Cool Girl by Tove Lo (Mah fav!)

"I am the queen," I say, my voice echoes throughout the ruins as my lips curl into a smirk. Vesta howls inside me in approval. Power, that's what I want. I want to be powerful.

"Indeed you are." A voice boomS throughout the place and I freeze. Footsteps echo throughout the walls before I see a figure step out of the shadows. I narrow my eyes at the figure. It's tall and wearing a hood like Arles but it's not Arles. I don't feel the surge of power radiating off him that I feel with Arles.

"Who're you?" I demand. I am surprised by the tone of my voice which sounds extremely strong and powerful. I see the figure step in front of me before lifting his hood to reveal a breathtaking face. He has dark skin. His eyes are brown while his hair is jet black. His lips are full and his face is well carved. He looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, I cannot decide.

"Another well-wisher of yours." He says with a smirk while his eyes are trained on mine. He maintains the eye contact with me; his eyes never drove down to my naked body. I bite back the urge to roll my eyes at his words.

Well-wisher my foot.

"What are you doing on the lands of this pack?" I demand, not moving from the throne. I cross my legs and look down at him sternly. The smirk disappears from his lips.

"I am assigned to guard my queen. I am doing just that." He says shrugging. I growl at his words. None of his words are making sense to me and I am tired with people appearing in my life out of nowhere and give me hard tasks to complete or talk to me in puzzles.

"I will ask you again. Who are you and why are you here?" I growl demandingly while glaring down at him. He lowers his eyes and bows his head down before speaking.

"I am Archander, your personal guard, your highness." He speaks, keeping his head bowed before me with respect. This confuses me even more. Who exactly is he and what does he mean by your personal guard? I am capable of looking after myself. I need no guard.

But the big question is why he is my guard and who assigned him as my guard? Is it dad?

"Who assigned you as my guard?"

"I cannot answer that question, your highness."

"Why not!"

"For your own safety."

"Why are you calling me your highness?"

"Because you're our queen?"

What?

"Stop messing with me."

"I am not messing with you."

"Get lost!"

"Sorry, cannot do that. Now if you must, I shall guide you home. It's pretty late and he won't be pleased if he comes to know that you're-"

"Who're you talking about?

"Another of your well-wisher-"

"I'll strangle you to death."

"I won't die if you do-"

"Uuugghhhhhh, shut up, already!" I hiss and his chuckle resonates throughout the walls of the ruins. He takes off his black cloak before climbing up the stairs to the throne where I am sitting. His eyes are lowered as he nears me with the cloak in his extended hands.

"Please put this on before I guide you home." He speaks. I grunt before snatching the cloak from his hands and wrapping it around me. After I am covered, he raises his eyes and looks down at me.

"What?" I ask, looking up with him as he studies me. His lips slightly turn up into a smirk.

"I cannot wait to see you take over the throne. You'll give him a hard time." He mutters looking away.

"What!"

"Nothing. Let's go." He says before climbing down the stairs and motioning me to do the same before heading out of the courtroom. I silently follow him. Our footsteps echo in this deserted place. I stare at the back of his head while walking as I try to think. Should I trust him?

"I am loyal to the throne. You can trust me." He answers my thoughts and I stop walking. Can he read my thoughts? I still don't know what to think about him. But Vesta is positive about him. She's telling me to trust him but I still have my doubts.

We keep walking through the snowy night until we reach my home.

"Stap! What are you doing?" I whisper-yell at him when he was about to open the front door of the house.

"No one will hear you, trust me." He says while silently opening the door for me. I give him a puzzling look before walking inside. He enters after me and shuts the door silently behind him. He silently follows me upstairs.

"I'll be right outside if you need me." He says before I enter the room and lock the door behind me. I crash on my bed like a dead plank and before I know, I am deep into sleep.

I wake up and do the morning chores before heading downstairs for breakfast. Grace is missing from the table and it didn't take me long to realize where she's gone. I take my seat beside dad and instantly the cook pours me a cup of coffee.

"Nefret, I need you to start training," Dad says.

"For what?"

"You'll be the official representative of the pack when Phoebe becomes the Alpha." His words make me choke on my coffee.

"What?"

"You heard me right." He says before continuing to eat.

I see Archander step into the dining room and take a seat at the end of the table before he smirks at me. I look at my family sitting on the table that seems oblivious about his presence.

"They cannot hear and see me," Archander says before yawning and stretching his strong arms out in the air. I raise an eyebrow at him as I continue sipping my coffee and study him.

"You'll love doing the job, Nefret. I know you'll be best at it." Mom says cheerfully and I see Phoebe roll her eyes at her words. To be a pack representative, one needs to be diplomatic and intelligent but I lack both the qualities. Heck, I can't even read!

God knows why dad made take such a decision.

After eating breakfast, I head to the place I dread the most in this word- school. I feel Archander follow me silently. I reach school and attend Mrs. Sutton's English class. I can feel Archander's presence behind me for the whole class. He's sitting silently on the bench behind me.

Today, Mrs. Sutton is talking about P.B. Shelly's sonnet and I don't feel like listening to her. As she continues talking, I feel myself drifting into sleep.

"Nefret!"

I sit up in alert, crashing back to earth. I look around the class to find everyone's eyes trained at me.

"Stand up." Mrs. Sutton commands. Her eyes piercing through me. I do as she says.

"Page 35, read the summery out." She commands next. I could feel myself turning red every passing moment. I could see the amusement bubble in people's eyes. They're about to witness me struggling to read. Everyone knows I cannot read but they try to pick on me by telling me to read. They like to see me suffer. They like to laugh at my disability. They like to make fun of me while I struggle to do the basic thing.

I take the book in my hand and slowly flip through the pages until I find the page she mentioned. I sigh deeply knowing that in the next moment, the whole class is going to burst out laughing and my self-esteem is going to be murdered for the trillionth time.

I look at the words. They're are laughing at my disability. They're mocking me, messing with my head. I want to tear the book into shreds until the words become unreadable.

I feel Archander stand up behind me and step beside me.

"Lemme help you." He whispers against my ear before I see him flip the page of my book back and forth. The words stop laughing at me and I see them rearrange themselves until I am able to read them.

With a deep breath, I start reading while the whole class listens to me in shock.

~

"Mom! I can read!" I squeal as I burst into the house, taking the people present in the living room by surprise.

"Oh, Nefret! I am so proud of you!" Mom says before hugging me. I hear Grace snort behind her.

"Great, now you can be promoted to the first grade." She muses before she chuckles with Seth. I see Archander step behind them before taking their heads and banging them together.

"OWWW!" Grace and Seth hiss while rubbing their heads and looking behind them to find no one.

"What was that?" Seth asks looking around while I chuckle.

"What did you do?" Grace asks narrowing her eyes at me while I shrug.

"Sometimes it's good to be aware of your surrounding than sucking each other's face." I chuckle while both of them glare at me. Mom coughs at my words before leaving the room.

"See you later," I said before running upstairs. As I enter my room and close the door behind me, I see Archander sitting on my study table and grinning at me.

"I declare you as my official guardian angel," I said flashing him a smile. His grin widens at my words.

"As you wish your highness."