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“Why doesn’t he care about what?” I asked lightly, stalling for time.
“About the people. They are hungry, are they not? We aren’t hungry, so why are they?”
It was an excellent question. I had wondered the same. Until about a year or so, Camelot was a thriving, prosperous city where no one starved. Then, in the span of a few months, things began to change.
It wasn’t that there was not enough work or not enough coin. It was that there was not enoughfood. Not enough grain. Not enough meat.
“I honestly don’t know why things have gotten so bad,” I replied quietly.
“And Arthur?” Kaye demanded.
Before I could answer, I stumbled in the dark, my foot catching on the root of a tree, and nearly went down. My head was splitting now.
Kaye caught my arm and held fast. I let him keep hold of it and we walked at a slightly slower pace.
He didn’t bother asking what was wrong with me. He already knew the answer.
“Why did he do that today?” Kaye asked, his voice soft. With a shock, I remembered Kaye had seen more than merely a boar butchered. “Today, to that boy...”
I wracked my brain for an answer that would be satisfying and somewhat close to the truth.
“I suppose he believed he was enforcing the law,” I said bleakly.
Kaye was quiet for a moment. “He enjoyed doing it. And he hates anyone with fae blood. But he doesn’t hate you, Morgan,” he added.
I felt him steal a glance at me in the dark.
“And besides, you’re hardly fae,” he said hurriedly.
I grimaced. I didn’t know what I was. Most of the time it didn’t seem possible that my mother claimed to be a full-blooded fae.
After all, the fae had been gone from Eskira for generations. For more than a hundred years.
I wished I could remember more of her. More about who and what she was and what she had taught me.
I touched a hand to my hair, then readjusted my hood. Even in the dark, my gray hair gave away who I was too easily.
And just who was that?
A Pendragon princess. The king’s elder sister.
A usurped queen, a voice in my head whispered. I pushed it away. I was never a ruler. Nor did I deserve to be one any more than Arthur.
I was strange in appearance, but in the way that a birthmark might also cause me to stand out. Gray was not a fae color. It was not nearly beautiful enough to have anything to do with those enchanted beings of old.
We’d reached the passageway leading back into the castle. Within a few minutes we’d reached the upstairs hall, on the way to my room. Kaye had still not released my arm. Evidently he believed I needed an escort all the way.
As it turned out, he wasn’t wrong.
Florian Emrys stood leaning against the wall just outside the door to my room.
Instantly my already-sick stomach sank even lower. I put a hand to my head. I couldn’t deal with him. Not tonight.
I prayed my face wouldn’t reveal anything. Wouldn’t show how much pain I was in. I thought back to what the dark-haired man accused me of being back in the forest.Weak.
I certainly didn’t feel strong right now.
“What’s he doing here?” I heard Kaye mutter.
