Page 136 of Plug and Tame

Mary and Byron were due to visit again next month. It would be good for Kira to see them again. She needed their support, now more than ever.

The Poplarins had been eager to help Kira, and visibly ecstatic that their new leader was also now the empress of all the lands. The pack members had reluctantly returned to the academy to continue their schooling at Kira’s behest, but all of its alphas had been invited to return yesterday to swear fealty. Even Mark had been invited, although he was now a lower-ranking member of another wolf pack. While seeing Mark publicly kneel before Kira had brought Nathaniel some satisfaction, for the most part, he was glad to see the back of Mark when he left again.

Gloria was another complication that Kira had to deal with.

“She’s my family,” Kira had argued privately with him. “I want to get to know her.”

“She’s your estranged half sister who would slit your throat in a heartbeat for the chance to wear your crown.”

“The crown? Ha. She can have it,” Kira had grumbled.

“It doesn’t work that way. Besides, I would not like to see her with that kind of power. No one you love is safe so long as she resides within these walls.”

“She’s my family,” Kira had repeated. “I will not have her executed. Nor will I imprison her.”

“Then send her away. I can recommend a man to watch her.”

“Exile? Another kind of prison.”

“Fresh air, nature, and a taste of life away from the Capital.”

In the end, Kira had conceded and sent Gloria away to live in the mountains with a personal guard that Nathaniel had recommended.

Watching Gloria leave had been a source of torment and relief for both of them.

Meanwhile, Kira had sent Victoria and Felix to Volmasque Academy, along with the other students. Nathaniel had been surprised that she did not have them arrested.

“They weren’t doing anything wrong,” Kira explained, her voice even as she rapped the armrest of the throne. “It was the world that Henrikk created that was wrong. Victoria and Felix were just living within that system. I cannot punish everyone, it’s not realistic. Victoria and Felix simply need to learn a new way of living, as do many of us.”

“Victoria was hungry for power and authority,” he reminded her.

“Susie will keep an eye on her,” Kira said calmly. “And I think Victoria will consider her new room a dungeon.”

Kira had not closed down Volmasque Academy, nor had she burnt it to the ground. In fact, she still referred to the primary aim of the institution as rehabilitation. She hadn’t even banned feeding, focusing instead on maintaining the natural balance between witches, wolves and vampires essential to sustaining each other. Strict rules to ensure ethical conduct during feeding and other intimate activities were brought into place, and there was a large focus on teaching equality and informed consent in all classes. Pet Obedience Training still existed, but they were no longer taught by Professor Zott, who had been encouraged into early retirement with a generous severance package that included not losing his head. In the new curriculum, it was no longer assumed that wolves were the submissive, and the results had been interesting.

There were other positive changes at the academy.

The cursed pike erected on the school steps had disintegrated into a neat pile of metal shavings, which brought both Susie and Arken an immense amount of relief.

The lower vampire dorms were now allocated based on seniority, regardless of whether the students were vampires or wolves, and the lower portal leading to the beach cove was open for use by all students.

On Kira’s behalf, Nathaniel had commissioned the wolf dorms to be renovated to improve the living standard. Only one of the rooms remained untouched. It was Susie’s old room, which was allocated to Victoria, who’d reportedly complained to anyone who would listen that it was a quarter of the size of her previous suite, and that to live there was a ‘prison sentence’ in itself.

One afternoon when Nathaniel was visiting the academy, he happened to pass Victoria in the corridor, where she was being consoled by a first year, surrounded by bags and boxes of clothes, shoes and hats.

“Victoria,” he said stiffly.

“Oh, Nathaniel! Great, you’re here. I have so much I need to tell you.”

He half expected her to apologise, but she seemed too distressed to get the words out.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, as Victoria sank to the floor on her stilettos, disappearing amongst the waist-high pile of sparkling frocks.

“There’s no room for all my stuff! What am I going to do?”

“Your stuff,” Nathaniel repeated, quashing his disappointment as if it were nothing. He should have known better than to expect Victoria to feel remorse.

“I’ve already given away so many of my belongings to those less fortunate, but what will I do with the rest?” She kicked a hat box closer to him. It contained a wide brim purple hat with an ostentatious feather that he was sure he’d never seen her wear. “I can’t just give this away, what if there’s a ball? And look…these suspenders—”