Covenant Interlude 1: Mourned
My sister and I are left alone in the throne room, only the marble pillars and lavish decorations to keep us company. As it did when I was in the Queen’s guard, the display of wealth makes me uncomfortable, makes me think of every dirty slum outside of these walls, makes me think of people living in squalor, fighting in muddy pits, begging for food. People the Queen is supposedly responsible for.
“I worked with her for six years, was the captain of her guard for one, and she looks at me like I’m a piece of trash Juno wiped off of her shoe.” I shake my head, still looking toward the throne. I can’t exactly look at Rae yet. “She told me once that I was the only werewolf she knew wasn’t a liar.”
“Racist.” Rae says, shortly. “She does that to me too. She knows we’re not werewolves.”
“Control: A small but important distinction between Lycans and Werewolves.” I quote from an old book, made for humans on cultural sensitivity. Rae laughs humorlessly. I finally turn to look at her properly- it’s been a few years but I can still see the threat of tears, carefully controlled behind a furrowed brow.
“Rae, I-”
“Don’t.” She looks at me, a mix of fury and fear behind her eyes. “I knew something was wrong when she came back from helping you, but I didn’t want to pry. I would have if…” She scuffs her foot on the floor.
“It’s not your fault, Rae. Juno just-”
“I know it’s not my fault!” She interrupts again with a snarl, “it’s yours.”
The air stills between us. A fleeting look of regret crosses Rae’s face, but she’s too angry to stop.
“It’s always you, Jo. You left me here to fight for that asshole and went off to die like a goddamn dog.” She steps closer to me, brandishing a finger that she plants into my chest, right on the scar she knows is there. “I fucking mourned you. I mourned you, for six months! And then you have the gall to come back and act like it wasn’t a big deal? Like it was some kind of joke?”
“Rae…”
“No! And then you fuck off again to gods-know where and I don’t hear from you for a whole fucking year. A year, Jo! Only to see you dragged in, half-dead again, with your stupid Orc girlfriend!”
I grab her shoulders. “ENOUGH!”
She quiets, the anger draining away, the tears she was holding back making fresh tracks down her cheeks. “Juno saved your life at the cost of her own, Jo,” she whispers, “what am I supposed to feel? Who am I supposed to choose? My sister or my soulmate?”
She leans closer, planting her forehead on my shoulder and balling her fists in my shirt. Takes a breath. “I can’t just watch her die. Jo, I won’t.”
I wrap my arms around her and let her cry, resting my chin on her head. Had I had the choice, I would have died a thousand times over to keep Juno safe. Rae knows this, and she probably resents me for it, at least a little.
But I wasn’t given that choice. I have been given the opportunity to do right by them now. “Rae, the Queen may not believe us but we all know she’s an idiot. Rei and I will find a way to fix this, I promise.”
She sniffs. “Great, leave my girlfriend’s life in the hands of that shitty mercenary.”
“She’s not shitty,” I chuckle, “she just takes some getting used to.” I pull back and hold Rae by the shoulders again. She searches my face, looking for hope. “We’re going to the Veyl, recruit some magicians, get some answers. Juno will be fixed before you know it, then we can all focus on this demon business, alright?”
“Alright.” She rubs her eyes and lets out a slow breath, steadying herself. “Please, for the love of the kingdom, please come back here on your feet.” She gives me a hard stare, taking my hand. “I seriously can’t handle my sister dying a third time. And mom will raise you from the dead to kill you again.”
I snort, “gods, yes, I promise.” Rae just shakes her head, squeezing my hand.
“Good, because I’m real sick of missing you.”