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But Nas Laed isn’t like that.
Here there is an abundance of everything. Especially food.
Cleo’s exaggerating. She must be.
“You’re wrong, Cleo. You must be. I would have known if there was such a high stipulation put on the south. You must be confused.”
“I’m not.” She shakes her head. “You want to know how I know what I’m telling you is the gods’ truth? Because I myself lost two brothers to starvation,” she explains with a stricken expression plastered to her face. “They were just wee little babes, still at my mother’s bosom when they passed. Unfortunately, my mother was incapable of producing enough strong milk to feed them. A hard thing to do when you’re starving yourself. When they perished, we couldn’t even mourn them like they deserved since our time was best spent working the fields. There was food all around us, but we couldn’t touch any of it, not even to save them. If we did, my whole family would have been killed for treason. My baby brothers died to feed strangers in some faraway glacier mountains and the greed of two kings who didn’t give a fuck about their people. So don’t tell me that I’m confused. I know exactly what I’m talking about.”
I hear the grief in her voice. The hatred of the injustice of it all.
She’s not lying to me.
Which only ends up confusing me more.
It’s true that the north depends on those shipments to survive, but I would never condone such large amounts to be exported to us if I knew that the south was suffering for it. My kingdom needs food to thrive but not at the cost of all these southern lives, and not at the cost of children dying in their mothers’ arms. The food sent to us is more than enough to be shared between both kingdoms equally.
But right now, it seems that even the small amount of food that the south does keep for itself is also not being distributed equally either. And the north can’t be at fault for that.
Can it?
“I believe what you’re telling me is true, but I still can’t comprehend why I see this disparity here. Why is Nas Laed not suffering the same as the rest of the kingdom?” I ask, trying desperately to understand what the hell is going on here.
“That’s because King Yusuf was rewarded by your father after he pleased him with a gift,” Cleo explains, spitting Teo’s father’s name out like it’s a curse.
“What kind of gift?”
“The gift of two traitorous heads—the king and queen of the east. The story goes that King Yusuf went to the north after his visit to the east and dropped their royal heads at your father’s feet. And then the mad king danced on them.”
I flinch at the image she just planted in my head.
“Your father was so happy with such an offering, he told King Yusuf that he could take a small percentage out of all the food that was transported to the north for himself and keep it for Nas Laed. That’s why we live in abundance here, while the rest of our kingdom starves. The price for the food you’ve eaten since you arrived was paid for by your east-born king’s parents’ heads.”
Bile rises up to my throat as I shake my head in denial, still not wanting to believe such a thing.
Not only did I betray my Levi, but I also benefited from his parents’ deaths.
It’s too much for me to take in.
Suddenly, I feel the world start spinning, my legs starting to buckle. I lean my temple against the wall and close my eyes, just so I can get my bearings and catch my breath.
“Oh no, you don’t, Your Highness. Don’t you dare pass out on me yet. I still got loads more to tell you,” Cleo states, snaking her arm around my waist to keep me from falling to the floor.
Thankfully, she lets me take a minute, even telling me to breathe deep so I don’t faint. I must be in an awful state if even Cleo is being kind to me. It’s only after I feel the blood rush back to my face that I insist that she continue.
“Are you sure? Anya would never forgive me if you passed out because of something I said.”
“Anya is not here, Cleo. You are. Remember? Now tell me all I need to know. Tell me everything Teodoro left out,” I instruct with a leveled tone. She gives me a curt nod, and I might be hallucinating this, but even offers me a proud smile. “First, tell me why, even after King Yusuf died, Teo is still keeping the percentage of the food from our shipments only to feed the people living in his capital.”
“You really are new to this whole queen business, aren’t you?” She laughs. “Because, Your Highness, there are spies everywhere here.”
“Spies? From where?”
“Well, I thought they were from the north but now that I’m talking to you, I’m not so sure anymore.”
“I’ve never sent any spies to the south. I’ve never sent spies anywhere, period,” I assure her.
Cleo keeps staring at me, trying to see if I have any tells that will reveal I’m lying to her. When she confirms that there isn’t any and that I’m telling her the truth, she shrugs.
