Chapter Eleven
Ladon
“It’s actually not my first time,” I reminded him, masking the bitterness in my tone.
Jesse frowned. “Ah, I forgot. I’m sorry for your misfortunes. Reyna is despised by many, so rest assured that you are in good company now. The enemy of my enemy, or something like that.” He gave a small chuckle at his feeble attempt to recall some empty proverb, and it did little to earn my trust.
His sister forced a smile as if she owed him her amusement. It was short-lived, however, and her hawklike gaze returned to me and my companions.
“Well, you know that I am Jesse, and I know that you are Ladon, but please introduce the rest of your party. I would like to know who our guests are.”
I cleared my throat and gestured to Emilie first. “This is Emilie, and behind me are Marco, Bianca, Aven, and Mira.” As I spoke their names, they each bowed politely.
It wasn’t necessary, given that Jesse wasn’t a king, but we were here to ask a favor.
Respect and honor would be given freely until we got what we needed and returned home safely.
Jesse smiled, and it seemed sincere. Then he waved to the woman beside him. “This is my sister, Jade.”
She didn’t smile. Instead, she tilted her head up and peered at us down the length of her nose.
“She’s a woman of few words,” Jesse added.
As was I. “Forgive me, but we’ve come here for a time-sensitive matter, and while I appreciate the—”
“Ah, yes,” he interrupted. “You mentioned in your letter that you were seeking Reyna’s pet snake. Hideous thing with haunting eyes. A few of us attempted to kill her when we overtook the castle, but the slithery beast managed to escape.”
“She’s gone?”
Why the fuck were we here if Vessina was gone?
“I didn’t say that,” he replied. “She fled into the lower chambers of the mountain, and that is where we left her. Sealed away with the other heinous creatures that Reyna loved so dearly.”
“Others?” I asked. Her hounds were dead. What other pets did she keep?
Jesse grimaced. “Yes. You didn’t know? Reyna enjoyed experimenting with mutations.
Her dungeons are full of unnatural beasts—rats with wings, snakes with two heads, that sort of thing.
Even worse are the clearly failed experiments.
The birds with no legs and felines with unseeing eyes. The cages are full of them.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Reyna was the cruelest person I had ever encountered. “And Vessina is locked away with them?”
He nodded once.
“Show us where,” I said, motioning for my team to prepare.
“Not so fast,” Jesse said, and for once his sister flashed a genuine smile. “Before we hand over the thing you so desperately desire, I’d like to discuss what’s in it for us.”
“What do you want?”
“I’m sure you know that most of Murvort lives in poverty.
Osavian has cut off almost every trade route in and out of the country.
You’ve threatened the other continents not to align with us.
Your kingdom has been bleeding us dry for decades, if not centuries, and I am determined to bring a better future to my people. ”
“You still have Sage Harbor,” I retorted. It was the only point of entry that wasn’t heavily guarded by our naval forces, though it wasn’t for Murvort’s sake. It was only open because of negotiations with the western continent, Wyland, that predated my father’s reign.
“You speak of a slow drip when I demand a rainstorm.”
I ground my teeth, my patience wearing thin. “What exactly are you asking for?”
“I want the eastern and southern borders reopened. At least one into Osavian and Dreslen. And you’ll remove your military ships from our shores.
I want unrestricted travel for my people.
And I want a new trade agreement. My people are starving, and I would see them well fed. Weekly shipments should suffice.”
I huffed a laugh. “Is that all?”
“No.” Jesse smiled. “I want a new peace treaty.”
“Because the last one worked so well?”
There was a reason our trade routes had been decimated and left to crumble. There was a reason our ships were permanently stationed in the eastern sea. Murvort was not to be trusted; they would seize the first opportunity to betray us.
His smile faded. “I am not Reyna, nor am I her father or her father’s father.
We are entering a new era in Murvort, one that I am determined will bring peace and end the suffering of my people.
As an outsider, you’ve seen very little, and you make snap judgments.
You have prejudices against us in Murvort.
Perhaps you even think that we deserve to live in such terrible conditions.
But I have lived it. I didn’t grow up in a castle like Reyna.
I didn’t reap the benefits of everything her family stole from those who live outside the castle walls.
The Lemaires took what little we had to save themselves and didn’t think once of their constituents.
