Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156907 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
I watched her covertly as True shifted to my side and asked, “Is my wife ready to face the day?”
“I…her…um…” she stammered, her attention acute on his face in a manner it was clear she didn’t want to turn it to me. “Yes,” she concluded, but it sounded like a guess.
“True,” I called quietly, my gaze to my maid. “Will you give us a moment?”
I felt him look at me, but I didn’t take my eyes from Helga.
“Of course,” he murmured.
Only then did I tip my head back, fortunately just in time for him to touch his lips to mine.
He left us, entering our chamber and closing the door behind him.
I faced Helga.
“Am I ready to face the day?” I repeated my husband’s question.
“Yes, of course, Your Grace,” she answered.
I did not believe her, and I determined it was time to do something about this.
Therefore, I set about doing that.
“I speak sincerely when I say that I do not wish to hear what you think I wish to hear. I wish to hear your honest answer to whether or not I’m ready to face the day,” I said carefully.
She fidgeted.
“I know you loved her,” I announced.
Her eyes widened.
“I know you grieve her,” I continued.
She clasped her hands in front of her and held them tightly.
“I will never replace her. That would be impossible. There was only one Queen Mercy for this land, and for you, in your heart,” I went on.
I took a step toward her and kept speaking.
“But I would wish that you and I could build our own rapport, over time. That you would trust me. That we—”
“I would trust you?” she interrupted me, then immediately rushed on, “Begging your pardon, Your Grace.”
“How about, in this room,” I lifted both hands, “I am Farah and you are Helga, and you are free to say what you will, and me the same?”
She stared at me.
“You are a servant of this castle, a servant of your queen, and always a servant of your king,” I carried on. “But we share many intimacies, you and I. I have no friends here. No allies. None but my husband and his men. I would be honored if you could find your way to being one of them.”
She was silent, and she was this way for so long, I was about to open my mouth to speak in order to end this so I could get to my busy husband, when she blurted, “You did not flinch at the executions.”
Oh dear.
“Helga—”
“I went. I watched. I watched you. Many did. And you did not flinch.”
“In my land, we execute traitors,” I said warily.
“In this land too. We hang them. Though I have never witnessed this for this has not happened in my lifetime. But Carrington…” She shook her head and whispered, “You did not flinch. You watched that entire sentence carried out and did not flinch, nor once look away.”
“It is my culture that we deal severely with those who would endanger the king or his queen,” I explained.
“I would have humiliated him,” she suddenly hissed, leaning my way. “I would have walked him through the streets, naked. Allowing our people to throw excrement at him. Tear at his hair. Scratch his skin to shreds.”
By the gods.
“The people,” she continued. “They saw you watch without emotion.”
Oh no.
Was she saying…?
“Do they think that I have some unhealthy sway over True and this is why Carrington met that particular end?”
I feared this, but I couldn’t believe it to be correct, for as True suspected, the people had cheered the grisly entirety of Carrington’s sentence and the end to the traitorous archers.
“No,” she stated, leaning back. “His mother was murdered on his wedding day. His bride injured. His treasury sacked for decades. His father is considered widely to be an imbecile, and for some, that word is kind. Our land had been floundering for many years, the people felt it, and they did not like it. They thought it was our king. Now they know it was him as played by Carrington, which is not only no better, it is worse.”
I could not disagree with anything she said, but she was not finished.
“There is much talk of the ships being built in the north, the men finding jobs there. It is sweeping the realm, how shepherds, farmers and foundry owners must learn how to raise more sheep, grow more crops, craft more pewter to load on those ships. There is hope in our land, for once, now True is our king. So, no. It would not be met with surprise that our new king showed mercy to a traitor, any of them. It is King True’s way. But that would have been met with disappointment.”
This was a relief.
“Then I don’t understand why you mention that I had no reaction to the executions,” I noted.