Page 33 of Dream in Darkness
“Is there anything we could do to helpyouspecifically?” Tempest asks.
Claudia stares up at the ceiling for a moment, her long coppery-hair a bright contrast against her pale, pearly skin. “We could use your business.”
I give a small smile. “I always bring my costumes?—”
“I’m talking to the wolf. We could use more lupion business,” Claudia clarifies, interrupting me.
“I’ll talk with my pack and see what I can do.” Tempest nods.
We give everyone a small wave before exiting through the doorway back out onto the sidewalk. The air is fresh, smelling of fall leaves and cinnamon apples, and I take my time breathing it in.
“Do you really think Pack Escalus would come here for alterations?” I ask, unsure about their feelings on felion.
Tensions have been high between felion and lupion for quite some time. Around a year or two. I don’t experience it firsthand very often, because I tend to stick to the carnival, but I’ve witnessed some awfulness on missions. A lupion attacking a felion outside a bar, a felion harassing a lupion at the mall. I would assume Pack Escalus wouldn’t want to do business with a felion, but at the same time, they did agree to this arrangement.
I’m just not sure if Cain did it out of the goodness of his heart, self preservation, or some vindictive third option I haven’t learned about yet. I don’t really care, so long as it’s not the latter.
“As long as my father is leader, I’m not sure, but as soon as I’m able to take over, I’ll do my best,” Tempest answers as we begin walking.
“Is Cain ill?”
She shakes her head. “No, he’s in good health.”
There’s a bench overlooking a small pond and I gesture for us to head there. We take a seat and I let out a breath. “So when would you take over?”
Her shoulders raise, her eyes darting around the busy street. “I don’t know. Maybe ten or twenty years.”
Not soon enough, essentially.
“So, what’s your plan? Let our people kill each other until you finally come into power?” I ask, and she sighs deeply.
“Does it look like that’s my plan? I’m here,” Tempest says as she turns her body to fully face me, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Campaigningwith you. Is that not enough?”
I run my fingers across my temples, rubbing slow circles. “No, honestly, it’s not. How is this campaign going to work if you can’t get your people to do their part.”
“How am I supposed to get my pack on board when I’m stuck here with you?”
That’s actually a fair point. “Do they still consider you part of their pack?”
Tempest balks, if only for a split second. “Obviously I’m still a part of the pack. I’m the daughter of Cain Lupine, heir to Pack Escalus.”
I still don’t really understand the hierarchies. Luc Morningstar is king because his mother Lucile Morningstar was queen and her father Lucifer Morningstar was king before her. Wolf packs, from what I’ve seen so far, don’t always work like that. Alphas can be inherited, but they can also be chosen. Cain Lupine is the current leader of Pack Escalus, even though there are other members from the Escalus line still residing in the pack. “Remind me again how you’re not a princess?”
“I’m not a princess because my father is not a king. Is there any brainmatter in that pretty little head of yours or is your skull full of fucking lint?”
“So you think I’m pretty?”
“No, I think you’re pretty fucking obnoxious, but here we are. Engaged to be wed.” She turns away from me, looking out onto the pond, and I try to envision myself in her shoes. I almost feel bad for Tempest. It’s clear she’d rather be anywhere but here.
“Can we talk to members of your pack?” I ask, and her ears perk up.
“I don’t know, can we? They didn’t let me meet with my father without supervision.”
“I can be your supervision. We can deliver food to families in need. We can even go to The Cathedral or something,” I suggest.
She shrugs. “Yeah, maybe. And just talk to lupion?”
“Talk, play games. We can even step on the corner of someone’s dress and suggest they come here for a repair…” It might be an outlandish idea, one that could get us into a bar fight, or worse, but it’s worth a shot.
