Kingdom of Sea and Stone (Crown of Coral and Pearl #2) - Mara Rutherford Page 0,26
but we would manage.
“Anywhere the woman king isn’t,” Shale said. He glanced up as Zadie handed him a bowl of stew and thanked her.
“What do you mean?” I asked before Talin could respond. I didn’t need to see his face to know he was offended.
“We’re from just south of Linrose Lakes. The uprising has been simmering in the south for years, but we thought we were safe, living as far north as we were. But in the past few weeks, it has become untenable. She started conscripting every able-bodied male between the ages of fifteen and forty. Ella is just thirteen, and my wife is gone.” Shale glanced at Ella. “I can’t leave her alone.”
Talin took a seat, softening a bit. “I’m sure there will be exceptions made for special circumstances.”
Shale shook his head. “I’m afraid not. We were told to report for duty one morning, no exceptions. Ella and I ran that night.”
I looked across the fire at Talin. He was staring into the flames, his expression unreadable. “Surely you can stop running,” I said. “Meradin is neutral territory, and the woman king won’t be coming this far north.”
“Perhaps. But once we started moving, I wasn’t really sure when to stop. We have no other family. It seems as if the entire kingdom is at war, or about to be.” He took a few bites of stew, stretching his long legs out in front of him. “What about you? Where are you heading?”
“To Galeth,” Talin said, surprising me. I wasn’t sure if he would reveal our destination to a stranger.
Shale’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Is that where you’re from?”
“No. We’re Ilarean.”
Shale looked at Zadie and me. “Not these two.”
I smiled. “No, not us.”
“Where are you from?” Ella asked Zadie. My sister had always been the more maternal of the two of us, and Ella had gravitated to her like a moth to a lantern.
“We’re from a place called Varenia,” Zadie told her. “We’re refugees, just like you.”
“Varenia?” Ella asked. “Where the princesses come from?”
Zadie nodded. “That’s right. It’s a small village in the middle of the Alathian Sea.”
“But you don’t really live in the ocean, do you?” Ella looked at her father for confirmation. He nodded, and she turned back to Zadie, eyes narrowed. “I thought only mermaids lived in the ocean.”
Zadie and I chuckled. “Our mother always said my sister is half fish.”
“Is that so?” Talin grinned at me, finally relaxing.
I wiggled my feet in the air in front of me. “A quarter fish, at most.”
Ella laughed, and in that moment, we were all friends traveling the same road together. As we settled down for the night in our bedrolls, our bellies full of stew, my heart still light with Ella’s laughter, I turned to Talin.
“Good night,” I said sleepily.
His hands were folded behind his head and he was staring up at the night sky, wide awake. “Good night, Nor.”
“What’s the matter?” I scooted closer. Osius was standing first watch, and everyone else was already asleep, or close to it.
“I can’t stop thinking about what Shale said about my mother.” Talin rolled to his side, propping his head on his hand. His cheeks were shadowed with stubble, which made him look older, less like a princeling and more like the fugitive he had become.
“He wasn’t talking about your mother,” I said gently. “Not really. The people have built this woman king up in their minds. She’s become some mythical creature, when in reality she’s your four-year-old sister.”
“If that’s true, it’s only because my mother allowed it. Encouraged it.”
“I’m sure she felt like she had to. How else would she get people to join her cause?”
Talin stared at me for a few moments, but I knew he wasn’t really seeing me. “Do you think she’s actually forcing people to join her army?”
I could see the fear in Talin’s eyes, his concern that his mother had become someone he didn’t know in the past four years. I shared his apprehension. It was easier for me to believe she had changed, having never known her in the first place. But he didn’t need me to add to his worries. He needed my support.
“I think,” I said finally, reaching for his hand, “that there are two sides to every story. I’m sure Shale isn’t lying, but I also don’t believe your mother is behind whatever forced him to flee. She’s doing all of this for her own children, after all. She wouldn’t be that cruel. No one who raised you could be.”