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Healer Rhea's POV

"What do you mean this isn't a good option, Fhesol's steams and needles offer enough of a reaction to the bodies—"

"You are thinking like a human Healer. We are dealing with a highly advanced and highly predatorial beast. It's a wonder how you even managed to get this past any wolf's nose. They should be able to detect it when it's in this stage. Goddess, you could've been killed." Rhea rolled her eyes at Lillian, but gulped when she caught just how enraged the witch had turned.

"Better than a breeder."
"And the rest of us? Or have you forgotten that you aren't working by yourself anymore? Damnit, Rhea, we need to talk about this sort of thing." It was difficult to hold her tongue, not to say something rather harsh or blunt that might hurt the witch. Granted, she hardly could think of anything awful of Lillian, but even now, she was distant from that sort of friendship.

"Then what will we talk about? That the King is going more sporadic with his beatings, that they're being secretive and continuously asking about how to get rid of the silver sickness. Isn't it clear what's happening? We don't have time to wait around and talk." Lillian hummed, but then began to wave the Fhesol as if it were a common house weed.

"This would make them sniffle. We need something that will stop their heart, we don't want the lingering effects—Fhesol only causes sickness in wolves, not death." Rhea bowed her head, realizing her excitement might have gotten the better of her, but honestly—It was nice to be corrected.

Not quoted on every word or phrase was acted as though it was a curing goldmine. There was never room for miscalculations, but perhaps that is what is making her lose her senses.

This wasn't her infirmary, her little cabin, or even the same pack. But the familiar faces were starting to become her weakness, and she knew the ultimate reason why.

She was starting to see these humans as her people, hers to claim. And perhaps it was absolutely suicidal to not care about herself, but she needed to up it—She needed to care about what happened to them in the midst of all this chaos.

The very thing she was about to create in this makeshift pack, right here from this tent.

That meant she needed to adapt.

"What do you recommend?" Rhea questioned something that hasn't happened since she was shadowing her mentor. "Osmin promised to share later tonight, he's been scouring around. Interrupted after the outburst at the docks." Rhea sighed, not realizing she's already dismantled a growing plan.

"I'm sorry," It wasn't like her to withhold a curse, but she didn't see the concern for her actions to make a chain reaction, so she promised outright to go over the plans before acting.

"Darling, you're fine. And for the record, Fhesol would have subdued the human population. Now, you've been lazy long enough, get these prepared for the next brew. This haul wasn't all for waste, these will be the perfect boost to keep whichever condition we manage to subdue them with." It did give her enough positive energy to get through the rest of the day, but as the moon had started to peek over the horizon, the true fun began.

It was Rhea's first experience in seeing how King Dreven celebrated the Full Moon's return—That he caught it as a blessing. Not the pack, as most would assume, but to himself.

The former Queen wasn't too familiar with the Wolven lore, but there was certainly a deity fixated on the moon and her will. But that did not mean that the diety with hundreds of children under her light would only consider one single wolf.

Rhea shook her head at the sight before her, so much food wasted on the King and his men in this celebration. All because of the phase starting before them, yet goddess forbid the humans working would manage to get a handful of scraps.

It was why she had spent the night making a bone broth, hoping that the herbs and scraps that she did manage to procure could be stretched out into something delicious.

Course, that caused some wolves to start sniffing until Lillian managed to light a few candles, claiming that the smell would warn off anything with their type of nose.

Was it strange, to see these fully grown beasts be dictated and controlled by what they smell? She supposed, but after getting rid of the smell of the candle and herbs, the broth was wonderfully delicate.

A whole bunch of her men agreed, though there was only so much she could offer out.

However, she knew right then and there that this would be the way to get a message across, that this is where her people would come and go with the prospect of food.

It felt like an honest party, with men and women offering smiles to one another. Nothing between them except a bowl of food. This is what Rhea was familiar with, scrounging around to support the farm that ultimately saved her.

