The Alpha's Concubine (Historical Shifter Romance) (36 page)

She rubbed her arms, gazing at the cave walls around her. Now that her presence here was permitted, she no longer felt so guilty about staring at the fascinating murals that covered the inner walls. Most of them were aged and faded, but the daubs of red and dark-blue pigment formed patterns that were very unlike any she had seen before. Some clearly depicted the outlines of wolves and men, but they had been drawn in such a way as to appear jagged and wild, every shape covered in uneven edges that made it seem more like a spirit made of fog or smoke. The murals reminded Netya of the way her mind had made the Moon People into otherworldly monsters the first time she saw them, and she wondered whether the shapes before her were supposed to represent not what the eye saw, but what the spirit sensed in the world around it.

Selo returned a few moments later and gestured for her to step forward. The seer's expression was solemn, but when she saw how nervous Netya was she gave her a small smile of understanding.

"I was afraid too," she said quietly. "Fear is something you will learn to understand soon, as every seer must."

Netya took a deep breath and tried to still her quaking heart. A dozen anxious thoughts rushed through her head as she approached the curtain. What if she lacked the wisdom to become a seer? What if the ways of the spirits proved too dark and terrifying for her? Would her mentor be someone kind like Brae, or one of the elders who seemed more like Adel?

She slipped her hand past the first curtain, feeling her way through several more until she was forced to leave the light of the outside world behind her and fumble through near-darkness, pushing aside half a dozen drapes until she stepped out into the place where she would learn to become a seer.

The cave was far larger than the antechamber, and Netya stumbled as the ground sloped sharply beneath her feet the moment she entered. The earthen floor had been excavated down to the bare stone beneath, creating a roughly circular chamber that quickly narrowed as it stretched deeper into the heart of the outcrop. In the dim light Netya could make out more frames and curtains that separated off other areas. The coals of a fire marked the centre of the cave, but from the heavy herbal scents in the air Netya suspected there were few natural vents for smoke to escape through. Most of the illumination came from shallow clay lamps scattered about the area, and the fats and oils they burned gave off strange colours of light that seemed less warm than usual.

Netya had suspected some grand ritual or ceremony to await her, but she was met with nothing more than a small circle of seers standing in the middle of the chamber. Several faces were missing, and it was with great relief that Netya realised Adel's was among them. The den mother's absence did much to ease her anxiety, and she bowed her head in respect before stepping forward, wondering which of these women had been tasked with her instruction.

Brae greeted her first with no more formality than she ever did, letting out a sigh of pleasure as she cupped the air a few inches from Netya's cheeks. "I praised the den mother's wisdom in choosing you. Those who begin young often go on to become the greatest of seers."

"Thank you, Mother," Netya responded politely. "Will you be the one to instruct me?"

"As much as I would like to, no, that task has been appointed to another."

Netya glanced around the group, waiting for her mentor to reveal herself. Several moments passed, and no one stepped forward.

Brae pressed her fingers to her mouth, drumming the balls of her feet against the ground. "The den mother should have sent your mentor here to greet you."

"Do you not know who it is?" Netya asked.

"No, it is often a private matter until the apprentice arrives." Brae paused, the agitated patter of her moccasins increasing. "Of course, every mentor does have the right to deny an apprentice."

Netya's chest tightened as the uncomfortable silence continued.

"Well, Adel never asked me," one of the elder seers grumbled. "I don't mean to cause offence, Netya, but many of us have concerns about sharing the ways of the seerhood with one of your kind."

A few of the others murmured in agreement, and Netya had to clench her fists to keep from joining Brae in her bout of anxious fiddling. She had never stopped to think that there might be those among the seers who cared just as little for her joining their order as Vaya had cared for letting a Sun girl join the hunt. Under the inquisitive eyes of the group of wise women, her skin began to burn. She could not be humiliated like this before her apprenticeship had even begun, not after she had set her hopes so firmly on this one last opportunity.

The seers began to talk among themselves. Netya's mentor, whoever it was, showed no signs of breaking her silence.

"Adel has done this," Netya whispered under her breath, struggling to control the angry heat swelling in her throat and pressing at her eyes.

"What?" Brae placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Was this the den mother's doing?" Netya said, more loudly. "Did she let me believe I was to become a seer all this time only so that I could come here and be humiliated like a fool?!"

The seers fell quiet, fixing their disapproving stares on the girl in their midst. The shame squeezing at Netya's throat threatened to spill out at any moment, but when she looked to the faces of the seers one by one, seeking out the woman who had spurned her, she saw no contempt or malice in any of their expressions, only confusion that mirrored her own.

"I did not." Adel's voice sounded from the far end of the cave. All heads turned as the den mother strode forward, soon looming over every other woman in the chamber as she approached Netya. The group moved apart to let her through, and even Brae backed off a few steps.

Adel looked down at Netya, the den mother's icy blue eyes glinting from within the dark charcoal markings that framed them. Here, in the light of her own lair, she was terrifying.

"None of them are to mentor you, girl," she said, "because I am. You will be my apprentice."

—
28—

The Den Mother

Netya had little choice but to follow. Adel led her deeper into the cave, beyond the eerie light of the lamps and through another dark curtain, then up a steep incline in the rock as the passage narrowed. She was still too stunned by what had happened to make sense of it. After almost believing that her apprenticeship had been a cruel trick, the realisation that she was to be taught by the den mother herself sent her thoughts spiralling into confusion.

