Chapter 15 #2
As she tended to one of the patients, she tilted her head, her eyes wide. “Are you truly a sorceress witch, as the rumors say? Having met you, I already know it cannot be true that you are responsible for the capture of dozens of alleged traitors to the crown.”
I wrinkled my nose. “It’s…a bit complicated.” I put a hand to my chest. “I possess a certain magic—borrowed, as it were. It allows me to probe a person’s intentions, distinguish truths from lies.”
“You wear a mystical heart.” Her mouth dropped open.
“I have heard of such things. The Red Queen used to steal them to fuel her own powers.” Averting her gaze, she put a hand to her chest. “In my family, I was the only one born with a gift. It is quite rare among regular citizens of Wünder. Magic is more often acquired.”
“Yes, though I must admit this ability of mine is mostly out of my control. I can’t touch the magic myself.” I couldn’t help my quip, “But it just so happens I wear a very powerful mystical heart.”
“The king’s.”
I shot her a surprised look.
There was certainly no public advertisement regarding this matter. How could she have possibly known?
“I learned about mystical hearts containing powerful magic in my studies,” she relayed, wrapping a bandage. “It wasn’t hard to guess. I’ve only observed your interactions this morning, but the Wicked King’s reputation precedes him. Why else would he keep you under his protection?”
I hadn’t stopped being impressed by Sophie all morning. I wondered if even Gregory was aware of his sister’s perceptiveness and her mental acuity.
“Ah, yes,” I said ruefully. “Though at some point, I am certain he shall like to have his heart returned. It would restore him to full power. Then I am sure I will be dismissed like any other.”
“May I say that it seems like it’s more than that.” Sophie’s green eyes narrowed. “The king…listens to you. You hold incredible power over him, over and above anything mystical in nature.”
I burst out laughing. “Listens to me? Sure. Inasmuch as a stone wall can listen to anyone.” I turned to hand the pain-relief mixture to one of the aides before moving back to my corner.
“It’s true,” Sophie pressed, finishing with the bandages and walking over to me.
“My brother tells me I am much too curious for my own good, but if you don’t mind my asking…
” Her voice dropped to a low murmur. “Would you perhaps be willing to tell me how you have come to wear the king’s mystical heart? ”
“Oh, um…” I stopped short, biting my lip in consideration.
I supposed there was no harm in telling Sophie. I was honestly delighted by her candor, her curiosity. She was a kindred spirit. With or without my heightened mystical senses, I could tell she was as pure a person as they came.
“Alright, well, see…” I considered my words carefully. “Once upon a time, I saved a man’s life, if you can believe that.”
She easily nodded. “Given the events of today alone, I absolutely believe that. You are very brave.”
“Desperate, perhaps,” I amended, good-naturedly. “I suppose it may come off as courage at times.”
Her laughter was soft, feather-light, as delicate as she was. Her eyes widened eagerly. “Truly, you saved the king’s life?”
I pursed my lips. “This was all before he was crowned king, of course. When we’d first met, he had been tasked to steal my heart to deliver to the queen. But instead, he hid it inside him, wearing it since his own heart had been lost centuries earlier. He protected me. He saved me first.”
She nodded eagerly for me to keep going.
My chest warmed. Sophie was an unexpected reprieve from the slog that had been my week.
It was heartening to find a captive audience outside of my usual company.
Aside from the king, I hadn’t even spoken to anyone else at length for days.
Or at least, not anyone who wasn’t overwhelmed with terror that they might be sent to the gallows by the morning.
I kept my voice low, adopting a somewhat eerie tone to make my story seem more ominous.
“Then we discovered that the Red Queen had been using His Majesty’s own powerful mystical heart to control this land.
She had kept it hidden in a vessel deep in a dungeon.
The king himself didn’t even know it existed. ”
Sophie clasped her hands together, eyes wide, poised at the very brink of suspense.
I didn’t want to oversell it. It had been a thoroughly harrowing experience.
And to me, none of it had felt heroic by any means.
“Suffice it to say, one thing led to another. When the queen tried to kill us, by pure luck, I chanced upon the mystical heart and captured it.” I raised my shoulders.
