Page 71 of Royal Hunt
Smoke surrounded us.
I wrenched myself away from him, taking in the remnants of the inn. Everything was black, with lumps of ashes here and there that could have been bodies or the tables. It would be impossible to know.
Pain of a different kind assaulted my chest, and my throat tightened. “Ellis, these are your people.”
He clutched me tighter to him. “I don’t care. They hurt you.”
I touched the underside of my ribs with a wince. “It was an accident. Gregory was the one who kidnapped me, and Trenton—”
“These people stood by and didn’t help you. They—” His voice broke, and he fell to his knees with me still in his arms. “I didn’t mean to,” he admitted brokenly. “I just wanted to keep you safe. And I can’t even do that right. I can’t keep anyone safe. I was a shit prince and an even worse king.” The desperate fear in his voice broke something in me.
“Papa? Are you alright?”
We whipped around as a young girl poked a body lying nearby, face down and charred in the dirt.
Ellis’s boots scraped in the gravel and ash as he took, wild-eyed and panicked. I tried to focus on him, but the pain in my chest had me doubled over in agony. I tried to reach out to him anyway.
“Listen. It doesn’t matter what kind of king you are. You’re the only one. Do you get it? If you give up, they have nothing. You’re all we have!” I thought desperately for some kind of plan or call to action. I closed my eyes, and took a steadying breath. Just take it one task at a time.
“Alright. You’ve already gathered staff and hired some new ones, and got them delegated with orders to fix up the castle. Right?”
He nodded stiffly as if wanting to argue that it was hardly an accomplishment, but I pushed on. His eyes were still locked on the child, trying to wake her dead father.
“Next, you need to learn to control your magick. We need to get out of here. You can’t win them back through fear. We have to figure out how to feed them for now, and then we need to have a chat with the two fae to figure out what needs to be done to bring back normal weather.”
Ellis’s shoulders slumped. “Viana will soon leave with the prisoners.”
“She hasn’t left yet,” I argued. “If she has, it will be easy to catch up with her. We need to broker a trade deal to start shipping food to the north anyway. If the castle is in hand and they can start working on the gardens, they can be self-sufficient until we come back. Returning with wagons of food would be a good start toward fixing this mess. I can order my father to send all his surplus to this town to get started.”
His stiffness mellowed as I talked, and he nodded as I ended my tirade. His hands came to cup my face, his eyes tender. “You were right to ask to be queen. What would I do without you?”
I blushed. “That wasn’t the point. I just …” I was unable to express how I only seemed to be brilliant during crisis situations. “You can do this, Ellis. And I want to help. And you don’t have to make me queen for me to give it.”
There, I said it.
He froze, his face going carefully blank.
“You think I only want you by my side to ensure your help? Or to keep my word in our bargain?” he asked, his voice raising a bit.
“And … I assumed a few other things,” I mumbled, remembering the heat in his eyes just before Gregory knocked me out in the palace.
One dark eyebrow rose. “So you aren’t opposed to such …otherthings?” he taunted.
The villagers were closing in around us. “Ellis, we have togo.”
The humor snapped out of his eyes as he remembered where we were, and what he’d done. He carried me over to the stables, each step agony as I struggled to breathe through the pain. The horses had all bolted from the half-charred stables, but were cautiously returning one at a time. I recognized Flare, and clicked my tongue softly. Her ears flicked down and out, and then she trotted over happily.
I couldn’t mount by myself and couldn’t help the pained groan as Ellis hefted me up onto the horse.
“Sorry.”
We sat astride the horse, looking down at the villagers coming closer. The world smelled burned, charred, like it had that first morning when dead bodies were strewn about from the terrified people who’d tried to escape the fence. People strode forward and shuffled across the dry earth toward us, dust loosening from the ground with every footstep. Their faces were mad grimaces.
Still, a small smile twitched the corner of my lips as Ellis shifted behind me. He’d made it on the horse so easily. And we were alive. Alive and together. “You’ve been practicing.”
His eyes lingered on the charred remains of the inn. Blackened beams cut into the sky at odd angles, still smoking. He huffed, “You’re avoiding answering my question.”
People peeked out from their homes and the other shops, all around us, eyes dark and accusing. We didn’t move. Something shifted in the remains of the inn, adjusting to its lack of structure, moving closer to the earth. A plume of dust followed the small collapse, and I struggled not to wince.
