He pulled her close, smelling the top of her head. “If it means so much to you, I won’t risk myself like that again. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
She had no response for that, so she only buried her face in his chest and closed her eyes. She would take what small comfort she could in him.
***
Korinna had to face the truth later that day. The devastation of Anoberesovo’s farms was almost complete. Nine-tenths of their fields had burned; of the sheep flocks that hadn’t been slaughtered by the chimaera, the rest scattered into the surrounding wilderness, and shepherds only managed to round up a handful in their search, careful not to venture too far into the dangerous forest.
Myron gave her an inventory of all the food stored in the manor and the village, and the total was grim. They’d had various crops of vegetables throughout the growing season, but there wasn’t much else since they’d depended on the upcoming harvest to replenish their stock. The remaining sheep couldn’t be slaughtered for meat because they still needed wool and milk, but feeding them would be difficult without hay. And even if they could somehow feed the people, they still needed the lost harvest to pay their tithes and to trade for goods. One night had left them suddenly on the brink of starvation and poverty.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Myron told her, pushing aside the ledger full of the stark numbers. “The food we have would last us one month, maybe two, and there’s not much we can grow for the eight months of summer. Then we’ll have no seed to plant when the rains do return.”
Korinna closed her eyes, but the numbers still swirled before her mind’s eye, reminding her how much she had failed. “There must be something we missed. An estate this size doesn’t just run out of food so quickly. If we shear the last of the sheep and sell the wool—”
He shook his head. “It’s nowhere near enough to buy what we need.” He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Write to your father, the duke, and ask him for money. He’ll help.”
Her eyes flew open. “I’m not going begging to him again,” she said, gritting her teeth together. But the mention of the duke gave her an idea. She would find the money to feed her people herself.
She went to her mother’s chambers, which had been untouched since Pherenia’s death, and pulled out all of the expensive gifts that the duke had given her over the years. Most of the dresses were too old and worn, but there was also perfume, fine carvings, rare jewels. In her own room, she had a few presents of her own. She gathered everything that could possibly fetch a price at a market without a thought of regret.
She packaged up the gifts to protect them during travel and took them to Myron. “I’d like you to take all of this to the city, and sell them for the best price you can get,” she told him in a firm tone. “I trust you to haggle well and bring the money back since you’re an honest man and you know how important this is for all of us. Hopefully, there will be enough for the estate to recover.”
Myron opened one package and saw what she’d given him. He looked back up at her in surprise. “Don’t you want to save this for your mother’s memory?” he said, shaking his head. “No one expects you to give all of it up.”
“I have to take care of my people,” Korinna said, lifting her head up high. “These things don’t mean anything to me, but if they can do some good for us, I will gladly be rid of them.” She put her hand on his, rough and gnarled from a lifetime of work, and squeezed it. “Please, will you do this for me?”
He sighed but nodded. “Do you at least want to come with me to the city? You’ve never been to the capital. There’s a number of remarkable sights there.”
She pursed her lips together, thinking it over. She did want to see the capital, but going there now when she was only trying to scrape together food for her people, that wasn’t the way she’d imagined it. She finally shook her head. “I’ll go another time,” she said brightly. “One of us should be here to oversee what we have left, and reassure the people. These times are hard for all of us, and I don’t want anyone to succumb to despair just because we’ve had a few setbacks.”
Myron smiled and ruffled her hair. “You’re a kind leader. I’m not sure that there’s much else I can teach you so long as you do what you think is right. That’s all any of us can do when we’re tested like this, and only the gods know if we’ve made the right choice.”
He left the next day, much to Korinna’s relief. She was afraid that if she’d taken too much long to consider what she was doing, she’d have regretted the loss of her mother’s precious things after all. Pherenia would never have given up any present from the duke. But when Myron was gone, making the decision irreversible, she prayed for at the shrine for her mother’s forgiveness and moved on. She wasn’t exaggerating when she said that there was still a lot of work left to be done in Anoberesovo.
She helped the farmers clear the fields of ash and debris left by the fire. They harvested the meager remains of the crops and she rationed out the food fairly to each family. The New Year festival, normally a time of excess and celebration, took on a somber tone with so little to go around; Korinna joined her people in praying fervently for a better year.
The Summer Athletic Games were canceled throughout Kyratia since so many communities were recovering from their own losses. Korinna was a little disappointed that she would not be able to compete in the women’s category for the first time, but it was just as well since she hadn’t had time to keep up with her own training. Her sixteenth birthday passed without any celebration or not.
At last, Myron came back some money—not as much as she’d hoped, but enough to get by. She went with him to nearby villages and learned how to barter for the supplies that they needed. Myron helped her calculate what they would need for the coming year, and together they stretched their funds pay their tithes and to make sure that each family had the food they needed to survive, sheep to replenish their flocks, and seed to plant when the winter rains returned.
