Hello again. I hope all of you are doing well.
Let's get this started.
I do not own The Lion King and I make no money writing this.
Chapter 4
The light of the early morning woke her up, as it did every morning since Scar had decided that she was to sleep at the entrance of the cave, far away from him. She yawned and then stretched purposefully; today would be another day she could prove to Scar that she was fit to be his queen.
Her beloved had found out, somehow, that Kovu and Vitani were not his and had decided that she needed to be punished for daring to bring him cubs that weren't his. She understood, she really did, but how was she supposed to give him a proper heir if he punished her like this!
Deciding that Kovu could do with another hour or two of sleep the ex-queen went outside to groom herself. Her little darling would need every single hour of sleep he could get now later on. She couldn't have him failing her during his training.
Initially she had been surprised that Scar had denounced Vitani but not Kovu, that he kept him as his heir, but then she had understood. Her Scar was such a fiendishly clever lion! He wanted to test her. He wanted to see if she was still worthy of being his mate, of being his queen!
Years ago he had decided that she was worthy of bearing him cubs and she had disappointed him once already, by giving him Aushi – a beautiful, strong female. And that was the problem: she had given him a female. He needed a son, a male to teach and train!
He had generously given her a second chance to bear him a son and what had she done? – She had run into her old cub-hood crush while out on a hunt and let him seduce her. Not only had she disappointed him by bearing another female and only one son, but she had gone and dared to present him with cubs that weren't his flesh and blood!
Telling him had never been an option, he would have send her and her little ones away and taken another lioness as his queen. That was her position! The other lionesses weren't worthy of either Scar or the title of Queen!
She still didn't know how he managed to find out that the twins weren't his; Kovu was the spitting image of him and Vitani looked like the perfect combination of them. The colour of her nose and her eyes could have been inherited by one of her grandparents after all.
Furthermore she had made sure not to speak to any other lioness about her infidelity. The only other lionesses that had seen Maanani were her loyal subjects. None of them would dare tell on her, of that she was sure. Besides, none of them had seen their coupling, Maanani had made sure of that, under the pretence of not wanting a pride-male to sniff him out and beat him up, but that had been ok as it served her as well.
So when he found out of course he would denounce her. As much as she loved her daughter she knew that Scar had no use for female offspring. He only tolerated and taught Aushi because he needed someone to teach his heir once his soul went to the sky and the Great Kings of the past.
Her beloved Scar had told her that she was responsible for Kovu's physical fitness, to train him to take back the throne, while Aushi and Hazina would later teach him what he needed to know about ruling and act as his advisers.
He had ordered, in front of the entire pride, that Vitani never be anything other than a simple pride-sister and a huntress. She herself would be nothing more than the lowest ranking pride-sister until further notice.
The price for her infidelity was steep, but at least her beloved had accepted her son as his heir, and who knew, perhaps when she was diligent enough in Kovu's training and managed to impress him enough she would even be granted permission to try and give him the son he deserved. Kovu would still make a good bodyguard in that case.
She stopped her grooming when saw the shape of three lions some distance away, apparently walking towards her as the shapes became bigger. Her muscles tensed and her eyes narrowed. Were those rogues or lions from another pride? – No, those were Aushi's annoyances and Vitani.
Zira tried to force herself to relax. The two adult lionesses were to hunt later and Vitani had nothing to do but play. A snarl formed on her muzzle. Playing – pah! Who did the brat think she was? She would make sure that Vitani was trained together with Kovu today. Perhaps if she showed Scar that she could turn even Vitani into an asset he would consider shortening her punishment and make her his Queen again. Yes, that would do.
When the younger lionesses reached screaming range she hollered for her daughter. "VITANI! GET YOUR TAIL OVER HERE IMMEDIATELY! YOU ARE GOING TO TRAIN TODAY!"
She watched as her daughter flinched and growled. This wasn't good. A soldier that flinched at their commander's voice showed fear, and a good soldier never showed fear. She would have to beat that out of her daughter, if she wanted her to be useful. That might take some time, but in the end it might just be what she needed to get back into Scar's good graces.
And done. I hope you liked it.
Your thoughts are always welcome.
BlueNightOwl out.
