Howl
A few days later I hear the howling.
Aislinn and I are eating lunch in the dining hall. I look up from my food to see what the commotion is.
It’s coming from a group of Gardnerian military apprentices, all with white armbands.
Fallon Bane sits imperiously in their center, her military guard nearby.
Other young Gardnerian men soon join in, and the dining hall begins to sound like there’s a wolf pack running around in it.
In the center of all the animal noises stands Diana Ulrich. She strides down a center aisle toward us, chin raised, a large plate of food cradled in both hands, a bag slung over her shoulder.
As she passes, young men laugh and proposition her.
“Hey, wolf-girl!”
“Strip for us!”
They’re all leering at her shamelessly. The scattered Gardnerian women seated with the men avert their eyes and studiously ignore this display, but not Fallon. She scandalously laughs right along with the men.
Diana flicks her long, luxurious hair over one shoulder dismissively, like a goddess forced to spend time with some very distasteful mortals.
“Hello, Elloren, Aislinn,” she says as she sits down at our table and flashes us a dazzling smile. Without further ado, she picks up a large piece of chicken and begins to gnaw on it with relish.
I can’t believe the amount of meat on her plate. Practically a whole chicken.
The howling dies down, only a few of the men now glancing in our direction as they laugh and nudge each other suggestively.
“Doesn’t that bother you?” I ask as Diana unconcernedly chomps down on some gristle. I throw a resentful glance toward Fallon, who’s laughing and having a grand old time being the center of the Gardnerian universe.
Diana looks up, confused, and glances over at the Gardnerians. “Why should that bother me?” she asks, her mouth full of meat. She swallows in one loud gulp. “They are as insignificant as that fool of a Mage, Fallon Bane.”
“They were howling at you.”
Diana shrugs and rolls her eyes. “They can’t help themselves,” she says rather arrogantly. “They all wish they could mate with me. It’s not surprising in the least.” She straightens as she chews and tosses her golden mane. “Look at me. I am magnificent. Every male wants me.” She picks up another hunk of meat and tears at it with her long, white teeth as Aislinn and I stare at her, dumbfounded.
“Of course I have no interest in them,” she continues loftily. “They are weak and pathetic. I really don’t understand how you can tolerate men such as these. Like this Randall you’re to be wandfasted to, Aislinn.” She gestures toward Aislinn with a bone. “Jarod says he’s an idiot who doesn’t deserve you.”
Aislinn sits frozen in place, staring at her.
Completely oblivious, Diana continues to chew, her teeth making an unnatural grinding noise. Her eyes light up. “You should become Lupine, Aislinn! Then you could mate with one of our men. They are completely superior. Strong and virile. Lupine men are excellent lovers, not like these sense-blind Gardnerian idiots must be. I’m not surprised that they have to run off to be with seal women. Their own women must refuse to mate with them, and really, it’s quite understandable.” Diana chuckles to herself and then points a bone at me. “You, too, Elloren. You should also become one of us.”
I almost choke on my food. Eyes watering, I take a drink of water as I eye Diana with incredulity.
I turn to Aislinn. She’s still shocked into silence by Diana’s screaming lack of tact.
“Diana,” I venture, my voice hoarse from choking. I take another drink of water. “You’re not going to make any friends talking like this.”
“Talking like what?” she asks as she chews loudly.
“You’re insulting Gardnerian men. I do have two brothers, you know, and they happen to be Gardnerians.”
Diana waves a bone in the air as if chasing away the idea. “Rafe is different. He should become Lupine as soon as possible. He is seriously out of place here.”
She’s infuriating. Hands down, the most arrogant person I have ever met. “I have noticed that you’ve been spending a good deal of time with my brother,” I observe, bristling as Diana pulls a leg off her chicken carcass with a loud snap.
“We share a love of the woods,” she replies, concentrating more on her meat than on me.
“Diana,” I probe testily, “what’s going on with you and my brother?”
She looks up at me, a large piece of meat half in her mouth, half still attached to the bone in her hand. She appears genuinely surprised by the question. “We’ve been hiking,” she replies, her words muffled around the meat.
“Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to talk with your mouth full?” I ask snidely, growing increasingly irritated.
“Why?” she asks.
“Because it’s rude!” I cry.
Diana puts down her chicken bone, finishes chewing, swallows and calmly clasps her long, grease-coated fingers in front of herself, humoring me like one would humor a very silly child. “Your people have many ridiculous rules.”
