"Perhaps a bout of illness from being indoors for too long," I said, curtseying as well as I could in the trousers. "It's most wonderful to see you on such a special day."
"Indeed," she said. "Do you like my crown?"
The corner of my mouth twitched toward a snarl before I could stop it. "You wear it well, Your Majesty."
She smirked and smoothed her dress. "I'm ready to depart," she called to Coyle. "Open the gates."
Luisa and I retreated to the tacked horses behind her carriage. With the sandals on my feet, it was hard to climb on, but I managed without looking too much a fool. Before us, the main castle gates groaned as they opened, revealing the city beyond and…a crowd of people, all of them cheering.
Coyle's call to the military was a far-off echo, but soon the sound of their marching filled the small courtyard. They marched forward in lines of ten and rows of five, their hands resting on their swords. Once the front of the parade had left space, Ilara's footman snapped the reins of the horse, and Luisa and I goaded ours into a slow walk as we followed her out of the castle.
I hadn't been mistaken—there was a crowd in the town square. It was hard to tell Forcadelian from Severian, but I couldn't imagine this unbridled joy coming from those who'd been conquered. Each person wore a crown of white flowers as they waved to their queen. She offered them a gracious wave back.
"I thought the flowers didn't grow here," I said.
"They don't, but Her Majesty had a shipment of flowers delivered last week. The children have been hard at work putting them together." She beamed. "They were so excited to see visions of home."
But I didn't see smiling faces—I saw more problems for Brynna. Ilara had filled the town with her own people, with innocent lives. Men, women, and children seeking a better life for themselves in a land full of plenty. Based on the adoring way they fawned over Ilara, they had her to thank for it. Even if Brynna killed Ilara, these Severians wouldn't return to the desert willingly.
"You look concerned, Lady Katarine," Luisa said beside me. "Cheer up, it's Geestig!"
And like so many other worries, I put that in the back of my mind and forced myself to smile for the crowd.
The parade was short, perhaps thanks to the security concerns in the northern part of the city, and when we returned there was to be a large feast in Ilara's honor. One of the young children who'd been invited from the crowd gave me a crown of flowers, and I couldn't deny the smell was sweet.
"Thank you," I said to her as she placed it on my head. "Do you live here in Forcadel, now?"
"No, miss," she said, flashing me a toothy grin that was missing a few in the front. "I live in Aunela, at a boarding school Her Majesty chartered for us."
Aunela? That was an eastern port city—and I'd never heard of a boarding school there. "Well, you've done a magnificent job. Thank you for this."
"Look at you!" Luisa cheered when she saw me. "You look almost like a Severian."
"I am trying," I said, adjusting the delicate crown on my head. "I'm sure this festival is something to behold in Severia."
"It's never been so grand," she said, taking my arm. "Queen Ilara has invited all her favorite businesses from the city to attend. Look at them all, former Forcadelians becoming Severians."
I gazed out into the crowd in the ballroom. Once, I could've named every single one of Forcadel's most favored business owners. But now, every other person seemed brand new to me.
One new face caught my attention. A Forcadelian man with a pencil-thin mustache. He met my gaze and offered a smirk, strolling over with all the confidence of a man used to getting what he wanted.
"Evening," he said, bowing. "Lady Katarine, Lady Luisa. The festival is wonderful."
"Thank you," Luisa said, bowing in return. "I hope you're enjoying yourself, Mr. Cantwell."
"Who's that?" I asked Luisa once he left to speak with a woman nearby.
"Oh, just a local businessman," she said with a bright smile. "He's been helping Her Majesty with some of her new business ventures in the eastern side of the country."
"She seems quite busy with that," I said.
"It has certainly taken a lot of her time," Luisa said. "But you can see it in the faces of our countrymen—they are grateful for her attentions."
"I thought most of Severia had moved here," I asked.
"Oh, no," she said with a bit of a giggle. "Severia is a vast nation with hundreds of thousands of souls. They couldn't possibly all fit within the walls of this city. Most of them are settling in the city of Aunela. I passed through on my way here. It's truly becoming a magnificent city."
