I shake my head. “They know my name, but trust is hard won amongst their ranks. I'm still finding my way there. Your grasp of the common tongue is quite good if you caught that with his brusque tone.”
The goblin prince steps back toward me, putting down the plants he is holding as he smirks at me, ignoring Reed’s intense surveillance of us both. “I’m fluent in the common tongue, but why should I make their lives easier by speaking it to them when it’s never occurred to any Celestial King of the Southern Lands to learn our language?”
Biting back my own smirk at his defiance of the high fae, I nod and turn back to Reed. “There's nothing wrong. He was just explaining a conflict at the borders, and I was concerned for the lives lost there.”
Every word is the truth, just turned slightly so I reveal nothing of the gift that’s to come. I have one cycle of the moon to figure out how to convince Prince Soren and his family that the Goblin King means them no harm, even as a terrified high-fae female is transported back here.
How hard could that possibly be?
Gage bows to me again, clasping a hand over his heart in a great show of respect, and I do the same back. It’s a great honor to me to know I’ve been able to form a relationship with the goblin royal family, based only on our mutual respect for the kingdom and the ways of old.
“Well met, Rooke. I look forward to seeing you again, and I will send your gracious thanks and well wishes to my father.”
I nod and step to the doorway to watch him go. He walks back to the front of the castle unescorted but with the eyes of every high-fae soldier on him. They watch him with nothing short of distrust, and I shake my head at their stupidity, the way they all shun anyone who isn’t a mirror of their Unseelie high-fae image because they’re obsessed with themselves. I might be harsh in my assessment of these people, but I think after my treatment here, I’m allowed some sharp edges, if only in the privacy of my own mind.
Reed leaves me to my silent seething until we see Prince Soren climb back on his horse and ride out to see Gage back to the outer wall of Yregar and the army sent on their way. The hard lines of his shoulders and his form in the saddle are impossible for me to ignore, and I silently curse to myself for the Fates’ whims I’m pulled into.
“That conversation was too long to just be about the fight at the border. Prince Snowsong asked me to stay with you and be sure that you’re no harm to the princess. I can't offer him that reassurance if you don't tell me what you discussed with the goblin soldier.”
I turn back to him and smile. It's guarded and not the genuine one I gave Gage, but it's more than I offer most of the high fae.
“He told me about his mother and her healing practices. He has a lot of knowledge about these plants and wanted to be sure that the entire crop flourishes here. The Goblin King wanted to be sure that the gift arrived safely and unharmed. He wouldn’t want to have his gift twisted into an insult against his people.”
Reed watches me carefully, his own eyes guarded, but I continue without waiting for a reply, “The soldier said he’d come and check on me when he brings the next gift, and I'm sure the Goblin King is still concerned for my safety. He certainly was when I met him, and I told Prince Soren then that he offered me sanctuary. I declined it, but the soldier offered it again just now.”
I look around at the stone walls of the healer’s quarters and smile as I shake my head. “He seems to think that Prince Soren is insulting me by housing me here, and it took some time to convince him that I'm more than comfortable and happy.” I raise an eyebrow and shoot Reed a sardonic look. “I was kind enough to leave out the details of my first few weeks in the castle and how much of a step up this truly is to the dungeon and the cell down there. I offer Prince Soren far more kindnesses than he extends to me, and yet you all still treat me so poorly.”
Face slackening for a moment, it takes Reed a second to recover before he picks up some of the potted plants and follows me outside to the garden. Despite the bleak conversation and his ignorant questions, joy expands in my chest. I'm eager to get to work and see this area thrive, thrilled to have a small space to care for once more. It’s been a long time since I’ve been responsible for cultivating life in this way, and my heart could burst as I move the lush pots around the area.
The Goblin King is a very astute gift-giver.
“Why was he suspicious of your treatment here? You're not in chains, you're dressed in clean clothing, well fed, given your own rooms to work in…what else could Prince Soren do for you?”
None of that is a kindness; surely he must know that.
Digging my hands into the now-rich soil, I begin my work. “It was pretty obvious to the soldier that none of you use my name. You must have heard me offer it to him, didn't you? Well, I offered you all the same, and it has yet to cross your lips, or the lips of any other male here. Only the princess has chosen to use it. Perhaps if you’re trying to hide your contempt for me to the goblin soldiers and their king, you should start there.”
He doesn't answer me, but I'm not expecting him to, the amicable silence we cultivated now gone and a fraught tension left in its wake.
* * *
After I’ve spent two full days planning out the gardens and caring for the plants to be sure they take root there, Firna sends one of the maids to the healer’s quarters to summon me at Princess Airlie’s request. I'm expecting her to require a task regarding her son or perhaps Roan’s healing progress, and so I pack a small leather satchel of useful tinctures and herbs just in case.
Reed watches me, brow furrowed, and I slowly talk through each of the items that I place into the satchel as though he were an apprentice learning the fine and delicate art of medicinal properties and not a soldier expecting me to carry their death right to their door.
“This one is vyrane and can help should the princess be feeling any pains. It's not safe for the baby, of course, not many of these are, but it's safe for her to ingest even while she's feeding him.”
I hold up another. “This is Seelie Sun, and I couldn't give this to her while she's feeding the baby. However, if Roan is in pain from lasting side effects of his wounds or perhaps from pushing himself in the sparring ring too early, then it's a suitable remedy for him.”
Reed doesn't make comments, but his eyes are sharp on each of the vials as I pack them, taking note of what I'm saying just as well as the young trainee healers did back in the Seelie Court. It took me a long time to take on apprentices, and I did so only once the war had ended. Only once I knew I would return home for my fate did I do it in earnest, but I know the look of concentration of a student, and Reed wears it well.
If he gets stuck on this guard duty for the long term, it’ll be useful to me for him to know what lies within the vials on my shelves, especially if the witches finally come to call.
With the leather satchel filled with my remedies, we make haste to the princess’s rooms, through the winding halls lined with soldiers, passing maids as they go about their daily chores. I know now that this entire wing of Yregar is known to the staff as the Snowsong lodgings, and it bustles with life.
As I approach the first set of doors, the soldiers open them without a word, clearly expecting my arrival. The reception room is unchanged, but Reed leads me through to a small dining area. I find signs of busy family life everywhere. A blanket thrown over a chair here and a teeny tiny grow suit and knitted bonnet splayed over the table. There's a woven rug and small knitted toys laid out on the floor where the princess might lie with her son in the morning, doing his exercises and strengthening his muscles at my advice.
Firna steps in after us, a tray in hand laden with fresh food and a steaming pot of tea. There’s a calm about her that I'm sure has everything to do with the stable food supply the wagons brought in.
