The Crown's Entrapment

"Ughh..."

Aurelia clutched her head as she woke up, her head throbbing as she tried to make herself comfortable. Looking down on her body, she was glad that she was still as clothed as the night she wore her dress. Even with Calypso sleeping beside her, nothing much had happened.

Well, beyond the stinging sensation now emanating from her right shoulder.

'Huh... I guess that really happened...'

She shrugged as she looked at the mark Calypso left on her. She could vaguely recall the night before, but she at least managed to remember asking for him to mark her. It wasn't much, but she could tell that her drunken self had been feeling rather defiant when it happened. It was almost like she didn't like being told what to do... Not by her parents, not by her brother...

And most certainly not by Calypso himself.

"And here I thought I said to myself I'd stop drinking..." she sighed to herself, her voice barely audible as to hopefully keep Calypso from waking up. "I really should just say no..."

Letting out another sigh, Aurelia decided that she might as well get a bit more sleep. It was still dark out, and she probably still had an hour or two left to try and sleep away the hangover plaguing her head. At the very least, it would help refresh her for their travels come morning-

[Hey! Can you hear me?!]

But just as she was about to doze off again, a faint voice echoed from inside her head. A woman, based on the tone of her voice.

[Come on! I know you can hear me now!]

All drowsiness left her as her eyes shot open. She was still lying on the bed, but she was wide awake as she addressed the voice currently calling out to her inside her head.

[I never thought I'd ever be able to talk to you, you know?] the woman whined, her tone sounding almost exactly like hers except even more exasperated. [And why wouldn't I be exasperated?! You're not the one that thought she wouldn't ever see the light of day!]

Frowning, Aurelia blinked as she tried to communicate with this new voice. [Who are you, even? How are you talking to me?]

[Do you seriously not know?] the woman scoffed. [Surely with your intelligence, you'd figure out what exactly I am to you.]

Aurelia frowned even further as she tried her best not to wince at the growing headache she was experiencing. [I'm not exactly in the best state to think right now.]

[Why? Because you're hungover?] the other her mentally rolled her eyes at her. She didn't even know that was possible to even know inside her head, but apparently, it was a thing. [And yes, it is. You should get used to this, especially since we'll be together till the day you die.]

[And yet you still refuse to tell me what you are,] Aurelia grumbled. [Can you spare me the brain power and just tell me?]

[How about no?] the woman harrumphed at her. [I know you're smart enough to deduce what I am in five seconds if you really bothered to do so.]

Shaking her head, Aurelia gave up as she finally devoted a bit of thinking to what exactly this woman is to her. Well, seeing as she was half-werewolf, and there were anecdotes of werewolves having this inner wolf within them, then that was probably the best explanation for what was happening.

[Exactly,] the woman, well, her wolf shrugged. [I didn't know why it took so long for us to finally communicate, but that is indeed what I am to you.]

[Huh...]

She... She really didn't know what to think of this development. For the longest time, she was resigned to not having an inner wolf in her life, having assumed that her human heritage was just that stronger than her werewolf blood. But apparently, that wasn't the case at all.

[Trust me, I don't know either,] her wolf sarcastically chuckled. [All I know is that I was trapped inside your head for the longest time until now.]

[That's probably because of the Mark then,] Aurelia quickly hypothesized. [Perhaps Calypso's more potent energies transferred onto me through the Bond, allowing you to finally show yourself.]

[You're really going to tell me that I'm too weak to show myself on my own, huh,] her wolf sighed. [Granted, that's true, but you didn't have to rub it in. I don't even know if you can turn into a wolf yet.]

[I'm sorry, but that's just the truth, is it not?] Aurelia smirked. [And don't worry about that. I'm in no hurry to learn how to shapeshift.]

Still, this was a very interesting turn of events. Because what else would be the cause of such a drastic change within her? The mark on her shoulder and her new Bond with Calypso was the only new thing in her life at the moment. It coincided with her inner wolf suddenly showing herself just meant that they were connected.

[I guess that's your working theory then?] her wolf asked.

[I'll have to see if there are any historical anecdotes of this exact thing happening to other half-werewolves, but I'm leaning on it being the case,] Aurelia mentally nodded. [Anyway, what do I call you? I can't keep referring to you as my other self.]

[You tell me,] her wolf scoffed. [I don't mind you telling me my name. Just don't make it sound stupid.]

Aurelia nodded in agreement. Clearly, her wolf knew her well and shared her temperament. [I'll keep you notified then.]

Shrugging, she was just about to sit up when a thought came to her. Should she tell Calypso about this? It was only logical since he had more experience with this kind of stuff, and was thus more capable of helping her through this situation. He might even have a solution to her current lack of ability to shapeshift.

'I really don't want to get myself too indebted to him though...' she mentally noted as she went back to sleep. 'I'll do it once I've run out of options. It's not like he can read my mind...'

Besides, it wasn't something that she couldn't handle on her own anyway. It was her wolf, and it was most certainly her problem to deal with.