Adel eyed the handful of rocks, half of them dark, the rest chalky white. She had seen the game he played with them a few times while they travelled. Whatever it was, he seemed never to lose.
“If we must,” she conceded, sitting down at the crest of the small ridge they had climbed. She welcomed the excuse to distract her thoughts for a while longer. “What is it they call you?”
“Caspian,” he said, finding a small area of flat dirt to brush clean as he set out the stones, the light ones on his side, the dark on hers. “I have told you twice already.”
“Of course you have.” Adel nodded absently. The game seemed simple enough as he explained it to her, consisting of moving the stones a handspan at a time to try and knock the opponent's set from the square of dirt they played upon. But as the game continued, Adel became engrossed, realising that it took a great deal more cunning than she first assumed. Caspian tried to bait her into moving her stones into places where he could easily knock them away without risking his own, but she quickly recognised the lure for what it was.
“You catch on fast,” he said. “Khelt falls for my tricks every time.”
Adel did not respond, fingers interlaced beneath her chin as she stared at the stones. She was cunning. Others had always told her that. More cunning, it seemed, than even Alpha Khelt. He was younger than her, still lacking in the seasoned wisdom of most leaders. Her father had been too long in the tooth, too set in his ways, too unwilling to listen to a young girl with no status of her own. In the end he had beaten her, but this new pack was different. Their alpha was young, as were his closest companions. They embraced new ways, even had dealings with the Sun People.
“I think you may find a good place for yourself in our pack, Adel,” Caspian said.
“Yes,” she said softly, “I will.” She knocked one of the white stones away, arraying her dark pieces around Caspian's remaining few. She was not interested in settling into another role demanded of her by a foolish alpha. If she could not be happy, then she would be powerful instead. Hopeful dreams and insistent words were not enough. With status, with respect, and with followers of her own, she would challenge this new alpha, and she would make him listen. The lust for vengeance, for vindication, burned within her like cold fire.
This pack would be hers.
Adel’s story continues in The Alpha’s Concubine.
The Moon People saga will continue in Sun Huntress, coming soon.
# # #
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Claudia King is a writer based in the United Kingdom, she studied Creative Arts at university and continues to maintain a passionate interest in storytelling across many forms of media. She owns a banana plant.
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Daughter of the Night: A Book of The Moon People Page 21