Page 57 of Degradation

“Yes, a caster killed the royal family and took over the kingdom.”

“The Foul Queen did that and more.”

Edmund fisted his hands. Eadric remained solemn and silent as we listened to Brandle continue.

“Before her arrival, Turre was a peaceful kingdom boasting relative prosperity. Relative because there are always those who go hungry in the shadows. The King and Queen did as they thought any caring rulers should do and handed out provisions to those in need.

“Some who received their help were grateful. The provisions fed their children and kept them warm through the lean winters. A small number saw it as a vulgar display of the kingdom’s disproportionate wealth. A seed of resentment sprouted and grew, gaining the attention of a caster who believed as they did—that the royal family had everything she wanted. Wealth. Recognition. Power.

“It wasn’t long after the news of another royal birth spread throughout the land that rumors reached the King and Queen. Rumors of children disappearing from their beds in the middle of the night. Patrols were doubled. Frightened parents acquired charms to prevent entry into their homes and amulets like the ones we wear to prevent spells that might lure the children from their homes.

“And the division grew between those who had the means to protect their children and those who did not. However, within a fortnight, even protected children began to disappear. The King and Queen hired every caster in the kingdom and sent them out in pairs with the patrols to find the person responsible.

“But the caster was smart. She hid in plain sight as one of the casters helping the kingdom. It was her patrol that spotted the carrion birds circling near the rocky foothills to the south. The uninhabitable fields only fit for sheep during the rainy season were seldom visited by man.”

“South?” I asked, knowing it had been the direction from which we’d arrived.

Brandle paused and nodded.

“Very near where Andrew and Sarah settled.

“After we’d grown, Henry did not spare us the details of what they found there. He needed us to understand the true wickedness of the Foul Queen. Over one hundred children under the age of four, Kellen, all missing their hearts.”

My chest tightened with the emotions I struggled to keep at bay.

“How could anyone be so cruel?” I said, my voice tight.

“Because she doesn’t love,” Eadric said simply. “Anything.”

“What happened next?” I asked.

“She helped cast a spell to capture the caster responsible for the deaths of those children,” Brandle said. “Then she and the patrol waited nearby. At dusk, a bright light signaled a caster’s capture. They arrested the woman and brought her before the King and Queen with many other casters in attendance.

“The woman screamed her hate at the King and Queen and blamed her actions on the growing rift in the kingdom. She said that only when the current ruling family toppled from the throne would the kingdom once again find peace.

“Due to her confession, she was publicly executed. The parents who’d lost their children found the execution just. However, they still blamed the crown for what had occurred.

“Unaware of the ruse, the crown rewarded the caster truly responsible and her partner for capturing the false caster.”

“The caster responsible accepted her payment of two hundred gold coins and left the castle to give a coin to each of the parents of the taken children. She acted sympathetic but subtly fanned the unrest by stating that the two gold coins awarded to her for each life lost should have been given to the parents instead of her.

“People started leaving Adele for the more remote towns in the kingdom, believing it would be safer. In the chaos, no one noticed the dwindling number of casters. Or if they did, they believed they were leaving as well. It wasn’t until Henry sought out his mentor, Pogwid, who had noted a caster of considerable ability was missing, that he began to suspect our kingdom was still in dire trouble.

“The royal family was well-protected by charms made by several casters. Strong charms that would deflect any spell. But it hadn’t been a spell that had killed those children. It had been a caster’s knife. And when dealing with a blood caster, nothing is certain. So, he pleaded with the King and Queen to go into seclusion.

“They refused to leave their people, believing the kingdom would fall without their presence. However, they agreed to send their children away. They were saying their farewells in the privacy of their chambers when guards burst in.

“The King and Queen didn’t react at first, thinking they were there to protect them. Even when the caster they’d rewarded walked in, they still believed they were safe.

“But when the caster said, ‘Bring them to the courtyard so their people can see them tried for their crimes,’ they understood they’d gravely misplaced their trust.”

CHAPTERELEVEN

Brandle’s painfilled the room and became my own as he continued.

“By the time we arrived, a crowd had already gathered in the courtyard—proof that it had been planned in advance. Even a platform waited, ready for the King and Queen to be marched onto it like common criminals.

“The caster listed off the royal family's supposed crimes, stating they had failed their people…that the deaths of those one hundred children were due to the crown's negligence…that the wealth in the land hadn’t been evenly distributed. She said in order for the kingdom to prosper, the King and Queen needed to die. However, she didn’t believe in harming children.”

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