Page 19 of Beast and Remedy
“You sure?”
“Yes. With winter coming, I need to get these supplies restored. Especially with us leaving for Palaena soon.”
“Guess you’ll have to socialize with Queen Tove and King Jerrick if you want more honey,” Marian quips.
I groan.
“You’ll be fine, Vi.” Marian nudges me playfully. “You’re better than you think at being a princess, and Queen Tove and King Jerrick are nice.”
“There is that,” I say, grateful we are in good standing with our neighboring kingdoms.
Mostof them.
A comfortable silence cocoons us as we stride through the field, my heart daring to voice a hope I’ve kept hidden ever since hearing of Queen Tove’s news.
“Do you think we’ll see any other kingdoms in Palaena?” I clarify. “To celebrate a new heir?”
Marian’s eyes flick from the ground toward me. “Well, Stefan and his father will be in Unterkirch doing business, so that rules out two kingdoms.”
“Theotherone?” I ask, pulling Marian to a stop.
My sister releases a long exhale, the wind blowing her locks as she looks to the castle and then to me. Light freckles kiss her nose and cheeks, her dewy skin flushed and vibrant with the autumn season surrounding us.
“I know you miss him, Vi,” Marian says, knowing only about my friendship with the King of Torgem.
One cultivated when I was young, falling apart through my adolescence, then reigniting and amplifying into something more in my adulthood.
“I miss all of them,” I admit, trying to mask my longing.
To see his face, hear his voice, even receive a letter. Deities, how my soul aches.
She clasps my shoulder. “We all lost our best friends that day.”
“Butwedon’t think he—”
“It doesn’t matter what we think.Papastill does. And we are lucky he didn’t avenge Mama’s death and kill our friends. We are lucky Jean and Pierre reminded him of the balance the Makers have strived for in our world, our home.”
I avert my gaze, hating the reminder she must give me whenever we reminisce about our childhood. Our friends. My other half.
She shakes me. “We are lucky Papa kept his beliefs of how Mama died between our families instead of spreading the word to other kingdoms. That would haveruinedTorgem. We are lucky he only cut off trade and banished them from our lands and nothing worse.”
I press my lips together, dipping my chin and letting my hair conceal my pain. “I know. I’m sorry for even mentioning it. I—”
“Miss them,” she finishes.
“You get it.”
She offers me a soft smile. “I do. And I also getifwe might see another kingdom in Palaena, we need to remain strong for Papa so he can keep his wits about him.”
“Keep the peace,” I grumble.
“Keep the peace. Now, come on, let’s not dwell on the past and fix up your study as best we can before we have to leave.”
I let her guide me home, the past something I dwell on often and don’t believe I will ever move on from.
Spring, The Makers Year 1009
To Beau,
