Chapter 24
The map was on Parisar’s desk. I took my broom and started to sweep nearby. Parisar was not at his desk, thankfully. Everyone was outside or just out, really, I didn’t know where. They all had their jobs to do and their places to be. Parisar had been spending more time away from his desk, in contrast to previously where he seemed to be chained to the thing.
I looked at the map, then checked over my shoulder to make sure no one was around. As far as I knew, I was alone in the main house, but anyone could walk in at any moment. I didn’t think they would much care if they caught me looking at the map, but just in case, I wanted to keep it to myself.
I didn’t even know how to read a map. I’d seen the big map of Fernweh in my lessons with Master Francis. I knew where Eudaimonia was situated within the continent and where the other kingdoms were in relation to us, but that was the extent of my topographical knowledge. The map on the table made absolutely zero sense to me. I thought I could identify the creek where I’d bathed that time, and the hot springs where I bathed now. There were trails leading off into all directions, but there were no labels to identify them or to give me any clue as to where they might lead. I was hoping for a glaringly obvious arrow pointing to the castle, but I had no such luck.
There were areas marked, but the symbols used may as well have been a foreign language—they were a foreign language in reality. Parisar’s shorthand, or whatever it was he used to mark the map didn’t enlighten me to where the compound was in relation to the castle or indicate any way I might find my way home. I didn’t know whether to head north or south, and the only reason I could guess at either direction was because I knew the sun rose in the east and set in the west. Without that, I would have been completely ignorant.
Who was I kidding? I was completely ignorant.
Looking at the map wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I turned to examining the other papers on Parisar’s desk. Letters written in a loopy script that must have been in code because they seemed so completely inane. Why would Parisar care about this person’s farm or the grazing habits of his sheep? But as to what the letter was really about, I was yet again in the dark. I didn’t know the significance of the sheep or the grazing patterns, or even why Parisar would need such information.
Troop movements?
It was possible, but then it could also relate to the movements of the courtiers. Perhaps it was notes on who supported who and why.
With a sigh, I turned away. There was nothing useful on the desk. I bent to pick up the wastepaper basket, hoping that maybe I would find something useful in the discarded notes, but it was empty. Either Parisar never threw anything away or he burned anything he needed to dispose of.
It made sense. Especially if he suspected a spy. And, if he suspected a spy, then he definitely wouldn’t leave anything lying around on his desk for the whole world to see. Or, he could be trying to trick the spy by leaving out misinformation.
I dropped the rubbish bin and continued with my sweeping. I was not cut out for this subterfuge stuff. I had never understood the games the courtiers played or the political manoeuvring that went on in the castle. It was part of the reason I had stayed out of politics altogether. I hated the games and machinations. Why couldn’t everyone just be upfront and honest?
Maybe I would make a terrible queen.
I’d never really thought about it before. It was my birthright, my inheritance, my fate, but I’d never really thought about what kind of queen I would be. I supposed my father would be around for a long time to help guide me, but that may no longer be the case. At this rate, I might not even become queen.
I didn’t know how I felt about that. I’d never imagined a life other than the one I’d been bred for. I’d never considered not living in the palace, not becoming queen. I’d taken it for granted.
‘What are you doing?’
My head snapped up, and I met Tain’s eyes. I’d thought we’d been moving toward a working relationship. Not friends, exactly, but colleagues at least. Now I doubted her to the point I had been keeping my distance from her. If she had picked up on the change, she hadn’t said anything. She was just as grumpy and surly as she always was.
‘Sweeping,’ I replied.
She looked pointedly at the broom in my hands. It was a few inches above the floor, and I was unconsciously swaying it back and forth. So, not sweeping.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked, tilting my head at her questioningly.
‘Parisar asked me to grab something off his desk.’
I nodded and returned my attention to my sweeping—actually sweeping the floor this time and not daydreaming—but out of the corner of my eye I watched Tain. She moved the papers around on Parisar’s desk until she found the one she was after. From my point of view, it didn’t look suspicious, but still I wondered. Had Parisar really sent her in to get something? Or maybe he had, knowing she would see misinformation, and this was a test to see if she was the spy.
I tucked the information away. My goal wasn’t to uncover the spy—I still didn’t fully trust Parisar, and the spy very well might be on my side—but I was determined to be more aware of my surroundings. How much had I missed because I’d been blissfully unaware of what was really going on?
The conversation around the dinner table that night surprised me. Parisar gave out a lot of information I thought would have been better kept secret…or maybe this was yet another test.
