A New World

by Lina J. Potter

  A Medieval Tale

  Book Nine

  A New World

  By Lina J. Potter

  Translated by LitHunters

  Welcome

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  A Medieval Tale: A New World

  Contents:

  Welcome

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  From the Author

  Book Recommendations

  About Lina J. Potter

  A Medieval Tale: A New World

  Once, she did what seemed impossible. Still, her happily ever after is yet to come, as a new struggle arises. A new fight for her life, freedom, and happiness has already begun. A new place, new people, and a new world - and nothing in her hands. She has to start from the very beginning.

  Lilian Earton has traveled a long way from a modern medic who found herself in the body of a medieval countess, lost and powerless, to a strong, independent, and powerful woman. Caught in the middle of royal conspiracies, takeovers, and intrigues, she has earned her right to proudly stand next to kings, be happy, and never be afraid of anyone.

  ***

  A new page in the struggle that is the life of Lilian Earton begins with A Medieval Tale book 9: A New World. A bestselling Amazon series by Lina J. Potter starts with a new page to prove that Lilian is strong enough to fight for her place in the world and her happiness no matter what. A #1 Amazon bestseller series in multiple categories continues with a new twist.

  Prologue

  The man slowly licked the blood from his blade. It was red and hot, so alive and real—unlike him. The only thing others could see was the shell: handsome and charming but dead and empty for the last few years.

  Why? That's what that girl had screamed.

  Why...the perennial question that nobody knew the answer to.

  Why had it happened to him, then? Why was he killed? What had he done to deserve it? He could walk, talk, even smile, but all of that was fake. Everything inside of him was long dead.

  His head started to hurt, and the man licked the blade once again. It helped. The taste of blood on his lips, either someone else's or his own—it didn't really matter, as long as it quelled the terrible pain, made it unclench its claws.

  The next morning, the man would look the same as he looked the day before, and nobody would notice anything different about him, but the time until then was his and only his. Nobody could infringe on the couple of moments when he could reveal his true self—the minutes before pain sank its jaws into his pliant flesh, when he didn't have to wear a mask, when he could relax and smile. Half of Ativerna would have turned gray at the sight of that smile, mad and chilling. The killer relished the sight of the body spread before him, trapped in an ecstatic orgasm-like state.

  Did he feel sorry?

  No, not for anyone. Nobody had felt sorry for him, after all. Let them pay for their crimes!

  The time was running out.

  "Your Grace, your carriage awaits."

  The man nodded and left the dark alley, walking down several streets and climbing into the carriage.

  They would remove the bars from the windows when they reached the central streets, not before. The killer had his confidants. They knew much and helped him corner his prey. Funny.

  It was as if he was hunting with a pack of his loyal dogs, his prey the most delicious and sweet of all: a human. That thought amused the killer so much that a single giggle escaped his lips: bitter and acrid, like the bark of a fever tree. He would never take another liberty like that again.

  Nobody would hear that other than the three people he trusted the most.

  The killer was returning to normal life. His beast was sated, gorged on fresh meat.

  For how long would it last?

  Nobody knew.

  Chapter 1

  “Mama!”

  Lily pried herself away from her book and looked at her daughter.

  "Yes, sweetie?"

  Miranda Catherine Earton, a charming teenage girl with large eyes and a mane of black hair, seemed upset, Lily was sure of that. After all, it had been a while since her daughter had thrown her arms around her, burying her face in her mother's dress. She was all grown up; soon, she would have to get married, so she knew all about presenting herself.

  "Mama!"

  But something had happened, and Lily was busy pressing her child to her chest. Yes, she was still a small child to her, her sweetie, and she was to be protected at all times.

  For parents, their children never really grew up.

  "Mirrie, what's wrong?"

  Lily was patting her daughter on her head, her thoughts simple.

  All of them were alive and well; there was nothing tragic going on. Actually, there was only one man for whom Lily was genuinely worried and whom she couldn't watch all the time. There was no need to be concerned about others, as she saw them every day.

  That person was His Majesty Edward. The king was fading away. Nobody lived forever, and his heart had been giving out for quite a while. Oh, how many years had it been? Mirrie was still so small back then, and Lily was a completely different person...

  Her thoughts didn't prevent Lilian from caressing her daughter and trying to comfort her. Let her cry her heart out and then explain what had happened.

  The old method worked, Miranda wiped her nose off and said, "Riana was murdered!"

  "What?" Lily was aghast.

  She knew her daughter's friend well. Viscountess Dilahn had been a sweet girl of seventeen, betrothed to marry the next fall. Being almost four years older than Mirrie didn't prevent them from spending time together. The viscountess often visited the Earton estate, and Lily had talked to her more than once. How could she be dead? Murdered, even? Who could have... Why? How? It boggled the mind. It seemed impossible, monstrous, unimaginable...like any loss of someone close to you.

