Rebellious Hood
Page 24
“I like pride,” the normally silent Sergei nodded. “Like lions. We are fierce.”
My mother, I could tell, did not agree, but with the slayers at least she understood where her opinions should cease. “Very well. But your pride and your pack will not be alone. This child is the daughter of my daughter, by cause if not blood. By this, she is also hood.”
“But, mother,” I pulled away from Tobias. “I’m relinquished. How could Mina be—”
“I decree it so,” she said, cutting me off. “You are restored. From this day forward, all asenaics are recognized members of their houses.” Her eyes went to Tobias. “Do you understand my words? All of them.”
I turned back to my alpha. “Tobias, I think she means you.”
The werewolf blanched. “Me? I ain’t no bloody hood, and don’t you dare go...”
“All asenaics, Mr. Somfield,” Brünhild cut in. “Remember, our laws still dictate that a wolf and a hood may not join in union. I can acknowledge those with documented bloodlines, even if they’re not wholly hood, but my power to change the laws are more limited, especially in current circumstances.” My mother grinned as she walked past him, patting his shoulder. “Welcome to the House of Red, son.”
“Reclaim my father!”
My sudden outburst arrested Brünhild in her tracks. She turned her head back over her shoulder part way. “That I could, Gerwalta, but Pietro’s crime was not his heritage. As I said, my ability to change laws is...”
“But does anyone know why you exiled him?” I cut in. As matron, she didn’t have to explain her actions unless she chose to, and knowing how much my mom loved my dad, she never would have spoken a word against him like that.
The corners of her mouth lifted. “Disobedience is the only notation I made on the decree.”
“Then say it was a lie,” I said. “Say you did it because you discovered he was an asenaic. Grandfather him into your decree. Don’t let him die in shame.”
“It will not bring him back in any way. It does not change what happened.”
“If it is written down, then it does.” I crossed to my mother, laying a hand on her arm. “Gerwalta Faust wasn’t Gerwalta Faust when she died. She was Gerwalta Baron. She was a wife, a mother, an alpha’s mate: things I never understood until I saw her grave marker. The writing made her truth real. Don’t doom my father to dying a criminal when the only thing he did wrong was try to help his daughter.”
I didn’t know if I asked too much. My mother’s leadership had been so strained already, but if I didn’t try to move her on this, the cost would be so much more than her matronship. She stood to lose the honor she felt in being my father’s wife.
Slowly, the Grand Matron nodded. “Very well, I hereby pardon Pietro Kline of his crimes and restore him as one of the righteous.”
“Thank you, mother.” Later, I’d talk to Rebecca about arranging a formal remembrance, but one step at a time. “You know he’s worthy of it.”
“I know he is,” she agreed, “but am I worthy of being a martyr’s wife? I... I do not think so.”
As she turned, crestfallen, and made her way into the castle, I prayed that was a question neither Tobias or I would ever have to ask ourselves.
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What makes a nascent hood turn her back on her birthright, her family, and her own heart? What cruelty was the red matron willing to deliver upon her own daughter to force her hand? find out in Requited Hood, a free prequel to the Red Hood Chronicles.
Gerwalta, Tobias, and the others will return in the final installment of the Red Hood Chronicles, Righteous Hood.
ABOUT KENDRAI MEEKS
Kendrai Meeks was deported from the American Midwest after graduating college, and held against her will since in California. She really hates sarcasm. She first published in 2011, and has since put out books in romance and science fiction. In 2017, she decided to return to her first love, urban fantasy. She is the founder of the Bay Area Allied Indie Authors group. She has also been a featured speaker on a number of conference and industry panels on topics ranging from Fanfiction, to Audiobooks, to Serialized Fiction. She is a world music devotee and loves to travel (just hates to fly – a conflict, for certain). She enjoys twisting the extant into the exceptional, often basing her work on historical themes or legendary folk tales and mythology.
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Acknowledgments
A SPECIAL THANK YOU to Chantell Reed, who helps by finding uncrossed t’s and undotted i’s before releases, but apologizes needlessly for her generosity in doing so. (Chantell, babe, you don’t understand how much that means to me and what a big help it is. STOP SAYING YOU’RE SORRY. ☺ ) To the pre-readers: who devote time with kindness, and suffer through enough typos to fill a book, literally and literarily. To my friends who keep me going in difficult times, and to my daughters.
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Catch a typo?
REBELLIOUS HOOD has gone through several layers of editing. If you found a typographical, grammatical, or other error which impacted your enjoyment of the book, we offer our apologies and ask that you let us know so we can fix it for future readers. To do so, click here. In appreciation, you will be entered into a monthly drawing for a $10 gift card.
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© 2019 TULIPE NOIRE Press
Kendrai Meeks
Rebellious Hood
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of any license permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
Published by: Kendrai Meeks
Text Design by: The Last TK, with compliments to the resources made available from Draft2Digital.
Cover Design by: Mario Lampic
Edited by: Rebecca Hodgkins
Also by Kendrai Meeks
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Reluctant Hood
Relinquished Hood
Ravening Hood
Rebellious Hood
Red Hood Origins
Beauty & the Betrayer
Coming Spring 2019: The Wolf & the Watcher
The Cinderella Matrix
Court of Discontent
City of Cinders
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