Page 86 of The Moon Blessed King
Being Exalted has done nothing but make both of their lives so much more complicated than they should have been. Wouldn’t things have been easier for them both had they been simple humans? They still would have been princes and they would have lived the lives their parents had envisioned for them. Stello Alest and Prince Elician would have met on the battlefield, and they would have had their armies clashing against each other day in and day out until they went back home and were both named king. Then they would have guided their heirs to do the same thing over and over again. They would not have necessarily beenbettermen, but perhaps they couldhave been happier men. Cat reaches out for him, and Elician takes his hand in his. It is improper to do more, but Elician rubs his thumb over the back of Cat’s knuckles. A promise of a kiss. Cat lets himself smile wider.
‘I didn’t know Reapers could be happy,’ Madame Leonde murmurs. Cat looks at her.
‘What did you think?’ he asks.
‘They are soulless,’ she says. She does not mean to be cruel, but she says it without remorse. She looks at Cat and Cat looks back, and it is nothing he has not heard before. ‘They have no feelings; they are still and empty and made of nothingness. They steal children from their beds. They kill and murder indiscriminately and without care. They are Death turned wrong.’
At each word, Cat thinks of the cells, of endless rows of people pushed into darkness yearning only for the chance to be with someone for just a few moments. He remembers reaching out to Brielle, desperate to hold her hand. How he’d cried from the want of it. How, sometimes, when Gillage sent Nured in to beat or burn him, furious at how, even in the dark, Cat had somehow captured their mother’s attention, Cat leaned into those touches simply for the chance tofeelsomething.
‘Have you ever spoken to a Reaper before you met me?’ Cat asks her quietly.
‘No. I had never seen one before that group came through,’ she admits. ‘Only heard about what they are. What they can do.’
‘I heard everyone in Alelune is unfeeling, uncaring, and loathes any source of affection,’ Elician announces at Cat’s side. Leonde looks at him in a kind of stunned stupor. ‘Beyond the battlefield, I never spoke more than a handful of words to anyone from Alelune, not even to your ambassador at court. And when I was captured? I saw nothing at all to convince me otherwise.’
‘Then why are you here?’ she asks, short and displeased.
‘Because your stello is one of the most loving, generous and caringpeople I have ever met in my life. Because, before Altas, I fought your soldiers for years and I remember them being honourable and good. Because the rumours and actions of a few people do not represent the rest of you, and I believe that your people are not the sum of your worst stereotypes.’
‘Solebens are loud, and they have no sense of public decency,’ Leonde informs him primly. ‘They speak far too much, and they lack propriety. You cling to your traditions and don’t bother trying to advance yourselves because your past is all you care about.’
He laughs. ‘Yes. For some, that is certainly true.’
‘But you are here.’
‘Here to help make a change.’
It makes her smile now, pleased, content.
Cat leans forward. ‘I can’t speak on if I have a soul—’
‘You do, love,’ Elician says. ‘Oh, you most certainlydo. Every living thing has a soul, and yours is just as bright as hers, as mine. As anyone in Endura, Altas or beyond.’ Cat cannot react how he would like to. Not here, not in public. But he has grown used to Soleb and its intimacy. He yearns, in that moment, to lean against Elician’s side, to feel Elician’s lips touching the top of his head in gentle comfort and idle adoration.
Cat settles for sitting still and smiling down at his hands, drinking the drink Leonde has provided for him. ‘What kind of king will you be?’ she asks him. ‘If you had the throne?’
‘Exactly as you see me,’ Cat replies. ‘I would serve my people, do what I can to see them well. And change as I need to, to ensure all my people have the life they deserve.’
The next day, Cat hears parts of his own story echoed back to him as he walks through the village. He sees men and women looking at their hands, soldiers and civilians mingling, contemplating, speakingtogether. Hears them say, ‘To just kill accidentally…at a touch? Not even on purpose?’ He checks that his gloves are always on, that his sleeves are down and his skin covered. Unless someone touches his face or head, he cannot hurt them. But he doesn’t want to take the risk.
Not now.
He finds Elician, Leferge and Partho and is prepared to tell them he’s ready to leave, when he sees Leonde with them as well. Elician steps to one side, welcoming him into the conversation with ease. ‘Madame?’ Cat says slowly, drawing near.
‘Stello.’ She bows. ‘We’ve decided to accompany you.’ He blinks at her, not certain what she means. ‘We have food and supplies with us that we can donate to the army’s supply train, and if you are serious about overthrowing Gillage, you will need support. We will give that to you.’
‘Madame…if we arrive at Alerae with an army and half the country besides, it will appear as if we mean to sack the city,’ Cat says. ‘I came here to heal the sick, and once I reach Gillage…I’ve only ever intended to go to him and issue my challenge before Death. I don’t wish to fight my brother.’
‘Then it will be in his best incentive to open the gates to Alerae and let you in,’ Leonde informs him primly. ‘We would still be suffering without you, and so we will help you to help all those who might question you on your way.’
He is not sure he understands. He looks to Leferge, who simply says, ‘Your people want to help you, Stello. Will you deny them their desire?’
‘My people,’ he echoes. Not his Reapers, who trust him because of what he is to them, but hispeople. The ones he was born to lead but has never once been permitted the opportunity to do so. No, that is not true.
Once, when he was a child, he held a flag. He looks up at the top of Leonde’s inn and watches his country’s banner flying proudly in a strong south wind. ‘May I carry your flag, Madame?’ he asks her.
Her eyes widen and her back straightens. ‘Yes, my stello. It would be my honour.’
Leferge lets the army know. Their march is now an escort, and all the able-bodied people of Ines will join them on their quest.
