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“I’ll speak to her,” I say, picking my words carefully, “and she’ll speak with you about the possibilities within the day.”
Petra would agree. And Petra would retract those mentioned possibilities as soon as Ivy is safe from Lothar’s retribution.
My future queen trusts me, and I trust her as well.
Nasha clasps her hands together, looking abruptly, bizarrely girlish in her apparent delight. Her voice only darkens for a second. “I’ll expect you to hold to that. Oh, to really talk with her—to prepare her reign…”
She wanders back toward the clearing without another word to me, lost in her visions of grandeur.
As I watch her go, my pulse gradually smoothing out from its panicked rhythm, a flare of insight lights in my mind.
Ivy said we needed to show Petra to the world. To shine a light on her and let the people see who she really is.
How many of Silana’s citizens have longed for the royal family’s recognition of their struggles and contributions? How many of them have turned to the Order of the Wild because the scourge sorcerers pretended to care where King Konram didn’t?
How happy would they be if they realized their queen needs them… and isn’t afraid to tell them so. To extend her trust to them too.
Few things can engender loyalty more than having it freely offered back. Perhaps we can sway them back to our side so simply.
With a genuine smile touching my lips, I hurry over to the clearing myself. I still have more work to do, and I need to reach out to Petra to make more than one arrangement.
Ardone has shone on me and lit up the truth. There are so many ways other than those my mother wished that I can spread joy and love through this world.
Thirty-Six
Ivy
The cart thumps along the uneven country road, jostling me where I’m leaning against one of the walls. The rectangular space feels oddly empty with nothing in it except the four of us passengers while Casimir steers the horses.
But the afternoon air breezes over me with the fresh, tart scents of new growth, speaking of the spring that has almost reached us. It settles my nerves, though just a little.
I’m far too aware of the glass vials tucked into the pouch on my belt. The vials I asked Petra to obtain if she could, that she handed me shortly before we set out.
I have to talk to my men about them and everything else they need to be prepared for. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to yet.
There’s plenty of time still. Hours left in the day.
But with each passing minute, my stomach clenches a bit tighter.
Stavros sits all the way at the back of the cart, craning his neck one way and the other to scan our surroundings for potential threats. I suspect the former general would be happier on horseback, able to control his own movements, but he hasn’t complained.
We want to look as innocuous as possible. Just a simple band of travelers bearing cargo. The magic Tinom impressed into the cart before we left should divert anyone who isn’t specifically looking for us.
Of course, there are quite a few people out there who are specifically looking for us. Or rather, for me.
Just in the past two days as Petra’s growing assembly of allies scrambled to prepare everything we need for the kingship trials, two small delegations sent by nearby counts arrived at the baron’s residence supposedly to “check in” and see how the baron and his people are faring. From what I heard, they were snooping as much as they could get away with, watching for anything suspicious.
It's annoying that the baron might have been a little right to remove me from the premises, but mostly I’m glad that no one picked up on Petra’s presence there.
There’s been more activity on the lands around our patch of forest as well, packs of riders trotting by at random intervals. We haven’t ventured out of the forest to greet them, so I have no idea what they’d have said their purpose was, but whenever one of my men mentioned noticing the passersby, my skin crawled.
Pretty much all of Silana hates the riven—far more than they hate the scourge sorcerers they only have the vaguest of ideas about. Plenty of civilians would have been unnerved by the accusations we made against Lothar but uncertain of what to believe and what to do about it. Now he’s given them a target for their apprehension that has nothing to do with his Order.
And an opportunity to take action while earning the tyrant’s favor at the same time.
If all goes well, we can end the chaos he’s created tomorrow.
I close my eyes for a few minutes, simply absorbing the spring scents and the rhythmic creak of the wheels. My nerves are too jumpy for me to fully relax.
