So This Is Ever After, page 7
“Wait,” I said, standing and crossing the room. “That doesn’t sound so horrible. Another kingdom who has infrastructure and the ability to rule could come in and fix this, and we wouldn’t have to.” Depending on what Matt had found in the library, that option could get me out of this mess. That could relieve me of the absurd magic-bonding law.
“They’d kill us and all of our people,” Bethany said.
I deflated again. “Well, then never mind that idea.”
“Yeah. We need to fix things fast, or there is going to be definite bloodshed. Probably ours.”
“Great,” I sighed. “Okay. To recap, we are being tested by our supposed allies. And other kingdoms hate us. Do we have any defenses?”
Sionna leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “We don’t have a military. The members of his followers we didn’t kill have fled. And since Barthly used fear to keep his soldiers in line, there was no loyalty, save the loyalty their heads had to their bodies, so those who didn’t exactly agree with him ran off as well.”
“This is helpful. So helpful. And as awesome as we are, I doubt we’d be able to hold off an entire kingdom’s army on our own.” I rubbed my temple, careful of my damaged ear. Death began to appear more like a viable option. “Dare I ask for your update, Rion?”
He fidgeted. Rion never fidgeted. “There are no knights. The vassals refused to send their sons to… Barthly, but he didn’t quite need them anyway, did he? Not when he had his followers. And all the dark magic.”
“Ugh. So we have no allies, no military, no knights, and no clue. Great. Just great.”
“Good thing we’re loaded.” Lila perched on the windowsill; a cheeky grin spread across her features.
I raised my head from where I studied the rug, which depicted flames and a mound of skeletons. Yeah, redecorating jumped several slots up on my to-do list, right under surviving and figuring out how to rule a kingdom. “What?”
“We’re literally the richest kingdom, basically ever.” She shrugged. “The amount of gold I found made me bug-eyed, and I don’t say that lightly.”
I perked up. Enough gold to impress Lila was a lot of gold.
She continued, “Not to mention the grain stores. The staggering amounts of jewels and finery. The full stable. And the livestock.”
“We’re rich?”
She twirled a piece of her pale blond hair around her finger. “We’re not rich. We’re swimming in it. I could do laps in the mountains of coin that’s stowed in the dungeon alone.”
“The dungeon? He kept his gold in the dungeon?”
Lila shrugged again. “It’s not like he kept prisoners there.”
True. He seemed to just kill anyone he didn’t like. And the one prisoner we know he kept was locked in a tower, not a dungeon.
“Wealth doesn’t solve everything.” Matt leaned over the parchments and ran his fingers over several of them. He hunched as he scanned the missives, the weight of our predicament seeming to bear down on his shoulders.
“No, it doesn’t,” I agreed. “But it helps a lot. First thing, we give all the servants in this castle a raise.”
Lila raised an eyebrow.
Sionna furrowed her brow. “Money won’t buy their loyalty.”
“No, but if we have happy staff, then our lives are going to be much easier. I don’t know about you, but if we don’t have to focus on our next meal or who is going to clean our linens, then we can focus on the broader problems.”
“Makes sense,” Sionna said.
“Now, we’re going to organize these, and start working on the reasonable ones. Cows and peacocks and gold are doable. Anything weird, place in a separate stack.”
“This person wants their daughter to marry you, Arek,” Lila said with a smirk, flapping the parchment in my face.
I absolutely did not glance at Matt. “That one obviously goes into the weird stack. Thanks. Lila, we need an inventory of everything. Have Harlow assist.”
She straightened from her sprawl. “Okay. I can do that. Sure.”
“Great. Bethany, find out which of the kingdoms are struggling and what they need. If it’s grain, we can spare it. If it’s debt relief, we can help with that, too. Let’s start there, and extend a hand of friendship and assistance where we can. That may ease tension and buy us allies. But most importantly, it will give us time.”
“That’s not a bad idea.” She smirked. “I’ll throw in a little charm, too, and see where that gets us.”
