Daughters of Ruin - K. D. Castner Page 0,69

word for it back at the farmhouse (which was typical (and Suki didn’t care))).)

“That’s treason!” said Rhea. (Endrit had to step between them and quiet Rhea.)

“Let’s hear what he says. We can go to him after. For now we have no idea who might be in the crowd.” (Appealing to her distrust of her own people was a good idea.) Rhea quieted. They found a nondescript place to stand by a tin peddler’s cart. On the scaffold, Declan let the crowd squirm a little before approaching—he was such a shameless showman that he might have been half Dain. “Good Meridan, I have been king only a short ten years.”

Shouts all over the plaza. “A great king!”

“King forever!” (which must have been the castle servants planted in the crowd (or the people of Meridan just didn’t care about the rest of Pelgard (it had been a prosperous decade for them, after all))). Declan accepted the praise with a modest smile, then raised a hand to speak again. “I come to you now, heavy-laden.” (“Murderers!” “Traitors!”)

Declan raised his hand higher. “So many compatriots, friends, good and honorable houses under our own banners were shamefully struck that a weak heart would wither and die under the sorrow.”

(A pregnant pause.)

“But we are not weak hearts in Meridan,” said Declan.

“Never!” shouted the people.

The guards on the scaffold pushed a row of prisoners forward (shackled together (blindfolded and gagged (tattooed (but newly tattooed (the skin still red) with the marks of the Munnur Myrath)))). The crowd threw apples (hard ones) at the rebels (who screamed into the rags stuffed down their throats). In Tasan, the king would never stand on the same platform as criminals.

The spectacle was unseemly. “We should go,” said Endrit.

“No,” said Rhea (she must have been enjoying it). As the Meridan soldiers executed the prisoners (all at once, blades gushing from their chests), the crowd gasped and then cheered (and Suki stared at the fishmouths (so new (and the soldiers so young (younger than those she’d fought (and none of them injured otherwise, as one would be if captured in battle))))).

“It’s not them,” whispered Suki.

“Don’t be crazy,” said Rhea. “They’re the enemy.”

Suki didn’t respond (busy thinking about what Rhea had just said (Whose enemy? (Was Meridan hers? Or Declan Meridan’s? Declan’s was certainly hers, and Findain his (but who were these?))) Think straight (she said to herself in Marta’s voice)). (Don’t get lost in there.)

They killed the supposed rebels.

Declan wiped his shoe and spoke again. “Our own family has fallen. And the great experiment, the great hope that I myself thrust upon you—the Protectorate—has failed.”

“What does that mean?” said Rhea.

Suki hoped Cadis and Iren had managed to escape (she searched the procession of guards and didn’t see them (thank the gods)).

“I wished, naively, that war would never come to Pelgard again, and the sister queens would rule together in peace. Several villagers called out “Pax Regina” (the queen’s peace), but most already sensed where this was going. Declan breathed again a visible sigh. “Iren of Corent and Cadis of Findain” (Hisses and boos at the mention of Findain.)—“have betrayed the Protectorate. They used the attack to escape to Findain under cover of night.”

“They was in on it!” shouted some in the crowd. “They’re with the rebels!”

Rhea leaned back to Endrit. “How could they have made the trip? Were they planning this?” Endrit had no idea.

Declan continued without correcting the accusations. “As I said, we don’t know the reason of the attack.” (But the crowd was convinced it had solved the mystery (“to help them run!”)) “All we know is that they abandoned their sisters, and the truce, and are hereby declared fugitive.”

The crowd erupted once again.

“Sink their ships!”

“Topple the spire!”

They were calling for war.

“They were daughters to me,” said Declan (Suki nearly choked (a woman standing behind them mumbled, “Child brides, more like,” (at which point Suki did choke))). “And they stabbed at the heart of everything I have worked for. For you, good Meridan. A weak heart would puncture and die.”

(Another pause (He was good at this.).)

“But we are not weak hearts.” His stride steadied as he paced the scaffold (as if the limp didn’t matter). “They are criminals now, fomenting the downfall of your kingdom. And with sadness, I admit that my own blood, Rhea, may have been corrupted by their lies.”

Endrit had to hold Rhea back from shouting out her presence.

“She, too, is gone,” said Declan. “My own fault for thinking she could take the seat built for Rhys.”

Endrit didn’t