Page 58 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

I had no desire to hear anything about the royal nursery from Alacine and promptly steered her back to the topic at hand.

“What would happen if you were to work outside of yourcalling?Like what do you think about working in the kitchen?”

Concern shadowed her lime-green eyes.

“Is my lady not happy with the service I provide?”

“Alacine, please don’t worry. This has nothing to do with your work. I’m thrilled you’re looking after me, really, and I’m very grateful to have you. I’m just curious about life in Sky Kingdom. I’m new here and still have so much to learn. Would working in a kitchen, for example, make asnakanamiserable?”

Her frown eased.

“Probably. We don’t generally enjoy the heat of the cooking fire. And there are a lot of them in the palace kitchen. For me, one of the best parts about working here is that I don’t have to cook, not even for myself. I’m fed from the royal kitchen.”

She propped her hands onto the mattress, stretching to reach further under the bed with her tail.

“So,snakanas’ purpose in life, orcalling,as you put it, is service?”

“Yes. But don’t forget, my lady, service has a very broad meaning. Quite a few of my ancestors were servants of the gods—priests and priestesses. My great-aunt’s magic was strong enough for her to become a hag. She was one of the most esteemed healers in the kingdom.”

“Does everyone have a calling in Sky Kingdom?”

“Pretty much.”

“How about the highborn, then? What’s their calling? Other than partying and being served?”

She giggled softly.

“Our king loves to be entertained,” she agreed. “There are plenty of highborn who work as servants, too, or become hags if their magic is strong enough. But if they’re born into noble families as lords and royalty, their only purpose is to govern.”

She sounded almost sorry for the people she served. And maybe they should envy her. I’d never seen such serene contentment on their faces as the one that graced hers.

“And in times of war,” she added, “the highborn fight and die.”

“What do you mean? Do only the highborn go to war?” That was new to me.

She nodded.

“They start wars. They fight in them. They win or lose. But either way, many of them die. The rest of us are kept out of that, thank gods.” She shuddered.

“Interesting.” Where exactly did I fit in this bizarrely ordained life of Sky Kingdom? “What would the purpose of someone like me be, you think?”

She gave me a confused look. “Oh, but it’s to entertain, of course, my lady. You’re a human, the only one here. A rarity. You belong in the palace, with the king.”

“And what if I lacked the ability to entertain? Or if the king didn’t care for my kind of entertainment?”

“Well…um.” She averted her eyes, going unnaturally rigid. Even her tail stopped moving for a moment.

“What is it, Alacine? Please tell me.”

“If the king didn’t want you by his side, he would…”

“Gift me to someone else?” I finished for her.

“No.”

“No? But why would he keep me even if he didn’t want me?”

“No one can have what King Tiane doesn’t have. As long as you are the only human in the kingdom, you belong to him, and only him.”

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