“Good idea.” I drummed my fingers on the table. “What should we do about the knights, Rion?”
Rion perked up. “We should…” He sucked his teeth. “We should invite the sons of kingdoms’ lords to squire here.”
“Uh… just ask? Politely, I assume?”
“Before B-Barthly,” he said, stumbling over the name, “it was a great honor to be invited to the castle to become a knight. It’s a good option for second sons, who don’t stand to inherit any land from their fathers.”
“Well, that sounds unfair.”
Rion made as close to a “those are the rules” gesture as I’d ever seen him make. It was a slight raise of the shoulders and a tilt of his mouth. Huh. Rules of nobility were so weird.
“Then send messages, but invite all their children that are of age. We have plenty of evidence sitting around this table that other genders can fight just as well as men.”
“Who will train them? We have no senior knights.”
I blinked. “You will, Rion.”
“I was only a squire when—”
“When we met you. That was ages ago.” I shrugged, dismissing his concern.
“Seven months.”
“You’ve more than proved that you’re a knight. At least to me.” I looked to the others for confirmation, afraid I’d missed something about knightly duties other than fighting, keeping people alive, and being loyal to a fault. “Right?”
“None of us would be alive without Rion,” Lila said, the faintest blush pooling in her cheeks. “Including me.”
“Arek,” Matt said softly, “you have the power to knight him.”
“I do, don’t I?” I smiled for the first time since we’d gathered. I could do this for Rion. I could give him something he’d always wanted, something he was denied because of Barthly. It thrilled me to the core, my first act as king that I could be proud of. “Okay, from this point forward, you are Sir Rion. Done.” Matt kicked my shin. I jerked my knee and slammed it into the lip of the desk. “What the hells, Matt?”
“There’s a whole ceremony—”
“No,” Rion said. His eyes were wide and wet. His hands clutched the edge of the table. It looked like he was about to cry and was restraining himself from running around the table and giving me a hug. “I don’t need a ceremony. This is fine. This is perfect.”
“Great. Bethany, you have a pile of parchments there; please document that Sir Rion will train the knights.”
Bethany grabbed one of the blank squares, dipped her quill in the inkwell, and scribbled.
Rion beamed. “Thank you, sire.”
“Oh no, don’t do that. I’m Arek. Just Arek.”
Rion nodded. He ran a hand over his face, then grabbed his goblet.
Sionna cleared her throat. “We should do the same for our military. Offer the common people of the kingdom a wage to be a soldier. They can be a part of the forces for a few years, and then return home if they choose.”
“Lila?” I asked. “Do we have enough for that?”
She snorted. “We have enough for anything. And if we run out of coin, which we won’t, we can liquidate our other assets.”
“Bethany, please add that General Sionna will develop the procedures to fatten our military. No, wait, don’t use ‘fatten.’ That’s not a good word. How would a king say that?”
“ ‘Strengthen,’ ” Sionna said. “Strengthen the military.”
“Yes. Is ‘General’ okay? Or would you rather be—”
“ ‘General.’ I like it.”
“Perfect. Record that please, Bethany.”
“What about his followers?” Sionna asked, tenting her fingers. “They’re still out there. They may try to attack us. Especially as our defenses right now are limited to the individuals at this table.”
“Arek cut off Barthly’s head,” Matt said, blunt to a fault. “Do you think they’d risk it? He was the most fearsome ruler in centuries, and this”—he jerked his thumb in my direction—“is the person who defeated him.”
I didn’t know how to take that. But it did give me an idea.
“We should offer them a pardon.” I expected the chorus of grumbling from around the table. After all, his followers had pursued us day and night for months, but I spoke over the objections. “We offer them a pardon in exchange for pledging loyalty to their new king, joining our military, and accepting a reduced wage. It beats tracking them down and executing them.”
“That’s… not a horrible idea.” Sionna said it slowly, as if she spoke while still processing and only accepted the idea after she’d voiced her approval.
