Ivan's eyes widen at Cassia's revelation. She shifted uncomfortably under his stare, afraid what he might say next. All around them the trees danced in the breeze and the birds and bugs and wild animals filled the air with their voices. Cassia felt the dirt hard beneath her and the cool fall air brushing against her cheeks that were reddening the longer Ivan was quiet.
"You didn't want to tell us your parents were the King and Queen of the woods territory? Why?" Ivan questioned at last, much calmer than Cassia had expected.
"I don't normally tell people they're my parents," Cassia answered looking out into the woods, "And to be fair, they don't normally tell people they're my parents either."
Ivan's frown deepened, "What are you talking about?"
Cassia braced herself but now that she had said the worst of it she felt less afraid of telling Ivan all he would want to know. Cassia had been born last in a litter of three which made her the youngest of nine. She had been tiny, much smaller than her brothers. Not only that but she looked strange and different from all of Ferdinand and Terra's other children. Her parents both had dark hair. Other than her white-blonde brothers and one of her older sisters, her siblings were all dark-headed except Cassia who had been born with shining silver-grey hair. Almost all of her siblings had blue eyes like their mother but hers had been violet. Because she was the runt of the litter she was much smaller and seemed to stay that way even as they grew. Her brothers shot up tall and muscular and her older sisters were always tall and slender. She had ended up shorter than all of them and had first been boyish in her lack of curves as her mother had always reminded her but then almost overnight had ended up curvier than the rest and still not good enough.
Ferdinand and Terra hadn't known what to do with their tiny youngest child who got sick more frequently and cried more than the others had. They'd taken her brothers out to show them off but left the crying little girl home with an older woman to watch her. Because of this, word spread in the territory that the Queen had given birth to handsome twin boys bringing them to eight children. No one realized there was a ninth child at home.
As they grew, Cassia and her brothers had stayed as close as they were able to with their older siblings taking them out to play in the woods. When she could, Cassia would sneak out after them, shifting into her familiar mouse and riding along on the back of one of her brothers tunics. In the woods, when they would all shift into what ever animal they wanted to be, she would shift into something bigger so she could join them. Her own older siblings were always annoyed because she was odd looking, small, and couldn't keep up. They would use it to their advantage though, running off and leaving her behind. When other children came to play with them and asked her who she was she would tell them she was the daughter of the King and Queen. If Alexi and Beck were there they would defend her but otherwise her older siblings would join the other kids in teasing her and calling her a liar. They had inherited their parents distaste for the girl.
One day when they were all out playing with a pack of children shifted to wolf puppies, they all took off running and she was soon left behind. Ahead of her but left behind as well was a little black wolf who came trotting back when he heard Cassia weeping. He told her his name was Huck and they could play together. They had hardly been apart ever since. Some nights they would even sleep out in the woods together curled up as wolves or what ever they wanted to be, and their parents rarely noticed they hadn't come home.
As they grew older, one by one the children around them had their shift animal settle and one day even Huck found he couldn't change into anything other than a wolf. Cassia had waited for that to happen to her but as time went on, it didn't and that became something else she could be tormented about. Her older siblings had teased her about not having a settled animal, saying it was because she wasn't good enough or too weak for one. When her parents had learned she still hadn't settled they had called in any healers and had them look at their odd daughter to see what was wrong with her. Just like Agatha though, they never found anything.
As time went on, her siblings left their parents home but without a mate, Cassia stayed there with Alexi and Beck and their older sister Selene. Without all her other siblings there as a distraction, Cassia found she couldn't as easily hide from Ferdinand and Terra so was more often targeted by them. Her mother would not let a day pass where she didn't make some comment about Cassia's appearance. Ferdinand however would act like she didn't exist unless to get on to her for something. Huck, who would come to the woods to find her, was usually bruised with gashes from having to fight one of his siblings or from abuse from his father. He would find Cassia fighting back tears most days but openly weeping on others. He dug a den for them under an old tree and that became their safe place. It was against the rules of their territory for men and women to spend nights together if they weren't mates and Ferdinand would lecture Cassia on it the times that he caught her after she hadn't spent a night at home. He would tell her how stupid she was and how Huck would leave her as soon as a pretty female showed him interest and then no one would want her. He would never really punish her so Cassia would sleep at home for a while to appease her father before sneaking back out to be with Huck.
It was on one of those nights at home that Cassia learned she had two new nephews and a niece. She braved going to her parents to find out if she could go to see them. It was then that her Mother came up with the idea that what ever was wrong with her keeping her from shifting could be spread to the babies. Not caring if Terra was right but not wanting to risk it, Ferdinand ruled that she was to never go close to the babies. Cassia had been disappointed, secretly hoping to find something one of the babies had in common with her like her hair or eyes. When the babies were brought to see her parents however, she fell in love with them even from her place far away across the room. They were so tiny, precious, perfect and they were her family. She wanted to love them and make sure they never felt alone as she had. It was that longing that had made her vulnerable when her sister Selene came and offered to let her see the babies the following night when she had promised to watch them so their mothers could have a break.
When Cassia was caught by her Mother, Terra had made a very public scene in the little village where the new mothers lived just like the one where Nico's sisters lived. Because of all the attention Terra had brought on the fact Cassia had disobeyed Ferdinand, the King couldn't simply reprimand Cassia this time. The people were always watching for any sign of weakness. So when the King came to the village upon the Queen's request, he decided enough was enough. He challenged Cassia and told her she was to meet him at the challenge ring the next day.
Alexi and Beck made attempts with their Mother on Cassia's behalf, trying to convince her to forgive their sister. Their Mother was unyielding though, saying Cassia had put the babies at risk. So when sunset was drawing near, Cassia had been taken to the challenge ring to find it surrounded by hundreds of their people from the territory. She had been kept locked in her room so she couldn't try to run which meant she also hadn't been able to see Huck beforehand. She was untied across the ring from her father who had already shifted into a massive grizzly bear. The ring, which was really just a clearing, had all the people surrounding it cheering for their King. They shouted for her to shift and as she knelt in the dirt weeping, she could only let herself drop into the familiar fox form where she cowered down, prepared for the worst.
The worst never came. Instead, there was a flash of black as Huck leapt over her. She looked on in horror as the wolf, as big as he was, squared off against an even bigger grizzly bear. Huck bared his teeth and a growl escaped the back of his throat. All around them the crowd was going mad. Cassia dove underneath the white gown she had been wearing so when she shifted back to a human she was somewhat covered. She ran to Huck and hugged him around his neck and pleaded with him to go back, to leave her. Tears poured from her eyes but the wolf did not back down. When the roar of the bear tore through the night sky, announcing the start, Huck had run at him and Cassia screamed. From there, everything was a blur. Huck was tough and quick but her father was bigger, older, and wiser. Cassia wept as she watched Huck be slowly overpowered by the bear and at last been knocked aside with such force, the wolf crashed into the trunk of a tree and did not get up again. Cassia had rushed to him and behind her, Ferdinand had shifted back to a human, unconcerned with being naked before the crowd. The shifting had made the wounds he had worse so blood poured over him but he smiled like a mad man, raising his fists in the air. He commanded that Huck would go to jail after failing in his challenge of the King and he would be back to challenge Cassia as intended.