“All I’m saying is that this tradition is outdated and ridiculous. I have enough to worry about without adding in a damn wife,” I grumbled, running my large hand through my thick, dark curls.
Torin walked away and flopped onto a cushioned chair beside his younger brother, Evander. The two were clearly blood related, with their blond curls and dimples, but where Torin had icy pale blue eyes, Van’s were a light oak brown. Plus, his eighteenth birthday was just last week, so the younger Volos was lucky to have made the cutoff. “Dair, have you learned nothing? Having a wife won’t change a thing—for any of us. At least this way, it narrows the options down drastically. I, for one, am tired of the incessant flirting from the noble women in court.”
I crossed my arms and stared down at him. “Really?You?Sick of flirting?”
He smirked. “Okay, fine. Call me out all you want, but there is nothing we can do to stop this from happening, so just try to fucking enjoy yourself.”
“I’ll enjoy myself just fine as soon as we can shift.”
None of us had shifted before.
The people of our realm were in the dark about our abilities, which was why they shipped us out to this island to keep it quiet. Generations ago, the five kingdoms had allied together. The people of our realm thought it was due to political reasons, which was partly true. The main cause, though, was that without trust in each other, kingdoms would attack others in their animal forms. Armies of men didn’t stand a chance in that situation, so peace was brokered. All was well for many, many years. Celebration of The Recurrence started, traveling to The Roaring Isle each year to take part in The Hunt.
Thanks to a curse placed on the royal families, we were now only able to shift during The Recurrence—a month-long event that was celebrated every ten years. Part of the curse was to restrict the shift to royal males over the age of eighteen, but only during The Recurrence month.
“I don’t know why they insist on doing it on this island. There’s nothing out here except spiders as big as Dair’s ass,” my younger brother Alden teased as he joined us on the balcony. Torin barked a laugh, and I responded to him with a clear shot of my middle finger.
“You know why they make us do this out here,” I said.
Torin groaned. “Yeah, yeah, so that the commoners never find out what we really are.”
“And since it’s our first shift, we’ll be feral. Bloodthirsty beasts. It wouldn’t be safe for our people if we were anywhere near them, and you both know it.”
There were stories from before the curse. People being found horribly maimed and shredded into ribbons. At least now we were contained. Since the last Recurrence happened when I was ten, I was fucking ready to rip my skin off and let the animal out.
Another reason why our parents didn’t allow us to wed before our first Hunt—the shifting gene couldn’t be passed to our sons and daughters until after we’d completed our shift.
“Relax, Alasdair. You’re always so on edge. I pity the animal that you find first out there tomorrow,” King Ero said, striding onto the balcony, his light blond hair appearing nearly white in the sunlight.
“That’s what I tell him all the time,” Torin added, propping his legs on the table.
Ero scowled at his son. “There is a time and a place for relaxation. You’d do well to be more like your friend Alasdair when we’re back at court. And Evander?” He looked back at his younger son and paused, squinting his eyes. “Are yousleeping?” Ero picked up a pillow from another chair and hurled it at Evander, making him jump.
I hated when Ero made comments like that, and he did it often. Always comparing the two of us, and lately, the comments held more bite than ever. I glanced at my friend, who was boring holes into his father’s back with his light blue eyes. He’d been noticing it, too. Usually, he’d roll his eyes or make a lewd gesture behind his father’s back, but lately, it seemed like the comments were hitting their mark. Torin liked to joke around and live his life with no regrets, but I knew when the time came, he would step up and be the ruler this realm needed.
“Are you lads ready for the kickoff tonight? The ball begins at six, and you’ll have til eleven thirty to make the rounds and meet the women.” He grinned so big that not even his well-kept beard could hide it, but then it disappeared and his features hardened. “Do not push it with time. You will need to be outside of the keep by midnight. The magic will begin building in your veins, and believe me when I tell you that fighting the shift will be impossible.”
“We’ll be back to normal after three days?” Alden asked.
Ero nodded. “Normal enough to be safe to have indoors. It may not last the full three days, that will depend on how successful your hunt is. I have to go make some final preparations for this evening. Make your impressions with the ladies tonight, but be careful not to make any promises. A lot can happen during our time here, and you’ll get to spend more time with them after The Hunt.”
My brother, Torin, and Evander stood so the four of us could bow to the king before he left us.
Alden exhaled hard. “I don’t care that I’ve known him my entire life, that man is scary as hell.”
“How do you think I feel? Half of my being is… him,” Torin said, his eyes still glued to the door his father had disappeared through. It was the first time I had ever heard him say something like that and I wasn’t sure how to respond. My friend stood there, almost in a trance, as Alden babbled about the women and what they’d be like.
“Can we start drinking yet?” Evander asked, staring longingly at the mini-bar cart that a servant had brought out here earlier.
As impossible as it was to believe, I think I had just witnessed the moment that the prince of The Volos Kingdom realized the weight of his responsibility. It wasn’t like this was a new development, but it was certainly one that Torin had almost seemed to pretend didn’t exist.
“You okay, Tor?” I said quietly so that our brothers wouldn’t hear.
Slowly, his eyes moved from the empty doorway to mine. There was a flicker of something there. Anger maybe? Determination? I couldn’t be sure because with the next breath my friend was there, cracking that signature smile and clapping me on the shoulder.
“I’m great, Dair,” he replied. “Today’s the first chapter in our own personal story that will be shared for centuries to come. Let's get ready for tonight.”
I studied his face for a moment, finding nothing amiss. Torin was usually an open book with his emotions so I found myself reluctantly nodding. “I’m going to need a drink to get through this.”