“It’s a relief to hear you talk without meat hanging out of your mouth!”
“I am hungry. This is a stupid conversation!”
“Don’t you lead my brother on!” I jab a finger at her accusingly. “I think he likes you!”
“I like Rafe as well, and haven’t the foggiest idea what you are talking about!”
“Are you romantically involved with my brother?” If she can be blunt and tactless, so can I.
She snorts haughtily. “Of course not. He’s not Lupine.”
“Then why do you spend so much time with him?”
“He likes the woods. I like the woods. We both like to hunt. We both like to hike,” she says, exasperated. “We go hiking!”
“And that’s it?”
“What, exactly, are you asking me? I keep trying to answer you!”
“Are you running around naked?”
“No, I am not,” she replies, glowering at me. “Not since you and your brother informed me of how offensive my magnificent form is to Gardnerian eyes.”
“Have you kissed him?”
“That is mating behavior. Your brother is not Lupine.” Now she’s talking to me like I’m three years old. “I will not mate with a man who is not Lupine, so no, I have not kissed your brother! Can I go back to eating my chicken, please? Or is there some stupid rule about that, too?”
“Go ahead! Eat!”
“Thank you,” she says, her tone clipped.
“Randall’s not so bad,” Aislinn says weakly, finally finding her voice.
“Jarod said Randall’s an idiot,” Diana repeats around another mouthful of meat.
I grind my own teeth in deep irritation.
“Well,” says Aislinn defensively, “you can tell Jarod that I could do a lot worse!”
Diana laughs derisively at this, spitting out some pieces of meat in the process. I have to make sure Rafe sees her eat. If there is any attraction on his part, watching her destroy a chicken with her teeth will surely kill it dead.
“That,” Diana says, grinning widely, meat sticking out between her teeth, “I find completely believable.”
“You tell Jarod that Randall’s not so bad!” Aislinn insists.
Diana points a rib cage at a spot behind Aislinn. “Tell him yourself.”
Jarod has just come in. He quickly spots us, smiles warmly and makes his way over to our table. “Hello,” he says as he reaches us. “Are we eating together now?”
Aislinn turns to glare at him with open hostility.
“What’s the matter?” he asks, concerned.
“I told Aislinn what you said about Randall being an idiot,” Diana explains nonchalantly.
Jarod blanches and swallows hard. Diana doesn’t seem to notice this as she tears a wing off the rapidly disappearing carcass in front of her, her hands and lips slick with chicken fat. Apparently, complete tactlessness isn’t a Lupine trait. It’s a Diana trait.
“That wasn’t really something I wanted repeated,” Jarod tells his sister, his voice weak.
“Why?” asks Diana. “She should know this. Before she does this awful wandfasting thing.”
“He’s not an idiot,” Aislinn says as she stares at her plate, sounding hurt and as if she’s trying to convince herself that the sentence is true.
“I’m sorry, Aislinn,” Jarod apologizes, his voice low and kind. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I...I think highly of you and would not think most men were good enough for you.”
Diana snorts. “That’s because most Gardnerian men are fools.”
Jarod tries to ignore his sister, his eyes focused on my Gardnerian friend. “Aislinn,” he says, his voice sincere, “I really am sorry.”
She looks away from him, her face strained.
“Sit down, Jarod.” I invite him with a sigh. “Join us. It’s all water under the bridge.”
“Thank you,” he says. He sets his meat-laden plate down and ventures a worried look in Aislinn’s direction. She picks absently at her muffin, eyes on her plate, her expression vacant.
Jarod picks up a knife and fork and begins to cut his chicken into neat little bites.
Diana stops eating and stares at him, incredulous. “Since when do you use utensils?” she asks, a note of accusation in her voice.
“Since we’ve been living in Verpacia,” he shoots back. “Unlike you, I’m trying to fit in here.”
Diana shrugs and gives the meat her full attention once more. “Suit yourself.”
Jarod turns back to Aislinn. “Is it still all right if we meet later?”
Aislinn frowns at her muffin. “Yes, Jarod,” she agrees, her voice tentative.
“Perhaps at nineteenth hour? I’ll meet you in the archives?”
Aislinn nods at her plate, still not looking at him.
“Okay, then,” Jarod says. He ventures a small smile in her direction, then goes back to cutting his chicken into tiny pieces.