Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Five Slaps!
Kael moved again.
Swanly lifted one hand.
He stopped.
His entire body shook from the force of obeying her.
Soren’s hiss deepened.
Arion finally stepped forward.
"Selka, enough."
She rounded on him.
"Stay out of it."
Garran struck the end of his staff against the ground.
"We did not come here for female quarrels. We came for shelter."
Swanly looked at him.
A female quarrel.
That was what he called watching a visitor grab and slap someone in the tribe they were begging for shelter from.
Maela stepped forward beside her mate.
Her tawny lion ears lay flat against her carefully braided hair.
She looked at Swanly with the same cold disgust Selka carried.
"You still have not changed."
Swanly blinked.
Maela lifted her chin.
"You were rude and ungrateful as a young female. Now you insult the people who raised you while standing beneath another tribe’s protection."
Swanly touched her burning cheek.
Maela continued.
"Selka should not have struck you, but you provoked her. You always knew how to create trouble between others and then pretend to be the victim."
Nerin flinched.
Arion’s face tightened.
Brea nodded eagerly.
"She always did that."
Swanly looked from one face to another.
The older lions.
The red fox.
The laughing hyena.
The silent prince.
The soft deer male with bruises on his wrists.
The survivors who looked uncomfortable but had learned not to speak.
Everything Kael had told her became painfully clear.
The original Swanly had never had anyone there.
Not one person willing to stand in front of her.
Not one person willing to say she had been drugged.
Not one person willing to ask why Selka benefited from everything that happened.
Swanly’s mind became very calm.
The system appeared beside her face.
Its glowing wings buzzed furiously.
{Host.}
What?
The tiny fairy’s eyes burned.
{Say the word.}
Swanly stared at Selka.
{System will provide the Ultimate Slap Package. Five consecutive revenge strikes. Automatic targeting. Maximum humiliation. Hair-spin effect included.}
How much?
The system hesitated.
{Host is currently in debt, but system will offer a seventy-percent emotional-distress discount.}
Swanly almost laughed.
Since I arrived in this world, has anyone ever slapped me?
The system looked through its records.
{No.}
Perfect.
The system cracked its tiny knuckles.
{Host does not even need to lift a hand.}
Wait.
The system froze.
Swanly’s mouth slowly curved.
I want to lift my hand.
Selka mistook the smile for weakness.
She stepped closer.
"What? Did I slap all the words out of your mouth?"
Swanly said nothing.
Selka’s courage grew.
"That was always your problem. You spread your legs for one wandering male, became pregnant, then cried because Arion would not look at you. You should have died before giving birth to those disgusting cubs. At least then Sunmane would not have wasted food on you for so many years."
The air died.
Kael’s pupils narrowed into dark slits.
Soren’s scales rose along his throat.
The cubs began screaming again.
Nerin’s face went white.
Arion finally grabbed Selka’s arm.
"Enough!"
She yanked free.
"You are defending her again?"
Swanly lifted her hand.
The first slap struck Selka’s left cheek.
Pah!
Selka’s head snapped sideways.
Before she could recover, Swanly struck the right.
Pah!
The survivors gasped.
Brea stumbled backward.
Selka’s eyes widened.
Swanly grabbed the front of her hide dress and pulled her closer.
The third slap landed across the left cheek again.
Pah!
Selka’s red fox ears flattened.
Her hair flew across her face.
The fourth slap struck so hard her lips split against her teeth.
Pah!
Blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Selka made a broken sound.
Swanly released her clothes.
Then delivered the fifth slap with every ounce of rage she had swallowed since hearing Kael’s story.
Pah!
Selka spun and fell into the dirt.
Silence swallowed the clearing.
Her red hair covered half her face.
Both cheeks were swollen.
Her mouth hung open.
She looked up at Swanly as if the sun had fallen and slapped her personally.
The system hovered beside Swanly with both tiny hands over its mouth.
{Host performed better than automatic package.}
Swanly’s palm burned.
She shook it once.
Then she laughed.
It started quietly.
One small breath of disbelief.
Then another.
Soon she was laughing so hard she had to place one hand over her stomach.
Everyone stared at her.
Kael’s rage faltered into stunned admiration.
Soren’s silver eyes remained fixed on her face.
Thalara smiled widely because she had decided this was apparently the correct moment.
The cubs stopped struggling and stared at their mother with open worship.
"Mama strong," the eldest whispered.
"Mama slap," the second said.
The smallest shouted, "Again!"
Swanly laughed for what felt like a full minute.
Then it stopped.
Completely.
She looked down at Selka.
"You slapped me once."
Her voice was quiet.
"I gave you five because I had years of unpaid interest."
Selka’s body shook.
"You..."
Swanly stepped closer.
"I allowed you to speak because I was trying to understand who you were."
She crouched slightly, bringing her face nearer to Selka’s.
"Now I understand."
Her eyes became cold.
"You are nobody important."
A sharp breath moved through Riverbone’s people.
Selka’s face twisted with humiliation.
Nerin stared at Swanly with something bright and aching in his green eyes.
Maela looked furious.
Garran looked alarmed.
Brea had gone silent for the first time since arriving.
Then Arion stepped forward.
His golden lion tail lashed behind him.
He looked at Selka on the ground, then at Swanly.
"How could you?"
Swanly slowly turned her head.
Arion’s face was filled with anger, disbelief and old authority.
The same authority that had once made another Swanly follow him with desperate eyes.
It meant nothing to her.
He took another step.
"Swanly, Selka is injured. You cannot simply attack her in front of everyone."
Swanly walked toward him.
Arion’s anger faltered when he saw her expression.
She stopped directly in front of him.
"Who are you talking to?"
Arion stared down at her.
"I am Arion."
"The lion I supposedly loved?"
His eyes softened immediately.
"Swanly..."
For one breath, Kael stopped breathing behind her.
Arion reached toward her.
"You may not remember now, but what we had was real. Selka was wrong to strike you, but you cannot behave like this. You were never this violent before."
Swanly looked at his outstretched hand.
Then at the male who had remained silent when Selka slapped Nerin.
The male who had remained silent when his parents threatened to execute an orphaned female.
The male who had watched Selka insult Kael and three innocent cubs before finally saying enough.
Swanly smiled.
Arion relaxed.
Then she slapped him.
Pah!
Everyone gasped. "She striked the prince!"
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