  "I don’t know...she was found in the town today..."

  Mirrie was sobbing.

  "Here, drink this...do you want stewed berries?"

  Lily pushed her tea set toward her.

  Ativerna clearly had a long way to go before getting actual tea, so she was forced to use a special mix: marjoram, mint, raspberry... Herbs were something she knew well.

  Growing up during hard times meant learning them by heart, and later, when pharmacies had started to sell counterfeit drugs...those bastards! Now, they were people whom Aliya would have shot without any mercy! Fake currency was one thing, but medicine? People's lives depended on it! Ugh!

  As she drank up, Miranda calmed down.Lily slowly distracted her with smooth talk, calming her down, and then started to q
uestion her.

  The story was weird. Riana Dilahn had been engaged. As usual, her fiancé was chosen by her parents. Lily knew that thirty-four-year-old handsome marquis. Still, such a large age gap...

  Of course, Riana, not to mention Miranda, saw him as a dinosaur. Love? What love could there be in an arranged marriage? Maybe if the husband managed to grow it out of a seed of respect... And if he couldn't, well, he would probably become a cuckold: far from the first one and definitely not the last.

  The marquis was smart enough to come to an understanding with the girl's parents but not smart enough to talk to her directly. Riana had always cared more about books than jewelry, and she never liked sweets, either, preferring salty delicacies. The marquis, however, chose the standard approach: trinkets, flowers, candies...nothing she was interested in.

  He also started to get handsy. By local standards, it was nothing out of the ordinary—a betrothal usually turned into a marriage, after all. Riana, however, had a different opinion. At first, she tolerated it, then started complaining to her friend, then stopped complaining, and Miranda was sure that she fell in love with someone else. Who, though? Riana didn't tell, although she did mention that her beloved wasn't free.

  "Was he married?"

  "Riana said he had certain obligations."

  “Hmm.”

  Miranda had covered for her friend a few times, not knowing where she went to. And then...

  Mirrie felt guilty for everything. Lily sighed. The girl was right to feel that way, but what would you expect of a child who hadn't even turned fifteen? It couldn't be helped. Could she reason like an adult who knew everything and never did anything wrong in his life...did people like that actually exist? Lily wouldn't mind getting a specimen like that for her museum of anatomy, down the road. Everyone did stupid things, every last one of us. Lily knew she was no exception, either, but how was she to explain it to Miranda?

  "Sweetie, you do realize that both of you were wrong?"

  Mirrie nodded. She had expected her mother to try and alleviate her guilt, but...she really was to blame, wasn't she?

  "It would have been simpler if you've told me everything right away."

  "Why?"

  Lily shrugged.

  "I would have never told Riana's parents, you have to know that, and I wouldn't have gotten involved. But we should have learned the name of that mysterious lover of hers."

  Mirrie buried her face in her hands.

  "Riana never mentioned it."

  "Did she call him anything?"

  “N-no."

  "What about nicknames? Like 'honey' or 'love'?"

  Mirrie shook her head again.

  "No. She only mentioned that he was older, although not by much."

  Lily sighed.

  "Mirrie, I'll ask Hans to visit us this evening. Talk to him, all right? Recall everything that Riana told you, what she did, where she went, what she bought... Maybe she once bought a ribbon when going home from a date; maybe she mentioned a weathervane or a fence gate she liked..."

  Mirrie nodded.

  "Mama...I could have stopped her, couldn’t I?"

  "You couldn't," Lily cut her off bluntly. "Both of you are guilty of being reckless, but you're not to blame for her death. She couldn't have known, you couldn't have predicted, but you could have taken precautions and forced her to do the same."

  "Like what?"

  "To tell you where she was going and when she would be back. Write down the name of her lover in her diary, warn him that others know about him..."

  "Oh..."

  Mirrie turned pale.

  Lily wanted to give her a shake.

  “What's wrong?"

  But somewhere deep inside, somewhere where foreboding feelings dwelled, she already knew what was wrong. That realization made her cold, an icy needle stuck in her belly, all but stopping her from breathing.

  "Mama, Riana really could have told him something like that."

  "Why do you think that?"

  "I suggested it myself. I said that she didn't have to say his name, but she could at least imply to him that..."

  The desire to shake the girl gave way to the urge to box her ears and then, to protect her. Like, say, lock her up at home or, even better, in a panic room. Or maybe a walk-in safe? Too bad the witness protection program wouldn't be invented until several centuries in the future!

  "I won't let you even peek out of a window without an escort, got it?"

  Mirrie nodded.

  "Lou-Lou is always with me, anyway."