Why would Adel, of all people, desire to instruct her? And did Netya even want a woman who had shown her little but scorn as a mentor? It seemed she had little choice in the matter now. Netya was no expert on the nuances of pack culture, but even she knew that learning directly from the den mother was an honour few could ever dream of, and to snub it would be a tremendous insult. Even without the consideration of what it would do to her standing within the pack, Netya feared that incurring Adel's wrath would leave her with far worse problems than the scorn of her peers. All of her expectations, all the things she had imagined herself doing over the coming months of her apprenticeship, had been pulled out from under her the moment Adel made her announcement.

They passed through one final curtain, and Netya found herself blinking a sudden brightness from her eyes as she stepped into the den mother's lair. It was not a secret chamber buried within the caves as she had expected, but a deep, open vault at the top of the outcrop. Evening sunlight streamed in through the space above, where an elaborately crafted cover of logs and animal hides had been opened up, much like the coverings Khelt used to keep the inside of his den sheltered from the elements. It was at least three times Netya's height from the floor to the roof, but her keen eyes quickly picked out the natural footholds in the rock that would allow a person to climb up. If there was a way down from the top of the outcrop, Adel might easily be able to come and go as she pleased without anyone ever knowing.

The den mother's chamber was striking in how simultaneously different and yet similar it was to Khelt's. The alpha's den was lavish and imposing, from his throne to the large bed platform and the trophies that were mounted in every suitable crack and cranny in the rocks.

Adel's chamber had been furnished to impress no one, but every inch of it seemed to have a use. The full animal pelts that hung from the racks around the walls stared at Netya through their long-dead eye sockets, foxes, wolves, deer, cats, and even bears. Some of them were fashioned into clothing, but many more had been stitched to make bags and pouches. It would have been easy for the collection of dead animals to seem majestic or beautiful, but Adel had made no attempt to present them as trophies. Some of the pelts had warped and shrivelled with age, twisting the features of the creatures they had once resembled into disturbing masks. The head flap of a fox skin bag leered at Netya from across the chamber, listing to one side at a disturbing angle.

All around were bags and bowls, unlit lamps and worn-down tools. A series of flint knives on a slab near the fire were stained with the dark colours of whatever they had recently been cutting.

Netya was glad she was seeing the den mother's chamber for the first time under the light of day, before the nighttime spirits crept in to make every shadow a dozen times more unsettling.

"Sit," Adel instructed as she swept to the far side of the room, where the light shone brightest. Netya began to sink down on the opposite side of the fire, but a sharp look from the den mother halted her. She forced down the lump in her throat and crept closer, until she and Adel were less than a yard apart. Then she sat, crossing her legs on a dusty woven rug as she came face to face with her mentor. The silence was almost painful.

"You have been taking the herbs I gave you." Adel said.

Netya raised her eyebrows. "How did you know?"

"I did not, but I do now. At least you finally came to your senses. There are more of them in the fox hide bag near the entrance. Now that you are a seer, you may take them whenever you wish."

Netya's face warmed. She still felt like the den mother was toying with her, and she did not like it one bit. "I am taking them for my own sake, not for yours," she replied, perhaps a little more hotly than she should have. "And it has pained me to do it behind Khelt's back every day."

The den mother snorted. "A small burden, I'm sure. Why did you think I gave you that bag if not for your own wellbeing?"

Netya hesitated. Speaking of these things with Khelt or Adel felt like treading over razor shards of flint. She had to mind her step. "I know you do not want Khelt to have an heir," she said carefully.

"Then you know very little, girl. What do I care whether he has a child or not? You think my issue with him is one of petty spite?"

"I do not mean to presume." Netya backed off quickly, struggling to find the sharpness of mind she would need to match wits with Adel. Letting herself become flustered by her emotions would only make her clay in the den mother's dexterous hands. "I would think... I would think you might object to another heir like him taking over his leadership one day."

If Adel had been testing her in some way, she seemed to have given the right answer. The den mother's icy expression softened, and Netya caught her first glimpse of the wise leader within her.

"Children are not their fathers. You think very little of me, if you believe I would deny a life out of spite. Having a son or daughter may even help open the alpha's eyes to his flaws."

"Then..." Netya squinted, trying to understand. "Why give me those herbs?"

Adel hissed out an impatient breath through her teeth. "They told me you had a quick mind. Why do you think? You were straying down a foolish path, and none of the others would have dared go behind the alpha's back to steer you off it."

"But you have hated me since the day I arrived!" Netya blurted out.

Adel leaned forward. The faint lines on her face stood out to Netya once again now that they were so close. The den mother's beauty was near-perfection, but those tiny lines, the only hints of her mortality, lent it a deep sadness.

"I hate men who behave like the beasts within them. I hate seeing people destroyed through pride, or fear, or ignorance. What reason have you ever given me to hate you?"

Netya opened her mouth, but she could find nothing to say.
Jealousy?
she thought, but that now seemed the most foolish reason of all. What was the den mother trying to do with her? "Because I am one of the Sun People?" she tried at last. "When I first came here, you said I did not belong."

"I only told you what was true," Adel replied. "You did not belong. You were a child thrown to the mercy of a beast and his pack. I hoped for your own sake you would run that night, when I made you watch those two males fighting."

"So I have proven to you now that I am not as helpless as you thought?"

Adel regarded her for a long moment before speaking. "There are many women who would have been broken like a twig in the wind by such an upheaval. As soon as I learned the alpha had taken you, I saw it happening. A frightened girl staying by his side out of fear. Afraid to ever challenge the warriors who had taken her from her home. Dutifully bearing a child she never asked for, bound to it as she grew older, living a quiet life of service. Content after a time, perhaps, but never truly happy. But you did not break like I expected. You changed. Many years ago, I was taken from my people as well, and I did not break either."