The community had been serviced because of her people's residence, and damnit she would not let this go to waste.

Not if she had the chance to make things right.

Hours had gone by, and she was helping herself to a bitter tea—Granted, it was all that was left with what she used to flavor the broth. Granted, it wasn't too bad if she held her nose.

"I can get you a plate..." A voice whispered, and she turned her side and hummed once she caught sight of Osmin. "A plate of what, might I ask?" Her question caused him to smirk as he came down to the ground beside her, just outside the tent as Rhea had to tell those humans walking by that there was no more.

An awful job, but offered promise for more.

"Venison, potatoes, chicken and—"

"All meats, hm? No. I had a bowl of broth and this is just to help me sleep." It was a lie, but Rhea didn't have the mind to speak anymore. Especially not to Osmin, who was still essentially traumatized from losing the potential pup.

"Are you sure? I've brought some potatoes for Lil."

"She deserves it. Managed well today and is brainstorming at every waking minute." There wasn't a lie there, Rhea caught Lillian in deep thought for most, if not the entire day.

"Do you want to take a walk?" He questioned, and she chuckled. "A walk? What will that accomplish other than the King's eyes targeted to you?" She could hardly understand the King's hatred towards Nelo—As Rhea asked for him just this morning again and he was unavailable due to 'extra duty,' which is code word for punishment in a much more friendly way.

"King is busy."

"Hm, is he always so rambunctious?" The lack of hesitation had caused Rhea to smirk back to Osmin. But the tint in his eyes told stories, some of which she wasn't sure if she wanted to hear exactly.

"A walk. We'll be back in ten minutes." There wasn't much of a choice, and the tea wasn't making her any less nauseous than before. So she placed down the mug on a slab of stone just outside the tent before getting to her feet—Something that Osmin had scrambled to help her with.

"I'm not an invalid, you know." She claimed, but he was sure it was the closest he's heard a human growl. Though it did elect a hum of approval on his own behalf. "Not an invalid, an injured female. It does things to my beast."

"Oh, don't tell me he likes me." The tease was there, and he bit back his own huff so as to not inflict his wolf's comments into the conversation. But his silence spoke louder than she would've assumed.

"You're the first human I've met that knows the beast is separate."

"Not entirely separate, but I'm a Healer, remember? You spend time with a male that's a wolf, you start to see the signs. Besides, could never see myself with a human?" She honestly admitted, and a flash of curiosity sparked forward. "Alpha Severin changed your mind?"

"I never saw myself as the marrying type—" Rhea continued, hooking her arm into his as she nicked her head into the carved path. "—And I don't understand the mating rituals, but I just...I assumed I would find a male wanting me." Osmin chuckled into his side, not prepared for the surprise.

"Perhaps I knew that when we first met."
"Doubtful, but I think I need to learn more about wolves before I actually have a pup." The record of speaking of the future, Osmin perked his lips, unsure of how to properly explain that he wasn't promising a pup of his own.
As he truly wanted to mate with Lillian and start his own litter with her.

"Buck up, Osmin. I plan to find my Severin...I think my escape and recapture have put things into perspective."

"Alpha Severin hasn't checked in yet, the King is getting worried about the lost shipment."

"That's because he doesn't exist." She said with a smirk, and he had all but halted their stroll into the woods. "What?"

"I found my males in the woods as I was traveling. I don't think I was very pregnant, to begin with. The last time I was with a male was—" She allowed her voice to drift off as she didn't know how well he would take the news of a lacking of Alpha Severin.

"Makes the most sense, I lied about who I am and you lied about Alpha Severin. You have a male to get back to, then?" The question lingered and it allowed her to suck in a tight breath as she nodded. "I guess I do. Never thought of it going anywhere, he has three pups, and his mate passed away when they were little."

"Has he offered?" Osmin was invested to know what the little female by his side was thinking of or returning to when all this started to move. "Offered?"