‘The rumours about the queen are growing,’ he said, looking at each of us, his tone solemn and his eyes serious. ‘Most people now think she killed the princess, or at least tried to kill her.’
‘How do we know she didn’t?’ Breust asked, and I looked at him in surprise. ‘What?’ he asked with a shrug. ‘How do we know the poison wasn’t sent by the queen?’
‘Because I know for a fact the queen doesn’t want to kill Snow,’ Parisar said, forcing the words out between gritted teeth.
‘Do you really think my mother would want me dead?’ I asked. ‘Why? What would she gain by killing me?’
‘She would be the most beautiful person in the land,’ Breust replied, and I snorted.
‘She is already that,’ I replied, crossing my arms. ‘That entire argument is ridiculous. There is no way I am more beautiful than my mother and, besides the fact she wouldn’t care even if it was true, what would that gain her? Beauty isn’t power. She is already the queen. Whether people think she is the most beautiful person in the kingdom means nothing.’
‘The princess is right,’ Tain said, leaning back in her chair and giving me a smug look. ‘The queen is far more beautiful.’
‘We all know this has got nothing to do with vanity,’ Parisar said, his voice heavy with weariness. ‘But the misinformation and rumours are potentially damaging to the queen and the king, and the princess too. They weaken the authority of the crown and make the queen look unstable. It is good for whoever is planning to invade because at this rate, the palace will be left in a shambles. They will simply have to walk in and take over.’
‘And who do you think is planning that?’ Zeyr asked. ‘Do you really think Werifesteria has woken?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t know why they would want to invade. I don’t know how they think they will benefit from taking over Eudaimonia.’
‘Revenge?’ Cor asked.
Parisar frowned. ‘Revenge? For what?’
‘For whatever happened a hundred years ago.’
‘But nobody knows what happened,’ I said, looking around the table. ‘Do they?’
Parisar sighed. ‘I only know the rumours.’
‘But we didn’t have anything to do with that, did we?’ I asked.
‘Is that the royal ‘we’?’ Tain asked with a sarcastic raise of her eyebrow.
‘I mean ‘we’ as in the kingdom. Eudaimonia. We weren’t the ones who caused whatever happened a hundred years ago, were we?’
‘Not according to our history books,’ Parisar replied. ‘From what I’ve read, the thorns grew up practically overnight, and no one in the kingdom knew why or how.’
‘Magic definitely had to be involved,’ Tain said. ‘No way those thorn bushes could grow overnight without the help of magic.’
‘Thank you, Captain Obvious,’ I said. ‘My question is, where did the magic come from?’ I looked at Cor, remembering the conversation we’d had when I first came to the compound. ‘You know the story,’ I said. ‘You said it was the godmother and it was because of Querencia.’
Cor nodded slowly. ‘That’s the story my grandmother told me.’
‘Was magic still around then?’ I asked. ‘Hadn’t it already died out?’
‘There were still pockets of it,’ Parisar answered, surprising me. How did he know so much about magic?
‘The amount of magic used to grow the thorns had to be more than just a pocket,’ Breust said.
‘It’s probably what drained the kingdoms of the remaining magic,’ Cor said.
I looked between them, not understanding. I thought magic was in people, but if what Cor said was true, then the magic was in the land…but how did that work? And what did it have to do with me and my ancestors? Parisar said I was descended from magic users, but the magic came from the kingdom…?
‘I don’t understand,’ I said. ‘How can one person drain the kingdoms of magic?’
‘Nobody really knows,’ Tain said. ‘All the books about magic were burned, and magic users have been hunted to extinction.’
The conversation felt like it was going around in circles, or at least it felt like that in my head. This conversation and the one I’d had with Parisar earlier…I was definitely missing something. There was a key to unlocking my understanding, but I didn’t know what it was. My mother, probably. If I could only speak with her then maybe I could start to make sense of everything. If what Parisar said was true, then she knew more about magic than any of us.
I pushed up from the table and yawned. ‘I’m going to bed,’ I said and headed for the bedroom.
It was abrupt, but I needed to get away. I needed some space to think through all the pieces of information in my brain. Parisar watched me go, and I didn’t have to see him to know. I could feel his eyes on me. Did he know what I was thinking? Had he put it together too?
I needed to speak to my mother. I needed to know the truth and the only way I was going to get it was to go back to the castle and speak with her directly. How I was going to do that, I didn’t know. Not yet, anyway.