Closed Doors and Broken Mirrors

by S R Nulton

  Mama nodded. “It’s a good start, particularly when you haven’t been able to visit any of the cities yet. Anything to add, Captain?”

  The captain shook his head. “No. I’m better at military maneuvers than economics. It seems sound though.”

  “Well, I’m sure you will be able to give them plenty of advice soon enough.”

  He blinked at her. “Why? Are they staying?”

  “No. I thought you were going with Snow, helping her tour the country and adding to her legitimacy.”

  A slow, slightly predatory smile stole across his face. “You can’t get rid of me that easily, my queen. They can use the information that they have met with ambassadors of five different countries and are fully supported. They don’t need me. You, on the other hand…”

  Mama just stared at him, looking completely lost and a little happy. Also, scared.

  Interesting. I’ll have to ask her in my next letter.

  “Well, we should be off then. I’ll send a letter if I remember anything else. Until then, I’ll just keep on doing what I’m doing.” I gave her another hug and whispered, “And you are so explaining this to me later. Don’t think you won’t.”

  CHAPTER 8: AN APPLE A DAY...

  SNOW WHITE

  Despite my threats to wheedle the information out of Mama about her and the captain, I never quite managed it. Two weeks of near daily correspondence and nothing. She’d neatly dodged all my pointed questions and started teasing me about James in return. Which made absolutely no sense! I mean, we were friendly, but nothing more.

  Weren’t we? I wondered once again as we headed into a familiar village. It was the closest to our ‘base camp’, as Earyn called it, so we were pretty well known there. It allowed me to split my attention between greeting people and pondering the question that plagued me. James hasn’t treated me any differently lately. I mean, sure he’s been nicer to me, but that’s because we finally understand each other! And he never flirted with me. Except… I’m not very knowledgeable about men. Maybe he did and I missed it?

  The problem was that he was so quiet! He rarely teased or showed emotion. Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. He did tease me, but very lightly. Nothing like I’d read about in all those novels. And he really wasn’t as quiet with me as he had been. Actually, he loved to ask me deep questions and then listened attentively while I worked through my answer. There was never a rush. And he did show emotion, but only in his eyes, which had become significantly less guarded over time. Really, he’d been burned by the nobles too much to show much in the way of facial expressions, but he was loosening up. And maybe he’d been sticking closer ever since we’d visited my mama and the Fey captain.

  Oh… I blinked as it all snapped together and I turned immediately to look at James.

  He lifted a brow, silently asking me what was wrong. I just shook my head. There would be time to talk to him after we got back to the base.

  We even understand each other when we don’t speak!

  “Greetings! What news have you?” asked the mayor.

  I let my thoughts shift away from a possible romance and back to the matter at hand. “Good news, actually. I’ve met with representatives from five other countries and they have been made aware of what we face.”

  The gathering crowd began to murmur, but quieted when I began to speak again.

  “Alenia and Lettelach have both allied themselves with the people, as have the Fey Forest, Mindep, and Shessat.” Cheers rang out as they acknowledged that they weren’t alone anymore in the fight. The common people might want to rebel but they were all too aware that the king could request help from his allies in putting down the resistance. I’d basically just told them that we’d cut off his legs. “Also, we are working on a plan of action to help correct the problems in this country, starting with the taxes you are facing.”

  “You mean we won’t have to pay taxes anymore?” someone called out.

  I put on my saddest face, knowing that they would understand if they thought I sympathized and didn’t speak down to them. “Not entirely. The fact is that taxes are there to help pay for many things that you benefit from. Like a military to protect the borders if anyone should attack. Or repairing roads to make travel safer and easier. The problem is that the money hasn’t been used for what it was intended. So, the current plan is that taxes will be stopped for one year while we figure out what is going on with the money and what is actually necessary. I can’t promise that you will be happy with everything we do, but I can promise to send out an accounting of what each tax pays for and you will have the right to tell the courts if you see the money being diverted.”

  That last part seemed to confuse them a bit, but they were still happy about the reprieve.

  “And how do we know you won’t raise the taxes the same way? We can’t afford to pay any more?”

  It was a good question, but a hard one to answer. I bit my lip. “I suppose that you’ll have to trust me. It isn’t going to be a comfortable next few years because things have been done the same way for so long and change is always difficult. There will be mistakes made on everyone’s part, but if we can learn from them then they have served their purpose. I won’t promise you something unrealistic. I will promise that any law taxing your hunting or fishing will be one of the first things to go, but only if it is exclusively for your family and not being sold to others. Again, there is much that needs to be looked at before I can make any decisions. It wouldn’t be fair to tell you I can do something when I can’t.”

  The crowd seemed to settle a little. They were mostly farmers and hunters. They all knew what it was to live with uncertainty. You couldn’t tell how the crop would do until harvest time, nor could you tell how many furs you would have from year to year. Life was fluid and required someone to bend with its motion. If you were too rigid you might not survive.

  “And the other countries? Will they send armies to help?”