“I do have good ideas sometimes.”
“We could debate that.” Lila stretched her long arms over her head. “But this one isn’t the worst. And we have the money.”
“Rion?”
“The proposal is sound. I agree.”
“Matt?”
Matt sighed. “I have no objection as long as we have someone keeping an eye on them.”
“Great. Lady Bethany, did you get all that?”
“I did.” She paused. “Are you giving everyone titles now? Not that I’m complaining.” She batted her eyelashes. “I always did consider myself a lady.”
“Sure. How about you, Lila? Fancy a title?”
Lila made a face, then waved my question away. “I’m fine, thanks.”
I nodded. I took a moment to mull over all the information from our conversation, then exhaled. “Okay,” I said. “Okay. We have a plan.” I scanned the table around me, taking in everyone’s energy. Lila looked inordinately pleased with herself, her lips tipped up into a smile as she balanced on the windowsill as only a fae could manage. Bethany’s energetic scratching on the parchment filled the room. Rion looked over Bethany’s shoulder, nodding along as she wrote. Sionna picked through the pile of parchment scraps, reading and sorting. And finally, finally, I felt a bit better about this mess.
“What about you, Matt?” Sionna asked as she leaned back and dabbed her cheek with a napkin. “How was your day?”
“Oh yeah.” Lila tipped forward, propping her elbow on her knees, with her chin in her hand. “What did you find out, Matt?”
Matt ignored my intense glare of Don’t even and idly spun his staff. “I researched in the library.” He glanced at me. I resisted the urge to kick him. He made a face that conveyed he thought I should just tell them about the soul mate law. I narrowed my eyes.
“And?” Bethany asked, interrupting our silent conversation.
“I found a book of spells and a book of laws.”
“Anything relevant?”
“I’ll have to study further.”
Which meant he had found something. Matt didn’t outwardly lie. For one, he was horrible at it, and his mother saw right through him whenever he tried—spirits guide her soul. For two, Matt had always said he didn’t like having to keep up with different stories and found telling the truth was easier. But Matt could evade and skirt like a fish swimming upstream dodging rocks and bears.
Bethany held up her quill. “Are you Lord Matt now?”
“Yes. Of course he is.”
“I’m not a noble.”
“Like I am?” I asked, tone still slightly annoyed. But I couldn’t stay mad at Matt for long. I never could, and already I could feel my irritation melting away. I held up my blemished crown. “I’m the son of farmers, but I’m now King Arek. You can be Lord Matt.”
He sighed. “Fine.”
“Good.” I stood. “I’m happy with our plans. I’m happy that we’re all here. I’m happy that we have food and beds and a roof over our heads.” I raised my goblet. “Cheers!”
The others didn’t have glasses but cheered nonetheless. “Hear, hear!”
I took a gulp and slammed the goblet on the table. “Okay, I have a headache. And I’m exhausted. I’m going to rest.”
“Feel better, Arek,” Sionna said, touching my hand. “Rest well.”
A flush worked its way into my cheeks. “Thanks, General Sionna.”
I left the room and walked the quiet hallway to my quarters, only getting lost once in the process. I went in, closed the door behind me, and leaned on the wood, the back of my head thudding. I took a breath. My room had been cleaned. My sheets had been changed, and my wardrobe filled with clothes far finer than anything I’d ever worn in my life. There was firewood stacked by the hearth. A bowl of fruit sat on the table. A pair of slippers peeked out from beneath the large bed, and a basin of water steamed on the night table.
I tossed my crown on the table, washed, changed, and slid into the bed. It was late afternoon, but I felt like I could sleep the night through. Instead, I stared at the ceiling. Over the last nine months I had grown accustomed to not being alone at bedtime, so now it was strange not to have another warm body next to me.
I wished for Matt to come slide in next to me, like he did often when we were on the road, following a vague prophecy toward our waiting destiny. I waited for him for a long time, counting sheep, thinking about the problems that lay in wait for us, remembering how Barthly’s head had splattered on the stone floor, and how the princess’s spirit escaped the tower, caressing my arm as she left. I waited until my eyes were too heavy and my mind finally slowed.
