466- The Weight of Instinct
POV Thalyndra Moonclaw:
In the end, the Eldorians weren't as slow with gossip as I thought they might be. I assumed rumors spread faster behind university corridors, but I was completely mistaken.
Though it didn't happen exactly as I expected.
I thought I'd receive disapproving glances, explicit judgments. But the Eldorian people were already more than accustomed to the chaos Edric had instated in the past, and seeing me walking around carrying a severed head wasn't anywhere near the worst thing they'd ever witnessed.
Some judged me, obviously, but not all of them, not even the vast majority. They questioned more how I'd managed the feat of killing a wolf much older and more experienced than myself.
I was still getting used to the way they addressed pack members. Male, female, pups. It was so... savage, to say the least.
My father called me pup sometimes, but preferred to use the proper terms for humans. How would I explain to the professors if I called one of my classmates male? I'd certainly get suspended.
I barely had time to get out of the bath, wash all the blood from my body, and put on some of my new clothes, when Lana and Aurelka were already knocking on my door, asking if what they'd heard around the village was true.
I tossed a pebble into the still water of the lake, watching it ripple as it disappeared beneath the surface.
"I was just defending myself," I murmured.
Aurelka was lying in the sun beside me, catching a tan. She opened one eye and stared at me.
"You know... there's a difference between self-defense and decapitation."
I rolled my eyes.
"To me, it's the same thing."
Myrion raised a pointed finger from under the tree he was leaning against, near us.
"I agree with Thalyndra."
"That's because you two are a pair of butchers," Lana retorted, seated beside me, sharing the tree and using the trunk as a backrest.
Myrion snorted.
"We're fun, Lana. But you're not ready for this conversation."
I laughed and shook my head, agreeing with him.
"There's no way to be ready for something like that when you're the daughter of the lord of chaos," Aurelka shot back, laying her head back on the towel spread on the ground and closing her eyes.
We fell silent for a few seconds, listening to the sound of the wind in the branches, watching the gentle stir of the lake water. Nature in Eldoria was a true work of art. Everything was calm, beautiful, and carried a sense of peace, of safety, of... home.
I sighed.
"Do you think they'll come back?" Lana inquired, breaking the silence.
I shrugged.
"I think so. I mean, they spent their whole lives hunting my father; they never gave up. I don't see why they'd give up on me. The Merchants know how to be... incisive when they want something."
Myrion huffed.
"Let them come back; they'll find certain death. Things were getting a bit boring around here; I'm really in the mood to have some fun killing a few bastards."
Aurelka smiled.
"You're always bored, Myrion."
"That's not true; I get pretty entertained... sometimes," the Eldorian taunted, his words carrying a double meaning.
"Oh, of course you do," Aurelka mocked.
I picked up another pebble from the ground and tossed it into the lake, focused on the stirring water.
"Do you... feel different living in the middle of the forest?" I asked after a while.
I bent my knees and rested my chin on them, sighing loudly.
"What do you mean?" Lana asked.
I shrugged.
"I can't explain it very well, but... it seems like I'm changing."
"Changing how?" Myrion inquired, tilting his head in my direction and crossing his arms over his chest, seeming interested in the subject.
How could I tell them I felt... wild? They might be offended. It wasn't about the fact that they lived secluded in a forest; it was something about myself. About how I acted strangely near Anton, how I felt more connected to my animal side since arriving in Eldoria, noticing small details that weren't perceptible to me before, yielding to instincts without being able to control myself.
I pressed my lips together, nervous and regretting having brought up the subject with them.
"It seems like I'm increasingly able to... give in to my lupine intuition." I chose my words carefully. "Scents, actions... things I didn't do or didn't notice before, but that I've started to notice and can't control."
Aurelka sat up on the towel and turned to me. Her skin had small beads of sweat. The girl wore a blue bikini that accentuated all the delicate curves of her slender body.
"It's normal," she said, twirling her hair with her fingers and pinning the strands into a bun on top of her head. She ran her hand over her nape, wiping away sweat. "We're animals, and living in our natural habitat is good for us. It's just your she-wolf reacting to the new reality, to nature. She must feel freer, which is why you've been acting in ways you didn't before," she explained, her blue eyes fixed on me.
"Before, you lived with humans and had to act like them. You learned and got used to it, inadvertently caging your she-wolf," Myrion murmured. "But not now. You're living with more of your own kind, in nature. To you, it might seem strange, but I guarantee that for your she-wolf, this is paradise."
It was one of the possibilities I'd considered, but I still wasn't sure. I felt a little more relieved knowing I wasn't going completely crazy. But it still didn't answer my question about Anton.
"Can stress bring on heat?" I asked, scratching my sweaty forehead.
"Not that I know of," Lana replied. "I know heat can be brought on when an omega is mated and wants to get pregnant. My mother Lyris said that happened with Lunara."
Well... I wasn't a mated she-wolf, but I acted like a real bitch in heat when I was near the heir. Damn, maybe I really was going crazy after all.
Aurelka stood up.