Prologue
I sat, shivering as I watched the other kits play happily. Mother had sent me to the corner of the den, because I was being bad she had said, she made me sit where a leak in the roof was.
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip.
The rain poured on outside. Mama didn't like me as much as she liked Flowerkit, or better yet, Icekit. My sisters played with a ball of moss and Flowerkit rolled it over to me.
"Flowerkit! What are you doing! She's on a time out, leave her alone!" the other queens stared as she got up and swept the ball of moss away from me.
I was crestfallen, and embarrassed, all the queens were looking at me now, and back to mama, then back to me, whispering through it all.
Later when Mama was asleep, and so were Icekit and Flowerkit, I crawled over to lay down with them, but Mama was quicker, she pushed me away with her leg.
I never understood why she treated me so badly.
Another queen, nudged me over to her and her brand new kits who had been born only a couple sunrises ago. I looked up at her and she smiled gently, and I went closer to her warmth, falling asleep.
The next morning, I woke up back as I was being carried to the corner. I felt the hard ground hit me. Whoever was carrying dropped me down, and hard too.
I turned and looked up to see an angry face of my mother.
"And don't move until I say!"
Icekit, who had been snickering the whole time stuck her tongue out at me. I nodded and stayed quiet, anger slowly rising in me. My black fur burner, my claws unsheathing and sheathing, over and over, but I sat strong and silent.
And I hated every moment of it.