Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 186911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
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.”