Chapter 387

387 Jeanie Sirius

The two royals exited the throne room, leaving the members of the War Council behind. Outside the throne room stood a beta alpha that served the king’s brother, Cirrus. The man was as hulking as all beta alphas were, but something about his face raised several red flags within Katie’s mind. Unfortunately, she had no control over how these events unfolded and could only spare a second to try and remember where she’d seen him before returning her attention to the events before her.

“You’re dismissed, for now, Rana,” Cirrus told the crimson-eyed man. With a bow, Rana walked away from the two of them, not saying a word, “You have one diligent beta alpha.”

“Yes, I’m lucky to have him,” Cirrus responded, “What is it you wish to discuss?”

The king searched the halls for eavesdroppers before visibly relaxing. In a grave tone, he answered, “The dreams of the goddess that I’ve been having lately. They are not the same as they used to be. She doesn’t speak to me with hate in her voice anymore. I have been noticing the change in her behaviour. I don’t know what’s gotten a hold of her or if she’s simply growing tired of war, but I can tell she’s not so inclined to kill the humans as she’s always been,” the king said to Cirrus.

Cirrus began to laugh out, lightly at first before he started to sound borderline deranged that the king cast him a worried glance, “Are you okay, Cirrus?”

“Yes, I am fine. The question is... ‘are you?'” Cirrus returned, touching his brother’s forehead with the back of his palm as though checking for a fever.

“I am fine, Cirrus. You know that.”

“Then what would possess you to believe a goddess’s hatred could be quenched that easily? She’s an immortal being... time doesn’t wear down their grudges,” the man snapped at his brother. Something about what the king had just suggested rubbed him the wrong way.

“You know what it’s like Cirrus. We all want to follow what the goddess wants us to do, the royals more than anyone else. That way, we don’t risk angering her any further than she already is. If I’m not feeling up to war after talking to the goddess, then surely it must mean something,” the king replied ignoring his brother’s disrespectful tendencies. If anyone else had raised their voice at him, a number of punishments would have been in order.

.....

“We don’t know the mind of the goddess. We cannot know because we are mortals, unlike her and don’t pretend to understand her either,” Cirrus argued. His frustration displayed on his face easily, causing deep lines to distort his otherwise handsome face.

“It’s not like you to rush to anger. You’re usually the cool-headed one of the two of us. I would prefer if it remained that way, Cirrus. Now, would you take over the palace for me while I’m gone? Make sure they follow my orders. I would not like to use my authority as a royal to force my subjects to adhere to my will,” the two of them had finally exited the large doors of the palace, making their way outside the colossal gates of the Lycaon fortress-palace.

The king of Lycaon shifted into his large grey wolf and was gone in a flash, dashing faster than Katie thought was possible for the werewolves... even for a royal, the grey wolf had vanished too fast.

'

Cirrus watched the king disappear into the forest surrounding the palace with narrowed eyes, “What do you mean, you don’t want to command your subjects? Did you hit your head in the night? Your power was meant to command your subjects,” the man spoke to himself. His hands balled into fists periodically unclenching as he formulated a plan.

“Your Highness, is something the matter?” a deep voice interrupted him. Cirrus looked to his side and noticed his most trusted beta alpha already approaching him. The man bowed to the prince when he was an arm’s length from him.

“No, Rana. At the moment, nothing is wrong, but something might be soon enough,” the man replied, “Would you watch the palace in my stead? I will be going after my brother and the queen of Sirius. I have to see it for myself or at least, hear it for myself,” Cirrus asked.

“You needn’t ask, my king. Just give the order and it will be done,” Rana bowed to him once more and turned in the direction of the palace. Cirrus watched his beta alpha as he retreated to the palace. Shaking away his thoughts, he shifted into an auburn wolf and vanished into the woods, following the grey who’d left only moments later.

The journey to the Origin was a long one that took them the better of four to five days to make. On the journey, they followed the Great Sirius river downstream at top speed and hunted in the evening before they rested. They would pick up where they left off in the morning and run many miles as fast as their legs could carry them, covering such large distances at once that this feat was nothing short of astounding.

The Great River met at a confluence before leading further to a thick forest overflowing with divine energy. The king of Lycaon found a snow-white wolf lazily lying by the river bank at the confluence and growled at her. This wolf didn’t flinch at his threatening tone. She merely stood and stretched lazily before opening her eyes.

The white wolf’s striking blue eyes complemented the coat beautifully, giving her the appearance of a divine wolf pulled straight from the covers of a fictional novel. Katie dismissed her stunning resemblance as the connection she shared with the wolf through blood. She quickly composed herself, having gone dumb from the breathtaking sight of the white wolf.

However, what happened next had her mentally gawking once more. The wolf shifted into its human form and in its place stood a beautiful woman with white hair, “You certainly took your time,” the woman’s voice sang out.

“Oh, shut it, Jeanie. You know there isn’t a wolf in the entire world as fast as you,” the king snapped at her, having shifted back into his human form as well. He stretched the stiffness out of his shoulders and started the remainder of the journey on foot.

“Oh, I know how fast I am,” the woman replied with an air of accomplishment or was it boastfulness?

“Yeah, it probably took you two days to get here instead of the normal four,” the man replied.

“One and a half days. I had the time to rest while you made your way here. Can’t you find some way to become as fast as me?” the woman groaned, “It gets boring when I have to wait for you.”

“No, I can’t and if you’re so fast, then why don’t you just start the journey two days after we choose to set off?” the king argued.

“Wow, you used your head! I’m shocked.”

“You’re still as insufferable as always,” the king was now pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Only when I’m talking to you,” Jeanie’s voice sang out, leaping from one side of the king to the other. She was all over the place and unlike the king who was dressed in respectable luxurious clothes fit for a king and that barely allowed much movement, this woman was dressed light and leapt from one thing to the next, occasionally moving through trees as they made their way to the Origin.

Jeanie did not hesitate to mix a bit of banter into their conversation as they travelled. She never once asked about war or death, but rather some other topics that the king found bizarre and utterly useless to their cause. In addition, she had grown a habit of infuriating him so much that he reached his limit... and yet he couldn’t attack her. She was a free spirit Katie had seen once before.

“Do you have an idea why the goddess could have summoned us?” she finally asked.

The king massaged his growing headache and sighed, “I don’t know what she called us for, but... it might have something to do with the reduced bloodlust that we’ve been sensing from her.”

“Yeah, I have been wondering that exact same thing. So you’ve been paying attention as well. Congrats, Hamedale. You’re not a mindless brute after all,” Jeanie giggled.

“I am royal, aren’t I? Of course, I would have dreams to receive instruction from the goddess herself. That’s obvious. And what do you mean by, ‘Mindless brute’?”

“Her changed mood is not as obvious as you might think though. My sisters stopped receiving dreams of the goddess a while back and if I ask you, I think you’ll find that Cirrus hasn’t either.”

The king hadn’t thought about it that way and was shocked by her observation, “You don’t think...” he stopped speaking, keeping his speculations to himself. At this point, he could easily say something that could be found blasphemous. Cirrus was right about one thing, ‘We don’t know the mind of the goddess.’