  James fielded this question. “Alenia has no intention to unless it is called for. We do not wish to become too tangled up in your internal matters or appear to be invading. It is going to be difficult enough to sort things out without adding anyone else in will cause too many problems for you. We will aid, but we will not fight for you.”

  “And,” I added. “We may be able to end this without a fight. I don’t want you to turn against your brothers. Those in the cities are still under the king’s control and don’t have a choice right now. We will fight if necessary, but there are still other options being worked on. Please, have patience.”

  The informal meeting soon broke up and we dismounted. It was time to pick up some supplies, particularly as it was autumn and food would soon be scarce. While things were supposed to be resolved by mid-winter, there was no telling if it would actually work out that way.

  Each of us moved to purchase a specific supply. Earyn was in charge of the salt, sugar and other bulk goods. Lorith headed for the spices, as he was the only one who knew what they all were. I went toward the vegetables and fruit.

  “Apples, missy?” asked a crackly, low voice. I turned toward it and found myself facing an old crone. I don’t say that lightly. She was ugly, but it almost seemed purposeful. Like the whole thing was a disguise. Maybe she earns more money this way.

  I looked over her selection and barely hid a grimace. She had no idea how to display her produce! It was placed haphazardly around the stall, with boxes stacked on boxes and bruised fruit everywhere. Still, it seemed like she needed a bit of custom.

  “Please. I love apples in the fall.” I held out a coin to her and had to fight my unease as she cackled. Then, avoiding all the boxes, she pulled a big basket of absolutely gorgeous apples from behind her. Why someone would hide those, I had no idea, but I didn’t really want to ask.

  “Special apples for a beautiful girl.”

  I blinked, feeling uncomfortable but not sure why. Time to grab the fruit and leave. “Thank you.” And then I left, hurrying to one of the other stal
ls and pushing the odd encounter out of my mind.

  Just before we left, it finally hit me why the woman had seemed so odd.

  I’ve never seen her here before.

  ~

  “Ugh! It feels good to be back,” I declared as we finished unloading the last of the supplies in the kitchen.

  “I know what you mean. We’ve been traveling a lot.” James smiled at me gently before wrestling the barrel of flour into the pantry.

  I watched him for a little bit, fascinated by how strong he was, and I didn’t mean his muscles. I mean yes, he was physically strong in a human way. It was hard to think of him as really strong when we were surrounded by dwarves who could easily lift a horse while bedridden with pneumonia.

  No, what astounded me was the strength it took for a man who was raised with servants to do manual labor without a single complaint. He helped out with everything from chopping wood to cooking dinner to cleaning the house and never grumbled. Not even when he was still pretending to be a horrible person. It just wasn’t in his nature.

  “Do you like me?” I had no idea why I asked the question so baldly, but his reaction was quite interesting.

  James dropped the barrel of sugar and just barely missed breaking his foot. “Wh-what?”

  I smiled. “Do. You. Like. Me? It’s an easy question.”

  He cleared his throat and finished putting the barrel away. “I… Yes. Yes I do.” He seemed to be waiting for something as he stared into my eyes. I don’t think it was me walking over and kissing him full on the lips.

  “Good. I think I like you too.”

  James blinked at me, looking a little dazed. Then a smile, a real smile, lit up his face. “Good to know. What brought this on? Not that I mind.” He practically purred while speaking, making me shiver slightly.

  I shrugged. “Mama was teasing me about you getting jealous when her captain was talking to me and it got me thinking. I’m… I’m not used to being around men, you know? So, I’m sorry if you were trying to get my attention and I didn’t notice.”

  He shook his head. “I know. I figured that it would give us plenty of time to get to know each other. Plus, your life is going to change again, rather drastically. I don’t want to pressure you. I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with.”

  “Oh, James… just admit you were afraid I’d meet someone more outgoing.” He jerked and searched my eyes. I just grinned at him before putting my hand on his chest. “It may take me awhile to catch on, but I’m not completely oblivious. Mama had me read a lot of different books, including poetry and a few romantic stories. She used them to teach me about people’s motivations and reactions. What you haven’t seemed to grasp yet is that I like how quiet you are. You listen. And you feel safe. I haven’t had that a lot in my life.”

  A throat cleared and made us both jump. When I turned, Earyn was standing there with her brother and was shaking her head at us. “None of that now. I don’t want to have to lock you into your rooms at night. It would be dangerous if there was a fire.”

  I blushed and slipped away from James. It took pretty much all my courage to speak so plainly with him and I had none left to defend myself with. Instead, I grabbed an apple out of the basket and began to fidget, tossing it lightly from hand to hand.

  “We’re having a guest tonight for dinner, so don’t ruin your appetite,” Lorith warned after muttering about how young idiots were only supposed to show up in spring.

  “Who?” We almost never had guests, outside of family visits and they usually told me in advance when that happened. “Is is Grandma and Grandpa? I thought they were visiting the Wraith capital still.” As a mixed blood couple, it had been suggested they visit both the Wraith and Fey rulers to help them improve race relations, or something like that.

