Her Hidden Half (War Songs of the Courts #1)

Chapter Five

William was the King of the Therian Court.

The room sat in silence as I tried to wrap my head around the fact that I just met a king. And he wasn't just any king. No, I wasn't that lucky. He had to be the king of shifters.

The man I called crazy, out loud, was a king of a paranormal species.

No one even bothered to warn me; they just threw me into a room with him and mixed it into the conversation as casually as one could, considering the subject matter. I blinked, the room coming back into focus. This is where I was supposed to stay while I was here. Looking around I knew it was nicer than anything I was used to, but I couldn't help but feel like it was a prison dressed up prettily. I shook myself of the thought and let my mind wander back to the conversation I had with the King, playing it over in my mind again as I tried to understand how I ended up here for the twentieth time.

It was all so surreal. It felt like I was trudging through water, every step met with resistance as water climbed higher on my body. When it finally rose past my head, it was all I could do to keep from drowning.

That's what today was for me. Drowning in words that filled the room to the rim, too thick to breathe through.

First, it started with them explaining that I would attend private lessons as a 'half-shifter'. As you might have imagined, I was less than thrilled to find out that I had to, not only attend a school but live in one. They tried to soften that blow by assuring me the school was well hidden and protected so it was the best place to hide me. Only, the thing was, I wasn't worried about safety, so that didn't do shit in assuring me of anything.

Yippee, I had thought sarcastically.

Noticing my obvious lack of excitement, William tried further to assure me I wouldn't be harmed. I think he had forgotten I was taken here. The key word in that sentence being taken. I quickly let him know in a less than polite way that I wasn't exactly thrilled to be here, something I may have refrained from doing if I had known he was a fucking king. He simply gave me a sympathetic smile and kindly reminded me if I wasn't here I'd have little chance of surviving the change or the Courts who wanted me.

I then proceeded to keep my mouth shut. It wasn't something I had been all that familiar with before that moment, so it took some adjusting.

They went over the story to explain my presence here several times. To the other students, I was a half shifter who was only recently discovered, someone brought here to be guided through an essential time of my life. I must have looked confused because Gayle explained that it was rare for shifters to grow up in the human world, especially without any guidance, but it happened enough that it would be believable.

They continued speaking about the role I would play here and at some point, I just stopped listening. All I could think was I had just lost any control I had over my life. It was like foster care all over again. I had my freedom for all of a year before it went to shit within the time frame of one day.

One day.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I tried to find a way to get that back and I couldn't seem to think of a single thing.

If I tried to leave, I'd be caught before I even took a step out the door because, let's be real, I didn't have the skills to hide from trackers of the human variety let alone the paranormal kind. I couldn't fight my way out even if I wanted to because, well, I'm me. And there was that whole thing of potential death if no one can figure out how I can survive 'the change'. I couldn't do anything but learn as much as possible and hope I could find something that could possibly give me an out.