Page 71 of Down from the Tower

I snort. Her guilty conscience will be her undoing if she isn’t careful. “No, Princess. His soul is wandering now. When we meet again he will likely be mad and hostile, a soul left to suffer. It’s my fault for not reaping him sooner-”

“You couldn’t,” she interrupts, but I just shake my head.

“I should’ve pushed harder to try. I was more concerned in protecting you, but letting another tortured soul loose in Mystica doesn’t help anyone. That’s someone else the Queen could try to manipulate and control if given the chance.”

Rapunzel nods seriously, dropping her gaze to her mead once more. Every time I tell her a story, the reality of Mystica sets in a little bit more. This isn’t a carefree world we live in, and Mystica is a long way from Happily Ever After. We fell off the train somewhere around Once Upon a Time, and we’ve been derailed ever since.

Rapunzel tosses back the last of her drink, and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand again. I would pay a good bit of money to see the King and Queen’s reaction in Tressa to their daughter’s poor manners. I think she’s going out of her way to toss aside the lessons they tried to drill into her brain, and it’s nice to see her choosing a path for herself.

I grasp the mug, and she lets go with ease. I’ll miss the comfort of the tavern when we leave. “Refill, Princess?”

She nods, leaning back on her stool. I stand and head towards Thomas, my scythe a heavy weight along my back as I move. I never used to mind the reassuring weight before, but now the blade gets in the way of my activities with Rapunzel from time to time. If it wouldn’t be such a risk to leave it hiding with my shadows when it isn’t in use, I’d store it there. But it could take seconds too long to call the blade back to me, and precious lives could be lost.

I can’t risk that.

As Thomas fills our mugs again, Ray appears beside me. He leans against the bar, not speaking directly to me, and that’s a bad sign.

“There's some travelers coming through from the north,” he says. “They claim to have news from the guards who rode on Arthur's ship back to Camelot.”

“How?” I quirk a brow, keeping my eyes straight ahead. Camelot is days away with the Knights surrounding the Kingdom always on guard. It’s difficult getting in or out when Pendragon is constantly paranoid of someone usurping his throne. At least when he’s in Tressa that insecurity seems to disappear for a time. He’s too busy being a leech to the golden family to stress about his eternal reign over Camelot.

“Rumors carried in the wind,” he replies, glancing towards me. “There’s unrest in Camelot. Arthur was gone for too many days and nights, and they say he returned home with less hair and one missing nephew. His rage is centered on Tressa, and the royals of the land are taking notice.”

My eyes narrow. “The Mad Queen?”

“Supposedly she’s eyeing Tressa, but that’s little more than rumors. She would have to sail on the Endless Sea for almost two weeks to avoid the jagged rocks close to the shore of Mystica, and a sneak attack on the water is impossible. The kingdom would see it coming. To go by land, she’d have to cut through Thornton Palace, and Lucius would let us know immediately if the Queen tried to breach his lands. Camelot might let her pass without issue, but she would raise hell here in Sherwood until she reached the wall.”

And even if she did reach it, there’s no guarantee a breach would occur. The Golden Wall has lasted through my entire life and well into my death. Rapunzel’s never known a time the wall wasn’t there. It’s powerful, and the Queen would need to kill many to get inside.

I don’t know if she would waste the manpower traveling from the far north to one of the southernmost kingdoms in Mystica. It would be easier on her troops to wait until Camelot loses its cool and tries to seize Tressa. That would kill fighters on both sides and she wouldn’t need to do any dirty work.

My jaw flexes. Knowing the Queen’s underhanded attacks, that will be the route she chooses. Self preservation is one of her top priorities.

“Just rumors, of course,” Ray goes on, looking around the tavern again. “Merchants were spreading the word to people along the paths in Sherwood just north. I hid in the shadows and eavesdropped, but they shared nothing more of value.”

Thomas slides the mugs back in front of me, and I grip both handles tightly. “So why tell me?”

“Because there’s unrest in the forest. You see it every time we hunt. The Flowerborne keep surging from the Red Woods. Either something is happening in the garden and the Mad Queen is trying to force Legs to follow another harebrained idea, or the poisoned earth is starting to fight back. More Flowerborne could mean more casualties along the paths in the forest.”

I think back to the gingerbread house and the terrifying moments after I arrived, thinking the mimicking plants already skinned and roasted the princess. Those beasts were corrupted by the darkness in the soil they grew from, and consuming mortal flesh is one of the most obvious signs of madness.

We’re supposed to eat the plants, not the other way around. It’s a twisted parallel, one that I hate to consider. Those Flowerborne have blood on the brain, and until you either behead or crisp them, it’s hard to be rid of them.

Glancing back to Rapunzel, I think of her golden hands. There wasn’t time to talk back in the gingerbread house, but she’s trying to learn and channel her powers with Genny now. She might be able to torch the Flowerborne the next time we cross paths,

I sigh. The problems in Mystica never end. “Who started the rumors?”

“Some guard on the ship. He called his wife from Vail. Says the princess set fire to the kingdom and killed Arthur’s nephew.”

Well, it isn’t entirely incorrect. “Arthur is going to try and make Tressa look bad. Blaming the princess throws everything people know about Tressa into question. At least no one knows what she looks like I suppose.”

Raymundo stares back towards our table. “The rumors will do their job, brother. She looks like gold and has that sweet, innocent thing going. Look at all that hair. People will put things together the more the rumors spread.”

That’s what I’m afraid of. It’s why we’ve overstayed our welcome in the tavern.

“There’s no rumor yet of Midas retaliating,” he continues, pushing from the bar. “But ma does want to speak with you. Let me take the princess her next drink.”

My brows pitch high. I like Dahlia, and in a lot of ways she’s like a second mother to me. But we rarely chat in private since most of my matters are nearly identical to the issues Ray faces. “Me?”

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