"Offered. When a wolf loses their mate, I'm told it's as if the heart tears open and it has a number of beats left until it's consumed by grief." Rhea did not need the lecture about a lost mate, not when Romulus had explained in fewer words than Osmin used about his own parents.

That a lost mate was a near-fire death sentence for the other half, but Romulus' father had survived with a purpose, as had Stephen.

"What I mean, is if a wolf who's lost their mate has offered to start something. It's been thought through. He wants you, and I don't blame him."

"You already have a very nice female in the tent, Os—Careful, I don't want to be given a curse." His laughter filled the silent woods with its own buckling howl. Yet Rhea couldn't force a chuckle, not this time.
Not when thinking of Stephen as the male for herself.

Not when there was another bastard in her line of sight that she wondered about, but it came with the fact that the very male was thinking about her for all the wrong reasons.

"Lillian loves you, she wouldn't. And she doesn't love lightly, it took me weeks before she would even look at me without that adorable scowl." Rhea snorted at the comment, trying her best to hold herself back, though Osmin didn't mind the light bit of laughter.

Rhea thought it best, to tell the truth about the Alpha Severin lie, but the pregnancy wouldn't hurt anyone else. Funny enough, she hadn't even touched a man like that. Either wolf or human.

"I'll tell her what you said if you don't tell me what I want to know." She instated, and that most certainly caused his back to straighten. "What is it you want to know?"

"Why is the King so fixated on the moon?... I know very little about the deity, but I know what he's said is false." Osmin thought for a moment, wondering how to properly answer this question in words a human could understand.

"It is said, that when a wolf is born under a certain phase of the moon, that is what the goddess herself has gifted to her children on a path to follow. The eight phases are easy to explain, but it's the special circumstances that truly make up the legends."

"Which types of special circumstances?"

"Tonight, we are celebrating the full moon—Said to be the strongest any wolf will become. But those of us who were born under it, are spawned to be a type of Enforcer. That is how packs in the olden times had officiated a job. You were physically born for the role." Rhea's eyes sparked, realizing that Osmin was serious about his reflection.
Which meant he was following it on the teachings of his past.

"You were born under a full moon?"

"Yes, but Dreven...He was born under a solar eclipse that returned back to a full moon. Much like the current king." The amount of understanding had rushed through Rhea's blood straight to her heart, not wanting to truly recognize the fact that today—Today—Is Romulus' birthday.

Rhea didn't understand in the moment as to why it was making her shake, to realize this—Not only that, but there was some sort of truth behind these legends. "Do you recall the moon you were born under?" The question was heard, but she was far too deep into her thoughts to realize anything more than that.

"I um...A waxing Crescent...But I think there was an Eclipse." She admitted, knowing full well that it was an honest hint—As it was common knowledge that Princess Amory was born in the prettiest of skies.

"Ah, see—You were born under the Healer's moon. Every pack is desperate for those."

"A Healer moon?... And had I been a wolf, I would have had to become a Healer?" Osmin nodded, his hand coming to his chest. "My brother is convinced that with this, he deserves it. That the Goddess has chosen the wrong male to take the throne, but I wouldn't have joined the Enforcers for the Kingdom had I thought that way. However, dishonorable is dishonorable, and I had nowhere else to turn." Rhea sighed, a rush of wealthy information was causing her knees to buckle, and it was then that she motioned to the stone.

"I—I need a moment, this is a lot." And Osmin abided by the weakened moment and aided her to sit upright on the uneven stone. Granted, it was at that moment that all of their worries were blossoming right there underneath the moon's light.

As if the goddess herself had heard their desperate call for an escape plan.

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Date: 05/18/23

Time: 11:40

Words: 2552

Author's Note:

Rhea has told Osmin the truth! 
A shame that the Fhesol from the previous chapter the right path to take, but perhaps it could still be used--Who knows!

Next chapter, that is coming up shortly, we're visiting the Kingdom to enjoy a special someone's birthday🤗