He didn’t come.
CHAPTER 9
“You were always a heavy sleeper. At least, before all of this happened.”
I opened my eyes to slits. The sun streamed through the cracks in the shutters.
“What?”
“You missed dinner last night. Harlow just brought your breakfast.”
I blinked. I was warm and my pillow was soft, and Matt sat stretched out on the bed next to me. He leaned against the headboard, fully dressed, his new, shiny boots crossed at the ankles. He wore a blue tunic, and a pair of brown trousers, and his hair was as long and as messy as it had ever been. It curled around his ears in brown tendrils and fell across his forehead in an adorable sweep that made me forget I was upset with him for a whole moment as my brain moved from sleeping to waking. But then I remembered how lonely I had felt the night before. My gut churned in equal parts embarrassment and anger, and I rolled away from him and curled on my side.
“I waited for you last night.” My voice was tight, but hopefully muffled enough by the pillow that Matt wouldn’t hear it.
He huffed. “I knew you probably would.”
“You didn’t come.”
“No. I was mad.”
“Well, now I’m mad.”
Matt poked me in the side. I squirmed away from him. “You can be mad at me all you want, but we do need to talk.”
Snuggling down in the blankets, I ignored him. “No.”
“You’re the worst.”
“I’m the king.”
He prodded me again, a little harder that time. “Then act like it. I’m here as your advisor.”
“Not as my friend?”
Matt paused. The moment turned tense. Then he let out a breathy chuckle. “Of course as your friend, doofus. I’ll always be your friend.”
I cringed internally.
He grabbed my feather pillow and wrenched it from under my head. Then he smacked me with it.
“Ugh.” Snatching it away, I tucked it under my body and rolled to face him. I propped my head on my elbow and halfheartedly glared. He smirked at me with his annoyingly perfect face. “Do I need to remind you that I was shot yesterday with an arrow? In my ear?” I waved my hand at the bandage where the wound throbbed beneath.
“You’re fine.”
“I needed stitches!”
“One. A single stitch, Arek. You’ve had worse.”
I frowned. “Hey, you try running away from a barrage of arrows! It was terrifying! Probably took years off my life!”
Matt’s expression softened. “Are you okay? Really?”
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “I’m fine.”
“Good, because I found something.”
“Other than new clothes?”
He picked at the fabric of his shirt. “They were the only thing in my wardrobe besides robes.” He pursed his lips. “I’m not wearing robes. I know both the wizard and Barthly did, but I refuse.”
“Noted.” I said it in my flattest, driest tone.
“Wow, you’re tetchy.”
“You did wake me up.”
“You should be awake. It’s almost midmorning.”
“If you’re a chicken.”
That earned a chuckle. His smirk tipped into a full smile—not the forced one either—the one that came so easy when we were home but had become rare in the months since. A bloom of happy warmth spread from my middle at having made Matt laugh.
“Look, your lordship, do you want to know what I found now, or should I wait until we’re all seated in the council chamber later today?” Matt rubbed his knuckles on his new shirt, trying to act nonchalant but failing miserably. “I’m sure they’d want to know all about your impending nuptials.”
I flopped back on the mattress. Acid climbed my gullet. “Fuck you, but fine. Tell me.”
“I have good news and bad news.”
“The bad news,” I said before he could ask which I wanted first. Better to face the problem head-on, my father would say, spirits guide his soul, instead of running away. A hilarious sentiment, if I thought about it too long, since I had done just that—run away. But I had been running toward my destiny, not from it, barreling like a hothead toward adulthood. Now that I’d made it, I just wanted to go back to how everything was before.
“Fine. The bad news is that, yes, there is a magic law that says you must be bonded to be king of this realm. Your soul must be tied to someone, and as long as that other person’s soul is with yours, you’ll be king.”