"With a boarding school, I hear," I said.
She made a sound. "There's so much happening in that city. I can hardly keep it all straight. Boarding schools, libraries, new water systems. It's been under heavy construction for nearly six months now."
"I would like to see it," I said.
"You may, sooner than you know," Luisa said with a smile. "But for now, let us toast to this happy day, and the celebration of life!"
I toasted to her, but the knot of anxiety in my stomach grew harder as the reality of my position in the castle became ever clearer.
Chapter 19
It was easy to fall into the routine with my soldiers. We rose at dawn, ate a light breakfast, then set to training, preparing, mending, laundering—all the things that were required of an active camp. Everyone pitched in, whether it was to chop wood for the bonfires or bring in water from the nearby stream.
I did as much as Mark would let me. Whether it was training in the ring with the soldiers ("It's bad for morale for them to lose against you") or where I ate ("If you aren't going to eat on gold, you should at least be at the front of the table"), I couldn't win with him. I still wasn't wholly comfortable pushing back against him, not when all the soldiers in camp seemed to follow his every move. So when Beata asked if I'd join her on a jaunt into town to pick up some fruit, I jumped at the chance.
"Please, get me out of this camp," I said, sitting on the trunk as Beata flitted around the mess tent. "If only for a few hours. I feel like I'm back in that tower, with Katarine putting me in that stupid posture contraption again."
Beata walked by and poked my side, forcing me to sit upright. "You be nice to my Kat. She was only trying to help."
She disappeared into the back room then returned with something dark. A velvet, Forcadelian blue dress with gold-trimmed sleeves.
"Beata," I said with a sigh. "Where'd you get this?"
"I remembered your measurements," she said. "Had it made for when you finally showed up. But you've been too busy rolling in the dirt to be bothered with it." She winked as she pressed it against me. "The people in town will be thrilled to see you, so you'd better fit the part."
"Thank you," I said, not altogether pleased to be wearing a dress again, but touched by the thought.
"And here," she said, handing me a black box. "Jorad said you'd given it to him for safekeeping, so he gave it to me."
I opened the box, revealing the gold circlet Luard had had made for me in Niemen. Last I'd seen it, it had been covered in muddy fingerprints from our battle in Neveri, but someone had cleaned it.
"I never thought I'd be happy to see this thing," I said, sitting down on a nearby chair. "Will you help me put it on?"
She unbraided and brushed my hair then reassembled the plait, twisting it around my head. Watching her in the mirror brought back memories of Forcadel before the invasion, of how I'd hated seeing her and Katarine watching me in the mirror and how miserable I'd been to be forced into this role. I took Beata's hand after she set the gold circlet and kissed it.
"I'm so glad you're here," I said, looking up at her.
"Be careful," she said, tapping my nose. "I am a taken woman."
I laughed and followed her out of the tent. The soldiers stopped what they were doing and bowed as I passed—even Enos, who offered me a small wave. I was starting to remember their names, although it would take
me a few more days yet.
At the front of camp, Mark and Jorad were waiting near the wagon we'd be taking into town with a smattering of soldiers, all dressed in Forcadelian blues to match mine. Unsurprisingly, Mark look disgruntled.
"Glad to see you look the part of a queen," he said, glancing at my head. "But I must protest this trip. It's safer for you here in camp. Who knows what you might find out in the village?"
"Then it's a good thing I have my knives," I said, climbing onto the wagon without help.
"Can you fight in that?" Beata asked.
I shrugged. "I'd prefer not to. You did such a good job with my hair."
She giggled, and I turned to my two consternated soldiers. "I promise, Captain Mark, I'll get into no trouble on this journey. But if you feel strongly about it, then you can send Lieutenant Llobrega in your place."
