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Sari makes a happy noise and wriggles in her saddle as we cross through the gate. Her joy falters only when the sounds and smells get closer, when she sees the desperation and the state of the people living in squalor while we do what we can to find them shelter and food.
9/17/24 Lol. Now let’s see how quickly she forgets all of this and returns to her own reality…
If her voice were any louder, the villagers would hear as well, and I’d rather not shame them in such a cruel way. They were attacked by witches, hundreds murdered in a single night, and they lost everything when they were forced to flee here. They're not so concerned about finding a bath as they are food and shelter.
9/17/24 So.. why don’t you say that to the ignorant girl before someone does hear her and is ashamed…
My thoughts filter back to the witch in the dungeon and the state that she’s been living in, and my gut clenches. She’s not a victim of anything, and she deserves every inch of derision and discomfort that’s thrown at her. These people do not.
9/17/24 So you think living in the dungeon, deep down under the castle in an oppressing place you originally thought would torture her is her living in luxury? Lordt. Man plain gone fool.
Her disgust is directed not only at the refugees but goblins as well, so whatever additional loyalties she has picked up from her father, they do not extend to the Goblin King. I’m also certain she’s never seen a mud hut in person, let alone smelled one.
9/17/24 And you’re still allowing her to talk about these people this way, saying nothing…
Many goblins journeyed to the Northern Lands to answer the Sol King’s call.
9/17/24 Bree, no one cares right now. I’m pretty sure we would rather know if Soren corrects her or if she continues on being insulting or if the refugees do indeed hear her and someone throws a rock at her empty head…
I glance back with the ruse of offering her a reassuring sort of grimace,
9/17/24 Just a grimace? No correction or setting her straight, educating her about the true state of affairs? Ridiculous.
It’s up to me to solve the food shortage and keep us fed after that.
9/17/24 It’s been up to you. Stop repeating the same thing. Do something about it! Did they not know what the witches did for the land before Kharl’s war? He’s over a thousand years old! He had to know,
“I doubt your father will want to send Volene here for villagers. He’s the king's physician, after all.”
9/17/24 She said sending him “one” as in they have multiple. Why would he name a specific one?
he knows how to wrap a bandage and clean a wound, but there’s nothing he can offer the people here.
9/17/24 And on top of that, he named one that doesn’t seem to have any real skill…
Worse than useless, he’s getting in the way, and again I consider killing him.
9/17/24 So why not just do that? You already took note of something weird going on with him and Sari, so why not provoke him into doing something so that it can be a justified killing. Are you the heir or not? Why put up with this? What happened to that temper you supposed to have?
“I will speak to Father about this and see what assistance we can offer. We haven't been hit so hard up in the north. Perhaps it’s the cooler weather down here that inhibits the crops so badly.
9/17/24 No boo, it’s the deal your father made with the witches that’s keeping you guys fed.
To the fires with the lot of these people, I hope they all dance their way to the pyres right now and leave me to my peace!
9/17/24 Wasn’t she just saying something different, something about feeling for these people and helping them?
Her eyes flash white in my direction before sliding toward Tyton. “She's telling the truth.”
9/17/2 Oh! So she’s a truth reader!
“How is my cousin going to convince you to marry him if you're down here in this disgusting dungeon? He said he was guarding you, but this is imprisonment. You have to consent to the union, or the Fates won't bind you together. If you're not married in true high-fae tradition, Soren can't take the throne.
9/17/24 Even Sari sees that this dungeon bs is not conducive to marrying her and taking the throne…
She leaves without another word, the limp I noticed in her gait more pronounced in her anger, so much so that Tyton sees it as well.
9/17/24 So much for proving she’s lying… Is that guard beating her? Someone needs to do something about that…
I’d prefer to leave them off forever, but I'm sure the consequences of this conversation will result in me being dragged out once more. I'd rather not be caught unaware and barefoot around the Unseelie Court, not when they're so desperate to find my weaknesses and destroy me with them.
9/17/24 And I’d prefer to be barefoot and not give a damn what they thought, since they already think poorly of me, and be comfortable.
His head snaps in my direction, his shock at my words so evident that he doesn't have a chance to keep the surprise from his face.
9/17/24 So how about NOT calling him the Savage Prince then…
You've been fed, given fresh water and a bath.
9/17/24 Yeah, a bath after a month and slop to eat that’s barely edible…
“Sit down and shut up, or I will make you, witch,” he says, drawing out each syllable carefully so there’s no doubting the seriousness of his threat.
9/17/24 So, you just gone gamble with Arlie’s life because you don’t want to do as a witch says… not even going to see if there’s any truth to it?
Yes
9/17/24 Damn right! Yes! Knock this pigheaded bastard out and walk out that cell like everyone knows you can do anyway…
I could bring it up with Tyton, could push it further, and the healer in me desperately wants to, but the high fae don't want my help.
9/17/24 Didn’t you just say it was better to talk to Tyton and now he’s here and you won’t say anything? Ridiculous.
A monster lies beneath my witch mate’s skin.
9/17/24 Can we not talk about to Soren’s dumbass? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I swear he’s like a little kid. Imagination wild.
