60. Nora
60
Nora
K nowing Chanston rarely ever made it to South Harbor, I indulged in every opportunity to share details about my town. Family business lineages, reputations such as who sold the freshest fish and when the market was least busy.
Reminiscing allowed my heart to grow a little fonder of this village I would no longer wake up in daily.
It probably added an extra hour onto this trip, in between stops to castle staff families. Some ailments required medicinal shipments from faraway lands that they couldn’t afford. I took note of those things, promising to look into procuring some.
At first, my interactions had seemed stiff, like they weren’t sure how to handle having someone with my status enter their humble homes. Yet, after not much time, they’d relaxed, thanking me more as a friend than a ruler. The smile plastered on my face didn’t wear off for quite some time.
Sure, we hadn’t found out who was behind the kidnappings, but we were making strides. In the meantime, the satisfaction from seeing hope arise on sickly people fueled me more than I thought it would have.
The carriage took us back to the castle, sunset having bid its farewell on the day within the past hour.
Moving through the opulent halls, I offered greetings to a few of the staff whose names I’d committed easily to memory. Others I’d made a game with, taking stabbing guesses until they finally corrected me or I begged for the answer.
They might think my efforts to know them all to be kind. A prudent queen, extending courtesy and respect to her subjects. While I did agree that knowing the names of the people in service to me was important, it supplied another purpose. A strategic one.
Someone, or many someone’s, had moved undetected within these walls long enough. Nick had said he and Marco narrowed it down, but just like I’d seen with the Citadels, emotional motives were as easy to rein in as an unbroken stallion. We’d yet to determine why the kidnappings had been taking place, and thus we didn’t know the reasoning for it. Or how many people were involved.
People didn’t choose evil for the sake of it; they became misguided and desperate while trying to do the right thing. I knew that firsthand. Once I’d felt empowered to act, I’d been willing to risk everything. Even my very soul, and it had seemed worth it.
So, while I paraded around, playing the ever kindly role of queen, I hoped none would suspect that my eagle-eyed eagerness to learn meant anything more.
The dining room in which we normally ate had been cleared already, but one of the sweet staff offered to prepare me a plate. I would have insisted on getting my own, but my stomach grumbled at the mention of food and I didn’t quite know my way to the kitchens yet. I would rather not be found passed out in some random corridor later. So I agreed, and she swept away to retrieve it.
Knowing it would take her some time, I marched to our room, prepared to live up to a promise I’d made earlier, only to find it empty. A guard posted outside said the prince hadn’t been back since the morning shift guards noted his exit.
I imagined my handsome fiancé hard at work, doing princely things somewhere in this place.
Rather than waiting alone and hungry in the dining room, I made my way to Marco’s suite. His guards greeted me with nothing but jovial warmth before I strutted through the double doors. Marco ran a towel through his snow-colored hair, luckily in a fresh change of clothes already.
“You know, I think half of your charm comes from your delightful guard detail,” I said, slumping into the green velvet sofa in the sitting area.
Marco laughed. “It’s built into their pay. Make people like me .” He held out his hands as if reading the words across a banner.
“You should give them raises. That’s a hard job to do,” I teased, my lips quirking into a smirk.
“We can’t all have your charm , Nora dear.” He tossed the wet towel over the chair at his desk.
“Have you seen Nick?”
“Seen him? I spent the better part of three hours kicking his ass in the training ring.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“If I didn’t know firsthand how skilled he is, I might believe you. How do you not have a scratch on you?” I rose my eyebrows in disbelief.
He chuckled. “I think we parted within the hour. I came back here to wash up. Time flies in that marvelous tub.”
“Hm.” Maybe he’d made his way to the kitchens for some food after that intense workout. I knew how exhausted and hungry I’d become after training with Odion.
“Did you just get back? How’d it go?” he asked.
My finger circled the back of the sofa. “Really good.” I shuddered a laugh. “It felt like what I was doing mattered. Those people, the hope in their eyes, the access to resources I have now… Feels like everything’s falling into place, finally.”
“You’re a natural. Did it end up being mostly medicine like you thought?” He pushed off the chair, joining me in the sitting area.
“Yeah. A few things I’d heard of, but some things I hadn’t. Like, boat dock root or something.” I knew it wasn’t right, but I couldn’t recall without looking at my notes.
He smiled, “Burdock.”
I pointed a finger in his direction. “Yes! That’s it. Do you know what it’s for? I didn’t pry about their illnesses.”
He sighed, sinking into contemplation. “It’s not surprising your people might be in need of it. Highcrest is overflowing with iron. Iron affects magic, a suppressant in most cases, but too much exposure acts like a cancer to magic cells. Burdock separates the bonds that iron fuses to magic cells and flushes it from the body.”
He worked his fingers, as if holding something back. “What is it?” I asked.
“King Taja has requested a steady supply to his people. We have a lot of wild burdock in Duski, it’s our main export. I’m just, I’m torn. Rumors of Windguard’s treatment toward magically blessed have never been good. Hearing from the mouths of my own men the blatant hatred and annihilation essentially was something else, though.
“What I’m struggling with is why would a king who treats his magical population like dirt beneath his boots care for their treatment? Something about it doesn’t sit right with me, and in the quantities he’s requesting, I don’t doubt something nefarious going on. Sure, his population is massive, but not one other kingdom we trade with has requested that much.
“And of course, of course I want to offer treatment to wielders who are suffering, but that would just encourage whatever he’s doing to them. No population should require that much burdock root. If I agree, am I condoning whatever conditions he’s putting his people through? Has he found iron mines in his own land, and is using the magical population to extract it? But that doesn’t track because he’s requested increased supply from Nick. I can’t make sense of it.”
Slumping back in the chair adjacent to the couch, he rubbed his temple. “I’ve offered transport. If his citizens wish, they could board a ship and find refuge in Duski. Hell, even Nick is on board with accepting more refugees, he’s told me. I’d send a few ships a year, offer them free passage to Duski. Taja’s denied it.”
“That’s awful.” I’d barely given a thought to the magical population of Highcrest before all this. I’d thought they’d had it bad, but I had no idea things could be so much worse. I wouldn’t pretend to know the complexities of trade agreements with other kingdoms, but I could see the strain it had on Marco.
For someone who acted so unbothered and carefree, I could see the mantle this placed on his shoulders. How burdened he’d become. I had no wisdom to give, since my education didn’t extend beyond mandatory schooling. If he wanted advice on how to soak up ale spills, I’d be his girl. So I offered the only thing I could—distraction. “Is that why your hair’s white? From the stress?”
His cackle filled the room. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s purely a gift of good looks, my dear.”
We laughed, taking the edge off the serious conversation. “I trust you’ll figure out the right thing to do.”
He flashed me a look that said he wished he agreed.
Muffled conversation carried through the door, followed by a knock. “Come in,” Marco said.
His guards opened the door. “Your Highness, a messenger for Lady Nora.”
One of the correspondence deliverers, Nisha, strode in, her gaze targeting me immediately and not wasting a moment. “Ma’am, I’m sorry to disturb you, but you have a visitor. She says someone very close to you, a Mr. Chol, is in danger.”
My heart became an ashy mound in my chest, incapable of beating. I sprinted out of the room.