Page 11 of The Poison of the Earth
I’M WALKING THE HALLSnear blind with rage. I’m unsure why. Alder murdered his older brothers, I knew that. Or as much as anyone can. Alder has ordered the murder of other babes, I knew that too. But the murder of his half-brothers? Still in their cradles?
It’s disgusting.
It’s what any King, or even a Lord, might do to keep his spot, however. I know our world enough to know that such things happen. And I’m not a bleeding-heart. While I’ve never killed or ordered the death of a child, I’ve killed many fully grown Fae. Ordered the death of more.
No, what’s really bothering me is Allie’s pain. She hurts from this action, so I’m angry. Not just angry.Raging. I’ve wanted Alder dead for awhile. First, personally as a leader of his father’s army, then, professionally after he took the throne as I was starting Misery’s Militia. But now? Now it’s something else.
I push open the swinging doors to the kitchen. Cook looks up and smiles at me, her round form and grey hair reminding me of a Grandmother I was robbed of. Cook’s a sweetheart, too.
“Aye, my lord, what can I do for you?” She asks as she kneads bread on the long wooden table in front of the stone oven.
“Several things, if possible.” I manage to flash her a smile.
“Lay them on me, Lo.”
“Make Tazi’s favorite cookies?”
“‘Course. Fool thing shouldn’t be changing out in the cold.”
I smile. “Get a few... nicer dresses made for Allie?”
She nods, “Aye. Poor lass. I’m trying to fatten her up a bit, those scrawny limbs. She eats like Tazi.”
I ponder that.Is Allie a small shifter? That would explain a lot.
“Would you be able to find someone who could shadow her, if I allowed her out to work?”
Cook snorts. “Making your prisoners work nowadays for their keep, eh?” My face must show my disgust at such an idea for she waves a floury hand. “Teasing, Lo. If she’s amenable to kitchen work, I can keep an eye on her.”
I nod and she comes around, wiping her hands on her apron before placing them on my back and pushing me towards a stool. I sit, fighting down a grin, and she putters about. She produces a bottle of liquor and small glasses, pouring us each one, before turning to bring over a plate of brownies.
“Toss ‘em back, child,” she says just before she shoots the liquor.
WHEN I FINALLY ESCAPEthe kitchen an hour later, Cook has caught me up on all the minor drama of the keep and most of the village. I rub a hand down my face.
I blink hard, feeling a bit buzzed. I forget how much of a punch Cook’s homebrew packs.No more visiting her in the middle of the day.
But she’s quite happy to have Allie in the kitchen, which is a weight off my mind. I head towards the staff office, hoping to find my steward. I need a room prepared for the Ordained that should be arriving sometime soon.
The door is shut and I knock.
“Enter,” Nell, my steward, calls in her perpetually-annoyed voice.
I open the door and step in. Three of our staff are scattered around the room, probably awaiting today’s marching orders. Nell’s muddy-green hair is tucked behind her ears, her gill slits visible on her neck.
“What is it?” She asks, her eyes flicking back to the journal in front of her.
I chuckle and look to the staff. “Why don’t you finish up with Lu, Amaya and Rei?” I ask as I toss myself in the comfy chair opposite Nell’s desk.
She glares at me but starts issuing orders.
Nell and her partner were displaced from Lake Woe after the Attack of Cowards. Kai and I didn’t find them for years, but we both remembered them, for they worked at the Castle. It’s taken decades, but we’ve found most, if not all, of the refuges of that wretched month of terror and death that wiped out the Gaeba line.
I clean my nails with a dagger as Nell finishes up. When the door shuts, she immediately turns to me.
“Well? What is it? I have forty-three things to do. And you’re not currently on that list, Lonan.”
I struggle not to shake my head at her. “The Ordained should be here soon. Not sure when exactly, they were rather cagey on travel time.”
