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“It was before you came here,” he said finally. “But probably not before you were born.”
I rarely thought of the time before, and I had no memory of anything else. “Do they feed the lessers something that makes them not do much thinking? I keep realizing that so much was before me, much of it wrong, and I never considered whether I should do something about it. I don’t even know where I’m from.” I searched my memory and found nothing. “D-do you know?”
He shrugged. “There are rumors, but they never seemed to make sense. The high council claimed that you were a poor orphan who we took in out of the goodness of our hearts. And, no, it’s not something they feed the lessers, it’s what they don’t. The diet of the average lesser is very poor, or didn’t you notice?”
I chewed on my lip. “I mostly ate at Hilda’s hut. It wasn’t fancy food, but it was soups and porridges, the occasional bit of meat. Lots of stuff we foraged.”
“You may not have had malnutrition, but many of the lessers do. I’m amazed that they are able to fight at all. Their revolution will be put down in a matter of hours.”
“And then what? They kill them? Or just the few strongest, maybe those who can still fly, to make examples of them? Jude, we have to help them.” I stood up and dragged him with me by our still-linked hands. “We have to get to Hilda. I’m scared for her.”
“Do you think she’s one of the plotters?”
“I have no idea, but she’s never been one to stand by when she can help others. I’m afraid of what will happen to her. Can we bring her to the suite? Can you protect her?”
“As you pointed out, we royals have status but little power. When the high council rose to their current status, they were able to shunt us aside. It didn’t happen in a day but started generations ago and was finally cemented at the time I mentioned, around when you were born, when my father and those of Soren and Nico were assassinated.”
“But I’ve never heard that. I knew they passed but I thought it was an illness or maybe an accident. Why wouldn’t anyone mention such a fact?”
“Because the high council won’t allow it.” He snarled the words, his resentment coming through. “We are like pets, well-dressed, and we have wealth, but we have no power to help the lessers or even ourselves. They hold our loved ones over our heads. ‘It would be unfortunate if your mother/sister/brother/mate were to meet the fate of your father, wouldn’t it?’”
“But someone has to do something, and the lessers are trying. We have to help them.”
“Look, there is Hilda’s hut. Let’s see what she has to say.” He squeezed my hand. “She’s been like a mother to you, hasn’t she?”
“My whole life, or at least the part I can remember, since I got here. When we get past all of this, I want to do something for her. She’s more of a healer than the goon you guys forced me to see.” I’d been so engaged, I’d almost forgotten how awful I felt, but it was coming back. Maybe the fever came in waves. But I kept going, not wanting him to see. “Why is her door open?”
I wanted to hurry, but it took every bit of energy I had left just to continue toward the hut. Hilda never left her door open. She claimed that rodents and other animals would come in and eat her food and make a mess if she did.
We found her on the floor beside her dining table, her hair a mess and her dress covered with soot from the fire. “Hilda, what happened?” I reached for her, to help her up, but Jude got there first and tenderly lifted her. I set a fallen chair upright for her to sit in, and Jude settled her there.
“Nothing happened, child.” She patted her hair, trying to fix it in her customary neat bun. “A few of the high council’s guards came to ask me if I knew anything about a rebellion. I declined to answer their questions.”
“Oh, Hilda, did they hurt you?” I scurried around her, but her voluminous dress hid most of her body, leaving only her face and hands bare. “We need to get you help.”
She snorted a laugh. “From who? That quack of a healer? He doesn’t know a thing about fixing anything that’s wrong with a person. I’ll have some willow bark tea for the aches and pains and be perfectly fine.”
“Hilda, what did they do?” Jude’s voice was low and serious. “Please tell me precisely what happened.”
“Oh, they tried to bully me, but I sent them on their way. They will hear nothing from me.”
“But you do know what’s going on?” I urged. “Tell us everything so we can help.”
“I don’t know everything. I don’t know much, but those poor excuses for dragons didn’t believe me. They think an old lady like me is a threat to their high council?” She arched one brow then laughed. “Just goes to show how pathetic they are. This flight has been in existence for many hundreds of years. Sometimes things go wrong, but they are always soon put right. I just hope I live long enough to see it.”
“Well, you won’t if you stay here. Jude, I want to bring Hilda home with us before something worse happens to her.”
He agreed, wanting to bring the other royals into the situation, but she refused to leave her home. In the end, we had to leave, but we promised to come back later and bring the others. Before it was too late.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Where have you two been?” Nico was waiting in the kitchen, nursing a cup of what smelled like straight-up black coffee. He addressed both of us, but his gaze was on me. It hit me like an arrow right through my heart. I knew there was love and tenderness underneath Nico’s shield. It might take me a lifetime to break through said shield, but I would do it.
“Freya needed to see Hilda.”
Nico eyed the envelope in front of him, the royal one with the wax seal. “What about?”
“I had to make sure she was okay with everything going on.” I sat next to Nico on purpose.