Yet when he met Rooke he was saying he was going to find his Seer, demand a different fate and kill her if she didn’t…
If I were king, that would be a treasonous threat. As the heir, it rides the line, but I’d have to get the Unseelie Court to agree with me to do anything about it.
9/17/24 Are you even in any position to think about that right now? You need them to allow passage for your trade and maybe even to buy provisions from them as well.
Whoever the witches are that they had hostage, the guards didn't want anyone to know they were moving them, and certainly not alive.” It's speculation, but I'd wager he's correct.
9/17/24 Definitely not speculation considering your uncle just said it was treason or something to keep a witch alive and captive, right there in his Great Hall, sitting on the throne… and those are his soldiers.
To where and why, I cannot guess,
9/17/24 Didn’t you just say The Shard was in between you and where Prince Roan is in Fates Mark?
“Do we have to go by the fae door? I hate using them, and I would much prefer to simply ride to Yris. I packed enough supplies to camp for a few days along the way. Malia even packed my tent.”
9/17/24 Sounds like she doesn’t want to go back, trying to delay…
Didn’t you just say he was useless when he didn’t guard her during the fight in the village? Now you’re saying she should be safe with him?
9/17/24 That’s what I was about to say Old Self.
Is he literally standing in his saddle?
9/17/24, that’s what I want to know. He got skills! Aren’t they all tall too!
This is only two or three days old, and there's every chance they’re camping nearby or lying in wait for us.”
9/17/24 Okay so then, who killed them? And why would they still be there 2-3 days later?
Tauron never flinches from the killing blow, no matter the consequences or the recipient. If it must be done, he never hesitates or wavers.
9/17/24 Oh he does it even when it mustn’t be done as well. He’s just an all around a-hole.
So, now he has eyes in the back of his head then? How is he leading the group but able to see what Sari and her guard is doing?
9/17/24 Oh! You’re right Old SELF, I didn’t catch that.
Soren left in the morning and she said the labor started hours later, so she fell asleep and slept all day into the night?
9/17/24 Yeah and why is she letting her magic out all around her now in front of Tyton when she wouldn’t before?
and all I can hear is despair. It’s here to take the life of the baby.
9/17/24 Don’t we already know that? Isn’t that the whole plot of the current arc?
“Soren will kill you for doing this to her, Fates be damned,” Tyton spits at me,
9/17/24 So if it her fault this time, whose fault was it last time?
Can’t she cast an illusion and hide herself like Tyson did for her in the forest?
9/17/24 You’ve already broken out and put Tyton to sleep. What do you mean how badly? Put their asses to sleep too.
Nothing has taken that away from me, neither my time in the Seelie Court nor my mistreatment here at the hands of my mate and his family.
9/17/24 And that’s why you’ve done absolutely nothing since you’ve been there, knowing people are starving and that the land isn’t yielding any crops, barely any grass to feed the animals, etc… because you’re a maiden of Ravenswyrd Forest and haven’t forgotten that… 🙄🙄
I shake my head at her slowly, carefully, so I don’t startle any of them into doing something stupid. “I’m here for my fate.”
9/17/24 And how exactly do you propose that saying that, which explains nothing, is supposed to keep everyone calm?
“Get out. Get out and go back to the cells to rot where you deserve to be for what you’ve taken from me!”
9/17/24 This ignorant ass woman…
A truth to ease the way, one I would give only under such circumstances. “I’ve attended hundreds of births,
9/17/24 How in the hell is that truth supposed to ease the way when it’s not your skills that they question? Lordt!
I will use my magic, but only against the curse, I swear it on the Fates themselves.”
9/17/24 You should have led with that. Who cares right now that you helped the Queen deliver? They need something to trust you.
I pitch my tone low, calming and sure. “If you trust me to help, I will get him out alive.”
9/17/24 Again, a leading statement this is…
I’m doing this because you have a need for a midwife and I’m capable. That’s it.
9/17/24 Darling, she’s in need of more than just a midwife…
Once I have fresh air in the room, I scrub my hands in the adjoining bathing room until I’m sure there isn’t a speck of dirt left on them.
9/17/24 But your clothes are filthy…
Yet you wanted to take the long way, leisurely galavanting thru the countryside. Girl shut up. You are safe. You are alive.
9/17/24 No she ain’t trying to blame him for an ambush on her father’s side of the fae door. Imma let you slide cuz you’re scared though…
“The witch, the witch came for the princess, she killed the soldier, the witch is going to kill us all—“
9/17/24 Lordt. And this is how lies get out… your dumbass is still alive…
A sound so familiar, so longed for, so foreign now for however many centuries it’s been since we last heard it, and yet there’s no denying what it is. A newborn baby screams.
9/17/24 Um, no boo. That sound has been heard, it just wasn’t a high fae making it..
Wasn’t Firna a midwife and nanny to the previous Queen? Shouldn’t she know this?
9/17/24 Oh! Dark Ale, brewer’s yeast! I had to buy that to keep my milk! Years ago! I don’t know how I missed this. maybe I didn’t though…
She saw the baby here safely, and she broke the curse.
9/17/24 Damn right she did!
It’s not a question, but she doesn't move from the spot until Soren finally gives her the tiniest of nods, a jerking of his head that I'm sure cost him dearly. His pride must be in ruins.
9/17/24 Damn right it is! 🤣🤣🤣