  "Wonderful. Never part with her, all right?"

  Miranda nodded.

  Lou-Lou, who had grown up large enough to weigh more than her mistress, would see that no harm came to the brat. As for the rest...

  Lily felt grateful to all the gods for her own providence. Mirrie was supposed to get married in the Khanganat; what would one expect of a harem?

  Nothing good.

  Lilian had no experience with it, but she suspected that in a harem, she would be eaten alive in just a few days. That's why she taught her daughter every skill that might come in handy, like identifying poisons by taste: primitive toxicology, not especially detailed, but still.

  Tasteless poisons didn't exist yet; the chemical industry had yet to come up with replacements for cyanide and belladonna. Each poison had taste or smell, as well as an antidote and symptoms. It was possible to notice it, figure out the reason, and survive. Aldonai willing, the girl wouldn't need any of that, but it was better to know everything.

  Fighting was another useful skill. The Virmans took Lily's request seriously enough and did their best to train the young viscountess. Miranda wasn't really good with swords, but knives seemed to be her weapons of choice, and she threw them like nobody's business. She could also handle a crossbow and a sling.

  Was that enough? Absolutely not, but what else could Lily do?

  Nothing. Children always grew up and eventually left.

  You couldn't hide them, lock them up, or make them stay; they would never forgive you for that, anyway.

  The only thing left to do was what had been done for Aliya herself: give the girl knowledge, skills, and abilities that allowed her to survive in any situation so that Mirrie could stand up for herself. Whatever happened to her parents, she would survive on her own without counting on anyone else.

  Had Lily succeeded in that? Time would tell.

  Her conscience clean, Lily started writing a note for Hans Tremain. Over the years, the leir had gotten a title, becoming the head of the Royal Investigation Service: the first follower of Sherlock Holmes in Ativerna, a detective.

  He wasn't always successful in his endeavors, but a pioneer could be forgiven many blunders. Maybe one day, they would create an order in his name or put up a memorial plaque on a building telling about him. Lily kept egging him on to write memoirs or at least leave case notes to his wife, so she'd chronicle everything. It would help him pass down the experience to others, too.

  But who had killed Riana?

  Lily already had her suspicions. Strangely, in any world, most women were killed either by their husbands or their lovers; money came second. But was it sex, blackmail, or...

  Maybe Riana had gotten pregnant and wanted to keep the child, while the father was against it?

  Alas, Lily was no M.E. and had no desire to master that skill. She knew Tremain well enough to realize that as soon as she did, she would have to dig through corpses until the end of days, and he would never let her rest.

  No, thank you. She might be able to crank out simple operations, but thoracic or brain surgery was above her level.

  Postmortem studies would have to be left to the future generations, if anyone would want to take up that line of work.

  And so, she wrote, Honorable Tremain, would you care to keep us company for tonight's dinner...

  ***

  The atmosphere during dinner was warm and cordial. Hans had arrived without his wife, who was about to give birth again
. The other attendees were Jerisson, Lily, Miranda, Eric, Leif, Ingrid, and even Ingrid's nephew Torv, who was planning on returning to Virma soon. Tahir had stayed behind at the hospital.

  Both dogs were with their masters, of course, sitting by their side and watching the plates. They weren't begging for scraps, of course, but what if someone's hand slipped and a tasty morsel fell on the floor? Things happened! They just had to seize the moment.

  Unsurprisingly, the conversation was far from the easiest, especially for Miranda.

  "I knew that Riana was in love, but I never expected it to get this far..."

  "But it did," Hans said with a sigh. "Mirrie, your friend was with child. I talked to her maid, and she confessed that her mistress was two months pregnant. She hadn't realized it right away..."

  "Riana never told me."

  "But she must have told it to the baby's father. You must try and recall everything she mentioned to you."

  Mirrie nodded. Hans rubbed his nose.

  "That's not the worst thing, however. This is the fourth body so far."

  “What?!”

  "How?!"

  "It cannot be!"

  Several voices joined together. Hans lowered his eyes, grim.

  "Exactly. This isn't the only death. The first victim was a merchant's daughter, then two girls from craftsmen families..."

  "Why do you think they're connected?" Lily asked firmly. "What do they have in common?"

  "Bad things," Hans replied. "Are you sure you want to hear it, ladies?"

  The ladies exchanged looks and snorted. Those who attended surgery weren't scared by stories, and Ingrid was a Virman with a different view of pain and death.

  "Their looks. All four were blondes, tall, pretty, from good families."

  "Looks aren't enough. What else?”

  "Mementos. Each girl had her pinkie cut off. Each had a kiss on her cheek."

  "A kiss?"

  "A lip print, bloody."

  Lily winced.

  "Is the...memento the only thing missing in each case?"