In the end, he did give us an extra five soldiers, but he and Jorad remained back in camp. I was honestly grateful for the break, as it gave me a chance to get to know the soldiers accompanying us. Most of them had been in Neveri, but a couple were the defectors from the border. Malka, a tall Forcadelian woman, had fought me in the training ring the day before.
"I swear, she was a cat," she said to her compatriots. "I've never seen a person bend that way before."
"Practice," I said. "Maybe I'll teach you some things."
For the most part, the soldiers talked while I absorbed the small details they let into their conversations. Mentions of home, of Felix, of Neveri. Their uncertainty about where we would go from here, their pride in being the queen's soldiers, and their gratitude to people in town.
"They've taken us in with open arms," Orman, a defector from the border, said. "Especially when Lady Beata showed up."
"Oh, I did nothing," she said with a soft smile.
"Then what are these clothes in the back of the carriage?" I asked, looking at her.
"The seamstress in town is getting on in age," she said with a shrug. "I may have offered to make a few dresses for the townsfolk in exchange for some gold."
My face fell. "Bea…"
"I told you," she said. "I like the industry. I'm not sleeping anyway."
Guilt reappeared, and I let it eat at me as we continued toward the small town. A gaggle of children ran out to meet us, all under the age of ten. The oldest of the bunch stopped and gaped at me.
"T-the queen!"
The other children stopped their chattering and stared openly. I offered a little wave as we passed, uncomfortable with the unabashed shock on their faces.
"Get used to it," Beata said, nodding to the town, where more people were gathering.
The reaction was almost instantaneous, and before I even knew what was happening, I was surrounded. The expressions ranged from jubilation to hysteria, some even sobbing into their hands as I passed. My soldiers kept a tight perimeter, but I didn't sense anyone intent on hurting me.
"Hello, hi, how are you?" The words tumbled from my mouth as we pressed into the village. The crowd remained thick, even after we stopped and Beata disembarked to bring her wares to the tailor. Two of my guards stayed beside me as the crowd shouted too many questions for me to hear.
"All right, all right! Give the poor queen some air!"
A woman came ambling through the crowd, her low voice echoing through the din and quieting everyone. She wore a smile that said she ran the town and I instantly took a liking to her.
"Your Majesty," she said with a flourished bow. "My name is Tamra, and I run the inn and tavern in town. It would be my honor to have you dine there." She gestured to the crowd. "At least you might get a word in edgewise."
"Sure," I said with a grin. "Lead the way."
Tamra cut a path through the crowd with ease, although I still had a few stragglers try to speak with me. She led me to a rather large building in town called The Flying Fish, and once I was inside, she shut the door on the crowd.
Tamra offered me a seat at the table. "If you'd like to receive people, I can let them in."
"I don't know what I can do for them," I said, glancing out the window. "What do they need?"
"Right now, just a little hope," she said, placing a tankard on the bar. She beamed at me. "I have to say, I was convinced they were lying. How in the Mother's name did you survive?"
I gave her the abridged version of my story, but she'd already heard the part about Neveri from the soldiers who'd been in town. She was clearly impressed with the lengths I'd traveled, and as I recounted my tale, I was a little impressed with myself, too.
"And now?" she asked, refilling my tankard.
"Now, I'm setting the pieces for the eventual retaking of Forcadel," I said, wiping the suds off my upper lip. "But it's not going so well."
"These things never do," she said as the door opened and Beata walked in. "You seem a capable person. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Especially if you've got Lady Beata by your side."
"They wouldn't let me in, so I had to threaten not to feed them," she said, sitting on a stool next to me. "Thank you, Tamra."
"My pleasure," she said, placing a tankard on the bar for her. "You get prettier every time I see you."
Beata blushed. "Katarine's going to be jealous with all this attention I'm getting."
But I glanced at the two of them, at the way Tamra leaned on the bar, the way Beata leaned toward her. There was definitely a flirtation going on. Not that I thought Beata would be unfaithful to Katarine, but clearly, she'd been doing whatever she could to further the cause.
