Chapter Eight #3
“Oooh,” I breathed, gazing at the big, purple fruit. “What is it?”
“We call it pranganut. Tough outsides, but inside are a bunch of little seeds that burst with sweet, tarty juice with every bite.”
“That sounds delicious. Would you tell me how you grow them?”
“Oh! How about I write down the instructions and put them in your basket?” she said, running back. “You have so many tributes to accept, I wouldn’t want to slow you down.”
“My basket? Tribute?”
“Yes,” she said, gesturing behind me.
Turning around, I fell on the crowd of villagers—all smiling, watching me, holding baskets of some type or other, and waiting.
I blinked. “What’s this? Is something wrong?”
Eadaoin stepped forward. “Nothing is wrong, my lady. They’re honoring you by paying tribute.”
“Me?” I squeaked. “Tribute to me? Because I dealt with the wolves?” I groaned under the heavy basket of pranganuts shoved into my hands. “Wow. You all forgive so easily.”
“Easily?” repeated the mango man. “Do you mean because we intended to kill you?”
We?
Eadaoin shot between us, growls hazing the air.
The man looked at me over her shoulder. “That’s in the past, my lady.”
“It was yesterday!”
“Exactly, yesterday,” he said, inclining his head.
“Yesterday when our lord risked himself and sacrificed his people to protect you. We thought this marriage was forced on him by enemy kings seeking to destroy our home. Now we know we were wrong.” A beaming smile split his face.
“You will save us, Queen Emiana of Lumenfell. You were his choice, now you are ours. And if that wasn’t so, why would we be celebrating you and your blessed marriage? ”
I couldn’t have been more confused if he slipped into another language. The festival celebration was in honor of me? An honor they were bestowing before I apologized for unleashing the wolves.
“What do you think, my lady?” Eadaoin whispered.
I blew out a breath. “I think if they’re willing to forgive, so am I. Would you mind helping me get everyone into orderly lines?” I asked. “Also, I’ll need my carriage if I’m to carry all these baskets back to the castle.”
“Uhhh...” She looked from me, to Castle Riagin, to the line of people that was only growing longer. “Okay, but stay here,” she ordered. “I won’t be long.”
“Of course.”
As soon as Eadaoin ducked out of sight, I turned and left.
“I’ll be back to accept your tributes in a few moments,” I called back. “Keep those mangoes safe for me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Mango Man replied.
Quickly, I hurried through the square, letting my mental map head me around carts and stalls to the quiet part of the village where they made their homes. I went farther still, lighting on the horse stall.
Riordan lifted his head from the horse’s coat when I slipped inside. “My queen.” He dropped his brush bowing to me.
I almost snapped at him to bow deeper, respecting my station. You’re not Emiana, I snapped at myself. Remember who you are.
“Stand up, Riordan, and call me Ana.” I reached to help him up, but he jumped back—nose wrinkling.
I nearly forgot about Alisdair’s wretched marking.
“I only came to make sure everything is in order for tonight,” I said, backing away until the tense line of his shoulders relaxed.
“We have to leave at sundown. Exactly at sundown.”
“Everything is ready, my queen. As you said, the villagers all accepted an upfront payment with the promise of even more when their crops are sold in Lyrica. We have more carrots, sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, and peas than we’ll know what to do with.
” He beamed at me. “And may I say again, what an honor it is to have been personally chosen by you for this position.”
“It had to be you,” I said absentmindedly. I moved from stall to stall, inspecting the horses. They had to be quick and strong enough to evade a beast.
“Me? Why did it have to be me?”
“The change hasn’t taken you yet.”
He inclined his head, accepting that easily. Which was good because it was the only reason the curse would let me give him.
“And the other matter that we discussed?” A lovely white-and-brown horse with a brown mane pushed against the wood to lay its head over my shoulder. I couldn’t fight a smile as I stroked her. “Olene, Meliora, Jaclan, Gisela, Savia.”
“Yes, Lady Ana. I understand that you want me to find and take you to them, but I don’t understand why.” There was shuffling behind me as Riordan resumed his task of preparing the horses for our trip. “You said you don’t know them.”
“I don’t,” I rasped, heart panging. “But it’s important.”
“I understand and I’ll do as you ask. I’m sure they’re still living in the same place. No one makes it out of the Galley.”