In the end, there was only one coin left over, a single penny. Korinna took the coin to the blacksmith and asked him to pierce a hole in the top. She strung the penny onto a chain and wore it around her neck as a reminder of everything that had happened. Since she’d sold all of her mother’s jewelry, it was the only adornment she had left.
***
One afternoon in the summer, Father Isokytres asked her for a private meeting in the manor. Korinna dismissed the servants and brought the priest wine and food herself so they could sit in the hall alone.
“I hope you don’t have more bad news for us, Father,” Korinna said when the usual pleasantries were over. “I don’t think we can take any more tragedy.”
Isokytres set down his cup with a heavy sigh. “Let’s say, for now, that I am merely concerned.” He leaned back in his chair and looked at her over his eyeglasses. “It seems more than a coincidence that we’ve had two separate incursions of wyld magic in such a short span of time. I’m afraid that my blessings haven’t been enough to protect Anoberesovo.”
She reached out and grasped his hand. “Please, Father, don’t blame yourself. wyld magic has been attacking everywhere, even in the capital. I know the Temple does its best to protect us, but you can’t stop it all of the time.”
Isokytres smiled at her gratefully but shook his head. “It’s so kind of you to say that, my dear. But even the Temple’s highest priests are baffled to explain this latest series of incidents.” He glanced around the room, then leaned forward and told her in a whisper, “There seems to be a pattern to these attacks.”
She frowned. “What kind of pattern?”
He held up one finger. “First, the miasma strikes the heart of the capital, including the duke’s household, killing his wife and son.” He held up a second finger. “The same disease came here more severely than any other village nearby, where it took your poor mother and almost you as well—the duke’s other child. Third, when you survived that illness, a chimaera appeared out of nowhere and nearly destroyed this enti
re estate.”
Korinna pulled back in surprise. “You make it sound like these incidents were politically motivated against the duke.” She stared at the priest for signs that he was serious, because it sounded like paranoid thinking. “But for these attacks to be deliberate, they’d have to be directed by a human hand. No human could control wyld magic.”
“There have been rumors,” Isokytres said warningly. He locked eyes with her in dead seriousness, and he didn’t seem to be raving out of his mind, although the priest was getting on in years. “I haven’t seen it myself, but there are radical ideas floating around that we should take control of the wyld instead of driving it back. Some cults claim to have been successful, although it’s never proven. But what if someone has found a way and they’re using it to weaken the duke’s control?” He pointed at her. “You could still be in danger.”
Korinna sat back in her chair and stared off into the distance, trying to consider the possibility. The duke had always said that he sent her and her mother to Anoberesovo to protect them from the politics in the city, and she’d always thought that they were too far away for such concerns to touch her. Yet she was the duke’s presumptive heir again, and she knew that her father’s political rivals—in Kyratia and in other states—could see her as a tool or a threat simply for her existence.
But an attack through wyld magic? It sounded like a crazy story written for the theater, not a real concern. No one could have carried miasma into her village or sent a chimaera to attack her fields unless the gods Themselves had chosen to punish the duke for some sin. If this were divine punishment, she could do nothing but surrender her soul into Their hands. If it were a human enemy—well, she didn’t think any human had that kind of power, but she was already doing everything she could to protect her home and her people. There was no sense worrying over some conspiracy cult sending magical attacks or whatever the priest thought might happen.
She composed herself and looked back at Father Isokytres with a respectful bow of her head. “Thank you for the warning, Father. I’ll take it into consideration.”
The priest nodded. “I’m just telling you so you can be prepared to guard yourself against future attacks. I’ve also written to the Temple and asked for other priests to come and help me reinforce the blessings on Anoberesovo. I may not be strong enough to resist these attacks on my own, but with extra boundaries around this estate, we should be able to keep back all but the deadliest wyld magic.”
“Thank you for everything,” Korinna said with a smile. “Unfortunately, given our shortage, I can’t give more than our usual tithe to your shrine—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Isokytres said with a wave of his hand. “I’m doing this because it’s my duty.” He touched her shoulder. “And I know you are doing your duty to these people, too, despite the rough year you’ve had. You’ve already shown the strength of a capable leader, and I hope you will continue to guide us for many years to come. We’re in good hands with you.”
Korinna blushed at his praise. “Th-thank you,” she managed to stammer out again, not sure what else to say. She did hope people approved of her actions as their leader, but she’d rarely heard any comments one way or another about her mother’s leadership, so she hadn’t expected them for herself. It was enough just to know that most of them would still live to see another year.
She said her farewell to the priest and went back to her work with mixed feelings. She was concerned about what he’d said, even if she didn’t believe that a person could be responsible for all of her recent hardships. There was no way to tell, either way, what had been the cause of the plague and the chimaera attack. She’d just have to save her money against future problems and trust in her guards to help protect the estate. There was nothing else she could do.