Tamra excused herself to the back, and I nudged Beata playfully. "Look at you, flirting with bartenders."
"Katarine will be so jealous when she finds out," Beata said with a sad smile. "Or proud, I'm not quite sure which." She gazed down at her hands. "If I ever see her again."
My heart twisted for her. "Every day, I think about them and wonder if I could've done more."
"I know you did your best."
"The thing is, I didn't." I swallowed hard. "I could've gone into the dungeon. I could've fought my way through all the guards, maybe used some hyblatha to get him out. Instead, I let Jax tell me it was more important that I stay out of trouble. More important that I live."
"But that's the thing, Brynna. You aren't just a person. You're a symbol." She gestured to the town behind us. "Look at how they reacted when you came here. They didn't even have to be told it was you—they just assumed. The people are starved for hope. If you got captured…" She shook her head.
"I know," I said. "But it's hard to be the one who gets saved when everyone else gets left behind. Especially when those people…"
"Heavy is the head that wears the crown," Beata said, tapping the gold circlet on my head. "I don't envy you at all."
"Me neither." I stared into my tankard. "Especially since I'm wearing the crown, but I don't seem to be calling the shots."
"Then call them," Beata said. "You have a village full of people outside hungry to hear your words. And you ducked in here to hide out. I say you get out there and speak to your people." She shrugged. "You're going to have to get used to it anyway."
"Excuse me, Your Majesty." Enos ducked his head inside. "I hate to interrupt, but Captain Mark wanted us to have you home before sundown, and it's getting to be that time."
Beata quirked her brow at me, but I said nothing as I rose.
"Leaving already?" Tamra said, her arms laden with bottles of wine and rounds of cheese.
"Unfortunately, duty calls," I said. "But as soon as I'm able, I'll return."
The mood was the same when I walked out of the tavern. The crowd opened a path for me, anticipation plain on their faces. They'd wanted more from their queen, and I hadn't delivered.
"I have nothing to say to them," I whispered hastily to Beata.
"They don't need much," she said. "Just a bit of hope. Surely you can offer that."
Enos helped me climb onto the back of the wagon, where I sat facing the crowd. I gazed at the crowd—old and young, tall
and short. Some lighter skinned, some darker. All desperate for something they could take with them.
"Wait a second," I said to Enos as he picked up the reins. I climbed on top of the wagon to look at the crowd.
"I wanted to thank you all for your hospitality," I called. "You've shown my soldiers such kindness in our hour of need. I wish I had more to give you than hope, but that's all I have at the moment." I paused, racking my brain for something else to say. "We will be retaking the kingdom in the next few months. And Ilara will wish she'd stayed to watch me die."
An eruption of cheers echoed from the group, and I waved as I plopped back down next to Beata. Enos cracked the reins, and we jerked forward.
"Well?" I asked.
"Not too bad," Beata said, brushing a stray hair out of my face. "We'll make a queen of you yet."
Chapter 20
"I think that was a mistake," Mark said over breakfast the next morning.
"Color me surprised," I muttered. "Please, enlighten me?"
"You announced yourself to a town. What's to prevent Ilara from sending soldiers up this way? Word will travel." He cleared his throat. "Perhaps you should consider my suggestion to move camp. West would be a good option."
It was hard not to roll my eyes. "We aren't ready for Neveri," I said. "Not until Jax gets back with word. But I don't disagree that we should move."
To where, I had no clue. The map of Forcadel was vast, but nearly every part of the country was a day's ride from the capital. It was far, and yet it wasn't. I wouldn't put it past Ilara to assemble an army that could massacre mine in a single night. It didn't seem there was anywhere we could go that would offer more protection than what we had now.
"Skorsa could be an option," I said, pointing to the eastern city. "Ariadna surely has her forces in place now. They might be able to house us temporarily."
"I wouldn't want to move our troops so far from Neveri, though," Mark said.
It was hard not to roll my eyes. How many times could I tell him we weren't ready for Neveri? "What if I don't want to send troops to Neveri?"
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