This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

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  "Wake up."

  I opened my eyes, switching them to glare at the Asken lord. "I wasn't sleeping."

  Howens shrugged. His face was close to the bars. Too close. I could bite my tongue and spit blood at him. But then I would still be trapped. He knew better than to bring the key to my prison within reach, even with my hands bound as they were.

  I was captured, a prisoner, just as before. I stuffed that horrible reality back down my throat before it gave away the secret fear poisoning my mind.

  He grinned. He could read my eyes like a book, look through my mask into my thoughts. "It's strange, I thought your legion would be howling at my gates by now."

  "They're waiting for the rest of my army." I stared at the blank wall opposite me.

  The lord raised an eyebrow. "Strange you would admit that."

  I frowned. "You knew it already. It's not like you can stop them. Obria will fall once they arrive."

  "Ah, but you're forgetting the Gici Awas."

  I didn't let the fear of that show on my face. He may already know it, but I wasn't going to make it obvious. "My lycans are four of your men, and my human regiments outnumber yours. One bear won't make a difference."

  He grinned. "The Gici Awas is no ordinary bear. But you knew that already."

  "Besides being hairless, not all that different. The lycans will take it down."

  His painfully smug expression remained. "I went through quite the effort to get that bear from Detris. Had to wake it up from hibernation. And getting the sedative without people learning of its origin was difficult as well."

  "No, it wasn't," I huffed. "You had it shipped it in with the coffee."

  "Clever! Clever!" he cheered. "Yes, that is why I've always admired you. You think like me."

  "That worries me."

  Howens frowned. "Why is that?"

  "Because I'm not a good person."

  He laughed at that. "Yes, wel,l good leaders rarely are."

  My expression soured, but I made no remark. I had known two leaders I judged to be good men. Both were dead because of me. "And how exactly do you plan on controlling Preene and the lycans if you did happen to win? You have no claim to the throne or poison to tempt them."

  "I'm certain the trainers would support me."

  I snorted. "The captive lycans have driven the trainers from a minority to a rarity."

  "And what would you suggest?"

  I flipped onto my knees, bound hands resting on the floor. Howens raised an eyebrow as I leaned towards him. "Well, have you ever considered a marriage could place you as King of Preene?"

  "Really?" he said thoughtfully. "You would agree to such an arrangement?"

  "Of course," I purred. "You already know I would make an... advantageous wife. I could guarantee our marriage would always be a happy one."

  The lord nodded, then leaned in close. I grabbed the bars of my prison, pulling myself up so I could press my face between the cold iron rods. Our noses were a hair's breadth away.

  Howens reached through bars, grabbing my chin in a gloved hand. "I'm not stupid. You're a black widow."

  I yanked my face away, falling back with a hiss. He chuckled at my foul expression. A creak from the door's hinges brought our attention to the person entering.

  "Ah, Balazza," Howens greeted. He stood, striding over to meet her. She stopped, standing with a rigid posture as she saluted him.

  "Lord Howens."

  "Come now Meridith, you needn't be so formal," His gaze softened as he looked down on his military commander.

  Her disciplined expression faltered under his gentle stare. "But sir, we are not alone."

  The lord gave a dismissive gesture. "Nevermind her. No one will care about the ramblings of a prisoner, should she even be visited."

  Balazza started to speak, but was cut off by Howens taking her into his arms, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. Her face flushed as he let her go. He turned, strolling out of the room.

  "Meet me in my office when you're finished. We have business to discuss."

  The blond military commander nodded, though he could no longer see her. Only once the click of his boot heels had faded down the hall did she turn to me, a scowl on her face. "Your tricks won't work on him, he doesn't go for sluts."

  I shrugged. "One touch and any man will beg for more."

  "Well, I can settle for one. I'm not a black widow like you." She knelt in the very spot Howens had been moments ago. "And I don't need poison to keep him loyal, or to control beasts."

  "Except for your bear."

  She scoffed. "Bears are quite a bit harder than lycans."

  "You're from Preene." I leaned back against the wall, watching as she blinked in surprise.

  "How’d you know?"

  "I know a trainer when I see one."

  The military commander raised her chin, looking down her nose to me. "Yes, I've known Howens for a long time, back when he first came to Cicil."

  I stared back, keeping eye contact just as I did the lycans. "He's only pretending to love you, you know." The brief falter in her expression brought a smile to my face. "He's using you."

  Her features turned red as she ground her teeth together. "How would you know? The only way anyone would ever love you is if you poisoned them."

  I looked away, glaring hard at the cement wall as if it was the one which had insulted me. "That's not true," I muttered.

  "Do you mean that man outside the gates?" Balazza laughed. "The one who needs a mask to kiss you? What kind of relationship can you ever have?"

  I tried to ignore the sting of her words, but she saw the crack in my defenses and drove the nail in deep.

  "Once he gets over his lust he'll quickly leave you. Anyone can see you have no future."

  I closed my eyes as if that could shut her out. It was no use, I couldn't not hear her remarks, no more than I could keep them from ripping me apart.

  "The children of the apocalypse are nothing but a destructive disease the world needs wait through until you die off. You're nothing but the consequences of a mistake."

  I wanted to deny it, to protest and find some other reason children would be born with toxic bodies, some good reason. There was none.

  "You're very existence is evil, you're a living plague. Just because you've lived long enough to infect the government doesn't mean you're any more of a person." She could see how this was affecting me, how it shattered my facade and dug into my heart. A triumphant smile twisted her features as she delivered the final blow. "Face the truth, you're not really even human."

  My arms wrapped around my aching chest. That was a phantom that haunted the edge of mind since childhood. To have it spoken so plainly by someone else, it felt impossible not to believe. My body labored for each breath, though it had little to do with my fractured ribs.

  Balazza was grinning now. She knew she had won. She knew she had gotten to me. The tears I tried to hide made me sick. When had I become so weak?

  "I came to deliver this myself. You should be honored." She unwrapped a thick fabric package. A slap of raw meat fell through the bars into the filth of the floor. Its rotting stench filled my cell. "All hail the Savage Queen."

  ***