I peered at him over the horse’s muzzle. “May I ask you something? What are you doing here? You have a Lyrican accent, so your home wasn’t overtaken by the curse. You chose to be here,” I stated. “Why?”
He shrugged, smiling. “I never wanted to join the army, but my parents needed the money, so they sold me. Can you imagine? Selling your child to the battlefield to fill your own bellies.” Riordan tossed his head.
“Anyway, I woke up in a hot and stinking tent one day, surrounded by hot, tired, and hungry soldiers, and I decided it was enough.
“Enough of war, death, and pain. Right then, I packed up my stuff, walked out of the tent, and set off for the kingdom of Wind and Wild,” he said. “I resolved to find the heart amid this frozen hell, stab it through, and end it once and for all.”
“And then?” I breathed, rapt. “What happened?”
He sighed. “And then... I discovered this place. I realized Wind and Wild wasn’t some frozen hell filled with filthy, bloodthirsty beasts.
They’re just people, my queen. People suffering under a terrible curse.
A curse that they want to be freed from just as much as the rest of Elva.
They just don’t want to be slaughtered before they are.
“What happened is I saw the truth of what we—the summer fae—have done. It was us who started this war. Us who keep attacking and invading. Us who refuse to end the fighting. All the faeriken have done is defend themselves.”
“We had to go to war,” I blurted. “The curse is spreading. Eventually, all of Elva will be a land of winter and ice. A land forgotten by the sun and stars.”
Riordan nodded. “It’s true. Even if the faeriken aren’t invading Rajadom, Quatassa, Sarabai, or Lyrica, the curse most certainly is.
Obviously, we can’t sit by while the curse kills the land and turns us all into mindless beasts.
But that’s reason for us to work with the faeriken to end the curse.
It’s not a reason to turn victims into enemies. ”
“You’re right,” I agreed. I found a brush and joined him, preening the coat of my new friend.
“I see that now. The faeriken are no less fae than us. They’re normal, regular people like us.
They deserve help to break their curse, not a death sentence.
But how will they ever get such help when the man who holds the cursed heart refuses to free them, or us, from its punishment? ”
His smile remained. “Well, that’s where you come in, isn’t it?”
“Me?” I pulled a face. “Is that the answer? Is that why the villagers are so excited that Shadowsoul didn’t let me be crushed to death? They think I’m getting close enough to him that he’ll tell me where the cursed heart is, and let me destroy it?”
Riordan laughed. “That is always the answer, my queen. Beautiful women such as you are the weakness of every man’s heart.”
I’ll tell Emiana you said so the next I see the rotted bitch.
“My lady?”
I whipped around, landing on a shifting shadow outside the stable door.
“My lady, what are you doing in there?” Eadaoin asked.
I swallowed a curse. Alisdair’s marking would be the death of me. It was a beacon telling him, and everyone with a heightened sense of smell, where I was.
“Be ready for tonight,” I told Riordan. Reaching into the folds of my gown, I handed him a small pouch. “No excuses. No delays.”
“Yes, my queen.”
Eadaoin burst in. “Lady Ana?” Her eyes narrowed on Riordan. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on. I simply wanted to see the horses.” I brushed past her going outside. “Come now. Let’s not keep the villagers waiting.”
I STOOD ON THE TRAINING field, shivering in my calfskin boots.
I had the first enjoyable morning since entering Lumenfell.
Villager after villager paid me tribute in fruits, vegetables, berries, and more.
The best part, I got into long, fascinating conversations with nearly all of them about how to grow such in bitter, chilling weather.
At some point, a group of us were gathered in the square—laughing, drinking ale, and trading tips.
It was truly fun... so, of course, my blessed husband would see to its end.
“You look ridiculous.”
I threw a furious look at the kakka.
“Truly moronic.”
Growling, I swung the bow and arrow on Alisdair.
Foalan waved his hand and the bow burst into feathers before it could make its flight. “My queen,” Foalan said flatly. “Kindly cease trying to assassinate our king.”
“No!”
Foalan sighed. “Lady Ana, you’re doing well. You just need to maintain your stance, and then take a breath before you release. It will help steady your aim.”
“Why must I learn to use a bow and arrow?” I asked. “I take no issue with weapons training, but why this weapon? Can’t I begin with a sword or dagger?” I looked right at the smirking Alisdair when I said that.
The man had me plucked from the village, but not for more map-memorization. Aeris brought me straight to the snow-covered training yard, and Foalan.