Girl
Kalev’s POV
In the main room, the applause was deafening.
“Look at that,” a woman said, a smile plastered on her face. “How did she do that?” She strode up to the screen, a drink in her hand. Her long dress brushed across the floor. “She really is a flora wolf, isn’t she?”
We’d just watched Senna cross the river. Everyone one in the room had been stunned. Senna sent a bow into a water snipe seconds before it clamped down on one of Korrigan’s girls. And just when no one thought it could get any more exciting, the roots went up.
“Replay it,” the woman standing at the front of the room said. “Please,” she added with a mock pout. The rest of the room clapped in agreement.
“Yes,” a man said. “I want to see that again. That was…I have no words.”
The scene was re-looping. The arrow went up. The water snipe went down. The thorns went up. They crossed safely.
“What a marvel,” the woman said. “She really is the Briar Girl.”
Viktor had been right. The nobility had given Senna a nickname. The Briar Girl. Some of the were rooting for Senna now, intrigued by her wolf. Others were neutral, neither cheering for nor against her. But either way, one thing was deniable: everyone wanted to watch Senna to see what she did next.
The Briar Girl. Of all the things she could have been to them, it had to be that. Senna was nothing more than a spectacle to them. It caused my blood to boil.
They were making their way through the forest now, towards the beach. My eyes stayed fixed on Senna. She looked exhausted. Her hair was tangled, her face smudged with mud. Her eyes constantly flicked to the young boy beside her, who I now knew was named Thistle.
They were headed to the spire. I would have given anything to stop them.
“Kalev?” A maid had appeared in the room. She kept her eyes averted, knowing that she wasn’t supposed to be in the main room. As a maid, she didn’t have the privilege of watching the games from the main room. She and the other staff had to wait until their shifts ended and watch it from their own homes.
“Your mother is requesting to see you,” the maid said.
The room went silent. All eyes landed on me.
“Tell her I’m busy,” I said with a flick of my wrist. I couldn’t peel myself away from the games. Not now. Not when Senna was so close to the beach. I had to find a way to help her, especially since they’d taken away my access.
“She..um..said it’s urgent,” the maid said meekly.
I knew my mother. She was relentless. There was no brushing her off. I also had a sinking suspicion about why she wanted to see me.
She was going to scold me. I was losing control of the games. Our family had run the games since their inception. This was a black mark on our family.
She also knew that I’d tampered with the games. Viktor had told the entire council. So she was likely going to chastise me for that too.
“Fine,” I said heavily. I figured I might as well go and get it over with. Then I could go back to my private den and find a way to help Senna.
My mother was in her own private study, her eyes locked on the screen. She wore her silk dressing gown, her hair in loose curls around her shoulders.
“Mother,” I said, entering the room. She didn’t turn around.
“Kalev,” she replied. “Take a seat. We need to talk.”
I sat down and waited. My mother was watching the river re-loop, one hand on her hip. When Senna scrambled up onto the shore, she finally turned around.
“You’ve been busy,” she said at last. She was referring to my tampering of the games.
“I’ve been doing my job,” I said flatly.
Her brow lifted slightly. “Have you? Because that’s not what I heard. In fact, I’ve heard you’ve been doing the exact opposite of your job. Tampering with the games? Really Kalev? You of all people should know better.”
I didn’t take the bait.
“What do you want?” I asked.
Her fingers tapped once against the desk. “I want to know more about the girl,” she said.
My chest tightened, but I kept my expression neutral. “Which one?”
She held my gaze. “Don’t insult me.”
I exhaled slowly. “Fine,” I said. “She’s from Sector 6. Our family bought her to play in the games.”
My mother chuckled. “I know all that. That’s not what I’m talking about.” She took a seat across from me and leaned back slightly. She studied my face.
“Is she what I think she is?” my mother finally asked.
“What do you think she is?” I asked carefully.
Her eyes sharpened. Then she rolled her eyes.
“Honestly, Kalev. You can be so frustrating sometimes. Just answer the question. Is she, or is she not a flora wolf?”
“No,” I said. It came out faster than I intended. My mother’s gaze didn’t waver.
“You’re lying,” she said.
My mother got up and walked around the desk. She stood staring at the screen again.
“You’ve seen the footage,” she said. “We all have. The roots. The vines. That young girl has a flora wolf. How else could she do that? So stop lying and lets have a real conversation, shall we?”
I didn’t reply.
“Surely understand that this is a problem. That line of wolf doesn’t exist anymore,” she said. “It hasn’t for a long time. Flora wolves are extinct.”
“Apparently they aren’t,” I said, my tone laced with sarcasm.
“They are records. And records like that aren’t wrong,” she quipped back.
“Perhaps, but they can be incomplete.”
She studied me for a long moment, her eyes narrowed.
“Flora wolves were eradicated,” she said. Then she stopped. Something inside of me bristled.
“What do you mean ‘eradicated’,” I pounced.
“Sorry,” she said, shaking her head and turning away from me. “That was the wrong choice of word.”
“I don’t think it was,” I replied, standing up. “What do you know? About the flora wolf extinction.”
My mother sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping forward as she did.
“Nothing more than you do, Kalev,” she said.
But she was lying. I could feel it. She had said ‘eradicated’. Which meant ‘on purpose’. There was no way she was going to admit whatever she knew though.
“Why does it matter?” I asked. “So she’s a flora wolf. Why are you on edge over this?”
“She’s a problem,” my mother said finally.
“For who?”
She turned around slowly, her gaze locked onto mine.
“For all of us.” Her words landed hard. Her face was stoic.
“How so?” I asked.
“I can’t say anymore. But I brought you hear to warn you. Be careful, son,” she said. “This isn’t something you want to be on the wrong side of.”
“Neither is ignorance,” I shot back.
I watched as her mouth pressed into a thin line.
“You’ve lost control of the games. I’m asking you to tread lightly. For the sake of our family. I know you marked her. If she survives this, which I doubt she will, you’ll need to reject her, Kalev. You’ll have to break the mate bond.”
“I don’t have to do any such thing,” I replied.
“You do,” she snapped at me, fire in her eyes. “This is our family, Kalev. The Moren family. You can’t…you can’t be mated to a flora wolf. You have to do the right thing. Your loyalty is with your family.”
Her cheeks were flushed with anger. One of her hands was balled into a fist.
“You’ll do as I say,” she added, her tone low.
My mind reeled.
“If for no other reason, then let it be her sector. A Moren cannot be mated to a Sector 6.”
“That’s not the real reason though, is it,” I said. “What you meant to say was, a Moren cannot be mated to a flora wolf.”
My mother didn’t reply. Instead, she titled her head to the side. Her silence spoke volumes though.
“The Spire,” I said. “What is it?”
She didn’t even flinch. She just lifted an eyebrow, her face demure.
“It’s a finish line,” she said.
The exact same answer as Viktor. If I hadn’t been convinced before that my mother knew what the spire was, I was convinced now.
Just as I was convinced that she wasn’t going to tell me what it was. So, without another word, I left her study. She called out after me, but I didn’t respond.
I had more important things to do and I was wasting my time talking in circles with my mother.