Page 11 of Their Rejected Queen

Warmth seeps into me as I sink down to my chin. My worries are banished behind a fog of fatigue. I flutter my eyes closed for a moment before opening them when the female shifter addresses the crowd.

“Everyone, listen up. My name is Ulara Fang. I am your guardian until you’re properly placed after evaluation on pack grounds, in which we will arrive shortly.”

“Evaluation?” a small girl squeaks. She’s wrapped in a puffy towel, and long brown hair drapes over her shoulders. Her big brown eyes are filled with fear as she clutches the soft material. “What are we going to have to do?”

Ulara waves her away like her concerns are stinking up the room. “I said I’m your guardian, not your pack mother. Just follow instructions when they’re given, and you’ll be fine.”

No speaking unless spoken to?

No questions?

No using our delicate, feminine brains?

Yep. I’m feeling right at home already.

“This is your fifteen-minute warning,” she barks to the rest of the girls, scowling at us until everyone goes silent. “You all need to wash with the masking soap, use it three times at least, then dry with the towels that are on the shelves, and finally, pick out a dress or pants ensemble. Your choice.”

The girl with the blonde ringlets and uniquely purple eyes puckers her lips. I feel like I should recognize her, but my brother never let me intermingle with the upper echelon. She finishes up, then peruses the dresses. The other girls give her a wide berth, as if she might electrocute them with a stray look.

“Is that Lady Violet?” Sofia asks in a soft whisper as she joins me in the water.

I finish up my third wash with the masking soap before handing it over. It doesn’t smell like anything to me, but I’ll take shifter-lady’s word for it that it’ll keep the wolves at bay. “No idea. My brother didn’t let me out much,” I admit.

Sofia gives me a knowing look. We had plenty of time to talk during our dark imprisonment on the black-market ship that brought us here, and she told me some of her history, but not the circumstances of how she was sold. She’s always talked fondly of her family. “I’m devastated I never had the pleasure of meeting him. I fear my hand might have slipped out of my glove and found its way across his face.”

Chuckling, I indulge in the imagery of Sofia slapping my brother before pain explodes in my left side.

“Oh, excuse me,” says one of the older girls who has her hair wrapped up in a bun on top of her head. She gives me a sickly sweet smile as she releases the bun, sending her hair draping over her in a dramatic display. “I didn’t see you there. You’re really so tiny that I mistook you for a wisp of steam.”

The girls surrounding Lady Violet cover their mouths and giggle as I try to gulp in air, but more than just my reproductive system doesn’t age. My lungs are smaller than they should be, and while they thankfully have grown with the rest of my body, it’s not at a rate that supports regular function.

And I can’t exactly open my magic vials while I’m submerged in water. They’d all leak out, and I’d be left completely defenseless.

Panic skitters up my spine as I realize the danger I’m in, but I don’t dare move, not when the older girl towers over me. She props her hands on her hips, and her lustrous blonde hair covers her ample breasts. She’s wearing a sheer white gown and is a complete knockout, and she seems to know it.

“You know,” she says as she tilts her head, “I think you owe me an apology for getting in my way like that.”

I glance at Ulara, but she crosses her arms and stares down her nose at us.

It’s clear that I’m on my own. I’m in shifter territory now, and apparently I’m supposed to fight my own battles.

You’ve got this, I tell myself as I dig into the pent-up rage that’s remained bottled inside my chest since I was three years old. My brother had burned one of my dolls at the stake just because he thought it was entertaining, and my mother didn’t do anything about it.

That’s when I knew Edward was the favorite and I was dispensable.

“Leave her alone,” Sofia says in a quiet voice I can barely hear.

Sofia… I think, glancing at her with wide eyes.

I do not need anyone fighting my battles, especially not sweet little Sofia.

“I’m sorry you’re such a bitch,” I say. The words jump out of me without any further thought for my survival or ability to fight off the larger female. I just know I have to pull attention away from Sofia.

Her eyes darken as she frowns at me. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me,” I snarl as I get in her face. Although, I have to stand on my tiptoes to even get close. My stature is short by nature, probably due to one of the many birth defects I’ve had to manage throughout my life, but it’s never been an issue until now.

Curling into the shadows and disappearing has been my main method of survival. That’s not going to fly anymore, unfortunately.