Page 30 of Spar of Hearts

Emmaline bounced on her feet. “Mum! This is the Princess I told you about! The one from the ship!”

“Mum?” The word left Lord Bryson’s tongue with apparent confusion. Millicent’s cheeks tinged rose.

“We’ve adopted her.” Millicent smiled down at Emmaline.

“I’m Emmaline Chambers-Dacre now!” Emmaline said proudly, then coughed. Each hack was bone-chilling. Anya could practically hear the girl’s tiny lungs crinkling with each breath.

“Come here. You need to rest, sweetheart.” Millicent sat in a rocking chair and patted her lap. “Thank you for getting all of them here safely. Including her.”

Emmaline’s breaths became tight wheezes as she clambered onto her mother’s lap. Millicent rubbed her daughter’s back until the coughing subsided and her eyes drooped shut. Millicent’s eyes grew misty as she looked at Lord Bryson.

“Thank you for appealing to the Council for us, Roderick. I know you must be terribly busy…I’m just so worried.” Tears bubbled down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry for asking for your help yet again.”

He knelt in front of her without a moment of hesitation or an ounce of pride.

“I am never, ever too busy to help you.”

This was a softer side of the Lord she had never seen before.

Except in the garden. Her face flushed at the thought, then morphed into anger. Here he was laying it on thick for another man’s wife. Shameless.

The main doors opened and thudded shut. Lord Bryson shot to his feet just as Ellis and a woman bearing a stunning resemblance to him entered.

Damn. He’d nearly been caught. Apparently today wasn’t her lucky day.

Ellis whisked over to Millicent, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head, then Emmaline’s. A smile lingered on Millicent’s face. Anya always adored seeing the little moments that made up the lives of her subjects. She only wished the circumstances were happier.

“Your Highness.” The woman resembling Ellis bowed low. She spoke with a thick brogue. “It is an honor to have you in Balcott. I am Baroness Ella Dacre. Forgive my brashness, but have you come with aid?”

“I have.” She nodded. “But not as much as you may be hoping.”

Lord Bryson leaned over. “We don’t have any—”

She tried to ignore his breath on her ear as she pulled the cinch bag open, revealing the shining mana stones. The Baroness peered in and gasped.

“This is incredibly generous, Your Highness!”

“Have your mages said how many they will need to cure all of them?”

The Baroness sighed and rubbed her temples. “About forty times this much. This amount could fully heal one or two children, but it doesn’t seem right to heal a few while the rest suffer. Still, it hangs heavy on my mind.”

“I cannot imagine the position you are in,” she replied. The Baroness shared the last name of Ellis and Millicent. It must be tempting to use these to heal her new granddaughter. “But perhaps our expedition will make it a little easier.”

“Yes! Yes, our expedition!” Lord Bryson’s eyes lit up as he straightened. That was the knight she knew—jumping in right when she was about to take the lead. “We are going beyond the glacial wall to establish a trade route with the Kingdom of Aquillas.”

The Baroness put a finger to her chin. “That is intriguing. But how do you know there is anything there? I always wanted to study the glacial wall and find a way past its enchantments, but my studies of Centarians took precedence the past decade.”

“We do not know, unfortunately.” He exhaled. “But pay incentives are also being issued for miners. Hopefully you will have more stones than you know what to do with before we even get there.”

Anya bit her lip. She knew Aquillas was more than a barren, icy wasteland—there was an active kingdom, and mana stones. But she couldn’t betray Marg’s confidence.

But maybe she didn’t have to.

“Baroness, may I see you for a moment in private?” she asked.

“But of course,” the Baroness answered, leading her down a long hallway. They passed room after room where sick children of all ages slept, read, or played quietly. Unlike so many of the orphanages she’d visited near the coast of Elva’s Harbor, this place had heart to it. Huge swaths of parchment were pinned to the walls outside the rooms, with handprints in colorful dye strewn across them.

“Who are you?” A little girl with black hair and carmine eyes tugged at her dress.