Page 36 of MidKnight
“Good. Well, then, my I call you Mr. Blue?”
The bluebird shook his head.
“Unfortunately, since you can’t talk, you don’t get a choice.”
The bluebird scolded me in chirps.
“Sorry, what was that? Can’t hear it, you’re enchanted.” I made a face at the bird.
“Leave the poor man alone. You’d hate it if you were stuck as an animal.”
I yawned. “That’s true. Guess I’m chippy, too.”
I set my finger through the bars of the cage. “Truce, Blue?”
The bird nipped my finger lightly but then rubbed his head against it. The feathers were soft and light and soothing.
“Do you know Queen Isla?” I asked softly.
Blue wobbled his head side to side. I wasn’t sure if that meant he knew of her, or if he sort of knew her. And I didn’t have a chance to ask. Because the door opened a moment later, and my first official royal negotiation began.
* * *
Four hours later I was considering gouging my eyes out with my teaspoon.
Isla had argued all morning that the hills near our river were originally entirely Rasle’s land and should be returned.
“They were lost during the third Fire War,” Connor sighed, repeating himself for the third time. “They’ve been part of Evaness for nearly a century.”
“That agreement was supposed to be temporary,” Isla snapped, setting her teacup down with a jolt and ignoring the way her voice echoed.
“Well, tell that to your ancestors. They failed to rectify it.”
“My people ended up on the dry side of the mountain with no rain and no water. They can’t grow, they can’t travel easily. They can’t trade what they do grow without river access. They struggle to support themselves.”
Isla’s people were mostly part mer-person or part-troll descendants. Human blood really diluted either of their race’s magics. It made Rasle one the least magical of the seven kingdoms. Farming and goat herding were their mainstays.
Connor spoke for me. “Again, the current residents on our portion of those hills are Evaness citizens. While we’re sorry for your plight—”
“Our plight is your plight! Don’t they raid your villages each winter? Don’t they bring their starving children here to beg?”
Connor responded with an annoying level of calm, which only set Isla and her diplomatic staff off further. The echoes started as their voices grew shrill.
I pulled Blue’s cage closer and set my finger through the bars. He rubbed his head against the pad of my finger. He looked just as miserable listening to this argument on repeat as I felt.
I swallowed a sigh. I understood what Isla wanted. When people couldn’t support themselves, they turned to lawlessness. It wasn’t good for Rasle or Evaness.
But to just hand over entire towns was foolish. It wouldn’t make Evaness safe in the long run. It would make me look weak. Make our country look vulnerable to invasion.
“What your people need is more access to water,” Connor said. “I’ve offered before and I’ll offer again, we can help magically create a lake in that area to collect rainwater.”
“A lake doesn’t do me any good,” Isla huffed. “Let’s say you help with water, and my people aren’t starving. What if they actually have excess? It takes two weeks to go through those hills and get to my other townships. We need more of that land so we can reach the Gorgonite River. We need to be able totrade.”
I chewed on my tongue, thinking. Given enough time, Declan might be able to reduce enough dirt in the area to help create a new tributary. But that would pull him away from helping Evaness. From ensuring our own people were fed. A lake was quicker. Less of an investment.
“What if we agreed to a lake for now, with the possibility of gradually building a tributary to link to the river?” I threw out as I opened Blue’s cage and let him out on my finger. I petted his soft little chest.
Isla and Connor turned toward me. I was pretty sure Connor wanted to boil me alive based on the blank stare and carefully calm look he was giving me.