They sacrificed us for their own selfish gains, but that ends with me. ”
His intentions seemed honorable, but after a lifetime of fighting at the border, I had a hard time trusting them to be true.
“I’d like to believe you,” I said. “But even if I wanted to give you everything you’re asking for, I do not have that power.”
Jesse leaned forward in his throne, hands gripping the armrests as he stared into my eyes. Not with malice, but with frustration, I guessed.
“Are you not the Regent? Acting King of Osavian? I was told King Cyrus inches closer to death every day.”
I winced but quickly recovered before Jesse noticed the sting of his words.
“If you can’t make these negotiations,” he continued, “then perhaps I should visit his warm corpse.”
This time, the snarl that escaped my lips was obvious. There was no hiding my distaste for his choice description of my brother’s circumstances. “That won’t be necessary.”
He relaxed back into his seat. “Good. Now, I don’t expect you to make a decision immediately. Think it over. Discuss with your advisors. Do what you must, and then we can reconvene at a later date.”
My pulse quickened. “We don’t have time for that.”
Jesse’s brow lifted. “You have an answer now?”
My shoulders slumped. I couldn’t make such a decision without giving it more than five seconds of consideration. But Cyrus was inching closer to death, and we didn’t have time to spare. I clenched my fists at my side, counted to five, and then released them. “Give me one day.”
“Done.” He turned his attention to his sister. “Jade, can you take our guests to their shelter for the evening?”
Emilie and I shared a quick glance as visions flashed in my mind. A brief recollection of the last time we’d been led to our lodging within these borders—a prison cell.
“We’re not staying here, are we?” I asked, doing my best to hide my discomfort.
Jade was the one to answer me. “No, I’ll be taking you to an inn just outside our walls.”
Emilie breathed a sigh of relief, and a sense of calm washed over me too.
I tried not to pay too much attention to the rest of the castle as Jade led us out.
The less I observed, the less I would recall about all the nights I’d spent tormented inside this mountain.
Or at least that’s what I hoped. My senses were still on high alert, and I didn’t relax until I felt the fresh air on my face again.
“Gods,” Emilie whispered once we were out in the open. “I don’t remember it looking so…”
“Annihilated?” Bianca finished.
Emilie nodded. “Yes.”
It could happen sometimes in the midst of battle. Memories became hazy, and details were quickly forgotten. Especially when the experience was as traumatic as what we had gone through. But she was right. It looked far worse than I could recall.
The exterior was hardly recognizable. I counted at least four piles of debris that smoldered, smoke rising in the cool, damp air. Occasionally, someone approached to toss more trash onto the mounds.
“We’ve been working as fast as we can to clean up, but as you can see, it is still ongoing,” Jade said as we walked.
“After your lot destroyed so much of the area, the outburst of civil feuds only contributed to the wreckage. Now that my brother has things under control, we’ve been dismantling all the rubble and clearing the way for new structures. ”
To the left, I could see what remained of a tall hedge wall. A few civilians were cutting into the dead branches and carrying the sticks to the fires to keep them ablaze.
The path was a mix of muddy sludge and slippery pebbles. Thankfully, my boots were meant for just this type of trek. I looked down beside me and was pleased to find that Emilie had equally sturdy footwear.
But as we passed an older woman, her feet sank into the milky brown puddles. When she took another step, her thin, flat slippers were completely drenched.
While everyone else was distracted, I pushed my magic outward, winding my way into the ground beneath the puddle and pushing it higher until the path leveled and the water moved aside.
An indiscernible noise came from beside me, and I turned to find Emilie hiding a smile.
“What?”
“I saw that,” she whispered.
“You saw nothing.”
Eventually, Jade led us to the smallest town center I’d ever seen.
There were only three buildings. The first could hardly be called a building; it was more like a tent with a large opening in the front.
From my vantage point, I could see people entering in a single-file line and exiting with bowls of steaming soup.
The second building was more structurally sound, though that wasn’t saying much. It appeared to be made of scrap wood planks of various lengths and widths. Unlike the tent, the building had a proper door, so I couldn’t see inside to assess its function.
The last building appeared to be our destination. It was also made of scrap materials, but the double doors were propped open and a small desk was stationed at the front.
Jade led us inside and stopped at the desk, thrumming her knuckles on the surface.