Excerpt: The Wolf King

Dinnertime arrived and she trudged toward the dining room with an ineffable Butler trailing her. She had begun to suspect he was no more aware of her than he was of anything else in the hat – rather she was just another thing to be organised or directed.
“Good evening,” Tibby almost wept – it seemed unfair that, after all that she had experienced, she was now hearing voices. She pressed the palms of her hands against closed eyelids.
“Please don’t,” she whispered aloud, hoping to drown out this imagined voice.
“As you wish,” it responded. Tibby’s hands fell back to the tabletop as she watched something decidedly not beast-like walk past her. Human, most definitely human, he was tall, broad-shouldered with brown hair falling in waves to his shoulder. He walked to the fireplace, offering his hands to the fireplace, before kneeling on the hearth rug. Tibby watched, speechless, almost unable to believe what she was looking at.
The man eventually moved, rising to his feet and taking a seat at the table. As if on cue, Butler appeared, delivering dinner as if there were nothing amiss.
“I trust you have settled in,” the man uttered cautiously, waiting for her to start eating. “And that the staff are treating you well.”
“I- yes,” Tibby gave her answer without really considering her words. The man’s eyes, she had just noticed, were the same shade of gold as the beast. “You’re him,” her words were little more than a breath. The man simply inclined his head once. “What are you?” as soon as she had spoken she regretted it.
“You should eat,” his voice was devoid of emotion. “It’s not good to eat so little.” Tibby obeyed silently. They finished their meals without speaking. Once the dishes had been removed, the man headed back to the fireplace where he knelt upon the rug once more. Tibby stared at him, seeing the colour of the beast’s fur in this figure’s hair.
“Who are you?” she ventured carefully.