“There was nothing else to do, really, but…”
Sophie kept nodding. “To wear it. To preserve it. And in doing so, you destroyed the Red Queen.”
“In so many words, yes.”
Her jaw dropped in wonder. “Wow… I had heard all the preposterous stories about how the Red Queen was vanquished, but I was never able to confirm the tale. This is all truly fascinating.”
“Well, I’m glad someone thinks so.” I waved a hand dismissively. “But, you know, this is all very much in the past. None of it has any further consequence.”
Sophie tilted her head, her tone bemused. “I do also sense that you still care a great deal for the well-being of the king.”
“Ah…” Glancing to one side warily, I bit my lip. “I wouldn’t say that.”
So far, our conversations had been innocuous enough that I hadn’t paid any mind, but this was beginning to stray into dangerous territory.
Given the faintest tendrils of shadows I had been spying occasionally rolling across the ground as Sophie and I had gone along, I was pretty sure the king himself was actually close by.
He had likely been following us this whole time, if not eavesdropping on us altogether.
It wouldn’t do to inflate his already large ego.
“You must still see some good left in him,” Sophie concluded. “I confess I also have that feeling.”
I resisted a knowing smirk.
Either that or she had so very easily fallen under his spell. Again, it wasn’t unexpected. But I was more than eager to change the subject. “Your brother certainly doesn’t think so. Not that I can blame him, of course. The loss of family is a very powerful motivator.”
I was aware it was also something the king knew intimately, but I didn’t want to say anything that might dilute Sophie’s own family’s struggles.
Her gaze softened. “I was much too young to remember when our sister was…killed. My brother is a good man. He is the best man I know. But he blames himself.” She added, almost offhandedly, “And the king, of course.”
Against my better judgment, I couldn’t help interjecting, “If it helps at all, the king was under a very powerful spell at the time. He wasn’t in control of his own actions.”
I wanted to smack my palm against my forehead as soon as the words left my mouth. Why did I constantly feel like defending him?
I shook my head briskly to clear it, attempting yet another change in topic. “May I say I’ve never seen a kingdom like yours?” I offered the princess a warm smile. “It’s truly extraordinary.”
Sophie brightened at once, her shoulders easing down as she returned the smile. “I’m very glad you think so.”
“Perhaps you can tell me the story of how this land used to be,” I suggested. “Before the king, before the Red Queen. What was it like?”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “Had you not learned about the history of Wünder in your own studies? I must say, I would find it hard to believe if you said you’d had no proper schooling.”
“Oh.” I almost blanked.
I didn’t want to reveal the reason I wasn’t familiar with the history of Wünder. The fact that I carried the king’s mystical heart was odd enough. I didn’t want to have to go into how I wasn’t really from this world at all.
“Well, I—” I racked my brain. “I only wanted to see if the history I was taught in my school would be the same from this side of the river. You know how they say history is written by the victors.”
“That is a very clever saying,” Sophie mused.
“Well then, perhaps you can tell me if it’s the same.
” She moved to sit down beside the next cot to tend to another injured patient.
“From my studies of history, they say all the kingdoms used to be equal. They could function independently of each other. There didn’t use to be one kingdom to rule the land.
Surely, there were wars between kingdoms, some small, some larger, but that was the way things were. ”
“Seems logical.”
“My father told me stories of His Majesty’s father too.
I hear he used to be a friend. He was a wise ruler, a good king.
” Her nose scrunched up. “Of course, that was before the Red Queen took over his throne and changed everything.” She leaned toward me.
“This part should be more familiar to you, being from the other side.”
“When the Red Queen took over, she manipulated everyone’s memories with magic.
Everyone was compelled to do her bidding, and she ruled over the entire land for centuries.
” Taking a deep breath, she shook her head ruefully.
“I can imagine all the wars and squabbles ceased, but…being a mere puppet to an evil queen, to have no will of your own, that is no way to live.”
“Indeed. And now there is a new threat.” I turned my attention back to my task. “Though I am hopeful that if we work together, we can easily set everything right once again. I would very much like to see this land settled and at peace.”
Before I left, I didn’t add.
Sophie’s smile was all kinds of enthusiastic. “I hope so too.”