***
On the day before the longest night of the year, a package came for Korinna from the capital. There was no seal or marking on the outside to tell who had sent it. She waited until she was alone, up in her mother’s old chambers which she had taken over for herself as the lady of the household, to open it.
Inside, she found jewelry carefully wrapped in cloth. The old-fashioned sapphire necklace and earrings had been polished like new, but she recognized them all the same. They were Pherenia’s favorite set, given to her when Korinna was born. Myron had sold them months ago in the city, so where had they come from?
There was a letter underneath them, also without a seal or signature, but Korinna recognized the duke’s handwriting. She found only a few lines.
I’m sorry that I can’t write to you openly or bring you to the city. I think I have enemies here, and it wouldn’t be safe for you.
I also take care of my people.
Korinna re-read the letter several times to decipher the meaning, but she was left puzzled by the duke’s cryptic words. Did he also believe, like the priest, that his enemies were using wyld magic to kill off his family? Why did he think it was safer for her to be alone in the country where she barely knew what was going on? Had he sent her mother’s jewels as a sign that he was mourning her death or he regretted being unable to save her? The gift raised more questions than it answered.
But she had to smile when she saw Pherenia’s favorite jewels again. She put them inside the jewelry box for safe keeping and fingered the coin at her neck. She didn’t need anything fancy for herself, but it was nice to know that she hadn’t lost her mother’s things after all. The little part of her that had felt guilty about their sale was finally at peace.
She changed into a plain dress of undyed wool and let her hair down loose around her shoulders. The rains had come early this year, already soaking the fields, but they’d had a lucky break in the storms. Tonight, there would be a bonfire that burned all through the longest night, and she’d participate in the fertility rites to bless the fields for the first time as a grown woman.
She wasn’t nervous until she went outside with the other women and found Aeson with the men in the courtyard, waiting for her. When he offered his hand and she took it, her heart started pounding.
“Will you dance with me?” he asked her in a low voice, his eyes shining.
She swallowed and nodded, her mouth suddenly too dry to speak. They hadn’t spoken about it directly, but they’d had an understanding for months that she would dance with him around the bonfire that night. And when couples began to slip away from the bonfire into the darkness, to bless the fields in their own private way, she and Aeson would join together for the first time.
They didn’t need to wait—young people their age paired off all the time in the village and no one expected them to marry for a few years at least, and the local midwife had discreetly given Korinna the herbs to prevent an accidental pregnancy without asking questions. But although she’d spent her spare time with Aeson for the past year, it felt right somehow to wait until tonight to share this special moment. Tomorrow, they’d start planting the seeds that Korinna had bought and it would begin a new chapter for Anoberesovo, one she hoped would be better.
She gripped Aeson’s hand tightly as they walked out of the manor together, and he looked down at her with a smile. He wasn’t a guard tonight, and she didn’t have to be the lady of the manor or the duke’s daughter. There was no future for them as a pair, but although they both knew that, they didn’t care. Just for this moment, she was his and he was hers, so they could be happy and not worry about anything else.
Whatever the future held for her, Korinna had done her best to prepare for it. She didn’t know what would happen in the coming year or the one after that—but she’d earned the right to set those worries aside for now and enjoy herself.
Ahead of them, the drumming had already begun in the fields as the sun sank in the west. It rang out like a heartbeat across the village and called them all to the lighting of the bonfire. Together, they would push back the darkness and invite the blessings of the gods on their humble estate. And life would go on.
THANK YOU & REA
D MORE
THANK YOU
Thank you for reading “The Duke’s Daughter”! I hoped that you enjoyed it. Either way, I would love to hear your thoughts on the story. Your feedback can help other readers decide whether or not they might want to try the book out for themselves. Word-of-mouth is the most important way for new books, especially ones by indie authors, to get discovered by readers, but 99% of readers don’t write reviews. You could be part of the 1% who writes reviews by just taking a few minutes of your time.
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Read More
Are you ready for more adventures? Follow this link to read the next part of the series: A Flight of Marewings, Wyld Magic #1
Marewings: part horse, part demon, all monster. Only the bravest riders dare to catch and tame them, and most die in the attempt. Not the best choice for a young woman who only knows how to run a farm.
But Korinna is running out of options. Her father, the duke of Kyratia City, danced himself to death in a strange madness. He wanted her to marry his warlord, Galenos, and inherit his titles. But the power-hungry Council seized control of the city and left her with nothing. Her father’s ghost haunts her, demanding more.
The duke’s mage warns that the dancing madness is spreading while the usurping Council does nothing. Galenos promises to take the city back by force, but then he won’t need Korinna. She’s not strong enough to fight alongside him—unless she becomes a marewing rider.
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