It was a known fact that the children of the Wives of the Great Klann were in locked competition with each other, but the wives were not.
The Khann had created his empire on the back of his rampage across the stars. But it was his wives that ran it, that built the Khannite into something that would survive past the death of its leader.
The first and second wives were known as the true power, the oldest. They had met in the early days, before their husband had become the great Khann. The two of them were always seen together, ruling the palace and the empire with the iron fists of tradition and bureaucracy.
The other six wives of the Khann had been picked by them. Women who had shown intelligence, strength and cunning in the tower of the lily. Elevated from warbrides to wives, those women had been given positions of power in the administration of the Khannite.
The Khann now spent most of his days with his warbrides. Getting drunk and fornicating in the tower of the lily. He disgusted the first and second wives. Without a war to fight, he had become a shadow of the man that they had once known.
Esme found herself in front of the first and second wives, in their throne room. She had just finished a week of punishment rota and she was exhausted, battered and bruised.
The night that Nara had disappeared, she had searched for her at the river bank. She hadn't looked too hard, assuming that Nara had gone home without her. Nara always got so awkward whenever Esme talked about boys she assumed that the guys there had bothered her. So she has gone back.
She had crawled into Nara's bed like she always had, only to find it empty. Esme was worried, Nara wouldn't have gotten lost, maybe she had panicked on the horse and gotten hurt. Or maybe one of the boys had taken her. She had heard stories.
She went to their dorm mother and told her everything. It ended up being the best thing. Esme and everyone that went on the ride copped a week of punishment rota, a hard thing to handle. But informing the dorm mother so quickly had saved them from being implicated along with Nara, if she really had run away.
Esme couldn't believe it. Nara did not run away. She was too smart for that. It didn't even make sense. Nara was so close to being married, if she had waited until after marriage to run, she would be the husband's family's responsibility. Instead of having the Wolves of the palace come for you.
The second wife addressed her. "Esme was it?"
Esme kept her head bowed and answered only when spoken too. "Yes my queen."
"I heard you were closest to Nara, is that right?"
"Yes my queen."
"I've heard from your dorm mother that you often slept in her bed at night."
The first wife smirked at the second wife's question.
"Just since the stampede my Queen." Esme replied. "She fell from her horse and was trampled. Shes had nightmares ever since."
"Oh interesting." Said the second wife turning to the first. "Nara is that girl. I heard that some of our younger children have been giving her grief, with their little games."
"That one did show promise." Said the first wife. "I remember looking into her after the stampede. The girl was driven, and very smart. I had her ear-marked for a position in the administration, once she turned of age."
"Do you think she ran because of our children? Or because of… this situation." The second wife said, waving at Esme.
The first wife leaned back on her throne. "I don't think so, running at her age would be stupid. She is too smart for that, if she really wanted to run she would have waited until marriage and not drawn the attention of the palace."
The second wife laughed. "Love makes us all do stupid things."
Love? Esme thought, confusion written across her face.
The first wife sank slightly into her chair. "Don't remind me..." But her fingers found the fingers of the second wife, resting gently next to them. "There is something else going on here. Not only do the girls' actions not add up. But Syn is being even more cryptic than usual. Do we know where she is currently?"
"Yes." The second wife replied, popping a peeled grape into her mouth. "She's off-world already, took a jumpship six days ago. We have one of the Wolves following her. We have not yet been able to ascertain how she got the jumpship documents. They were very official, it was good work. Luckily we were watching the docks due to Esme quicky informing us of her absence. Else we would have never known." The second wife flashes a smile at Esme.
Esme felt sick.
"Have the wolf follow her." The first wife said. "Test her a little, but don't stop her, I want to see what's going on."
"And this one?" The second wife asked, pointing to Esme.
"What about her?" The first wife asked.
"I looked into her as well. I see potential." The second wife said, eating another grape.
"She's all yours." The first wife replied, her mind already moving on to other problems of the Khannite, that needed to be addressed.
The second wife approached Esme, tilting her head up and looking her in the eye.
"Would you like to be a wolf?"