  “No. They won’t be back for another month at least. It’s that idiot, Merriweather. He decided he wants to see how things are going. Probably just wondering what’s going on with the magic in the area. It’s been all choppy ever since the king’s spells started to fail.”

  “Merriweather?” James asked.

  I laughed. “That’s right! You haven’t met him yet. Well, he is a Seelie Fey who lives near here along with his goddaughter. Well, she’s only with him part time. Anyway, he’s a little…”

  “Crazy,” Earyn drawled.

  “Eccentric,” I corrected. “But he does act quite mad most of the time. He’s a cousin or something of my grandfather’s. They were both disowned, but for very different reasons. Anyway, he’s an interesting person to chat with, as long as you aren’t too attached to reality.”

  Lorith snorted. “That’s one way of putting it. Another is he delights in confounding people.”

  “He likes spirally logic and is slightly paranoid. Although, I’m pretty sure that he’s right to be paranoid, so we don’t tease him about it.”

  James looked over at the dwarves for confirmation and they nodded gravely. It wasn’t spoken of often, but Merri really was hiding from something and we’d seen evidence of it. We’d warned him of what we’d witnessed and saw a very different Fey than the one we’d known. Earyn and the others might complain about his insanity but it was much more pleasant than when he was being serious. He was terrifying when he was serious.

  The others were explaining it to James when I realized that I was still hungry and holding a whole apple in my hand.

  So I took a bite and grimaced. It tasted terrible!

  “What? Is is mealy?” James asked, smirking at my expression. The humor left quickly when I tried to speak and started gasping.

  My tongue felt like it was twice as big as normal and my lungs were on fire as I tried to catch my breath.

  “Snow! Snow, what’s wrong?”

  I desperately pointed at my throat, where the chunk of apple was stuck, but I still couldn’t speak. Nor could I breath! Everything hurt and the world was starting to dance and get fuzzy. Dark spots began to creep into my vision as I collapsed into James’ arms.

  The last thing I saw was the absolute fear in his eyes.

  Then, everything went dark.

  ~

  Something was hitting my chest. And there was a force being pushed down my throat.

  Air. Why was someone blowing air in my mouth?

  “There she is. She’s coming around. Keep going ’til she starts breathing for herself.”

  That voice sounded familiar. I wracked my mind, but I couldn’t think. Why wasn’t I breathing? I should breath.

  Something slammed on my chest again and I gasped.

  Ah! That’s why I wasn’t breathing. Because it hurts!

  Fire raced through my chest and I started coughing. Well, as much as you can without any actual air in your lungs. It isn’t easy.

  Eventually, I was able to breathe easier and could concentrate on opening my eyes. That was when I realized that someone had picked me up.

  “James,” I said. Tried to say. Mouthed really.

  He was staring down at me with relief in his eyes. And tears. And I’m pretty sure I wasn’t thinking totally clearly, but it seemed to made him look even prettier.

  How is that possible?

  “You’re alive… Skies, Snow! We almost lost you!”

  Someone snorted. I moved my eyes toward him and saw Merriweather. “Hardly. She had at least another hour before either asphyxiation or the poison in her bloodstream killed her.”

  “Poooi-s’n?” Oh, hey! I can talk again! Sort of. Still better than before!

  Merri looked at me with an oddly avuncular expression. “Yes, dear. The apples were poisoned. Unfortunately for the assassin, the poison contained a compound that you were allergic to. It made your throat swell and slowed the spread of the poison. Ironically, what would normally kill you saved your life. I was able to bring down the swelling and get rid of the apple and poison, but you still weren’t breathing. So, the weeping one had to breath for you. Hopefully you don’t mind that he had his lips on yours.”

  I looked
back at the ‘weeping one’ and smiled. Well, grimaced really because my lips still felt swollen, but it’s the thought that counts. James smiled back. He was still crying a bit and totally unashamed.

  “You stopped breathing,” he said. “And nothing we did helped. Then your heart beat stopped. We thought… you were…”

  Merri sighed. “I told you! It didn’t stop, it slowed to the point that you couldn’t tell it was still beating! And you should be fine soon, dear. I’ve also put a healing spell on you. You wouldn’t normally recover this quickly. Now, does anyone want to tell me why someone tried to assassinate you?”

  I looked around the room, noting that all six of the dwarves were there in the kitchen with various expressions of relief and happiness.

  “It’s the third time,” Earyn admitted. “We caught the second one before any damage could be done but this one… it slipped through.”

  “Three! And no one told me?”

  “Gone,” I rasped.

  Merri looked at me and nodded sadly. He’d been traveling a lot in the last few months and we had no real way to contact him. He knew it too. The problem was that his king wanted to speak with him and Merri was trying to avoid other Fey. He’d been in a bit of a pickle, trying to do five things at once. Plus, we thought we had everything under control.

  Earyn reluctantly continued with her explanation. “The first was an enchanted corset, the second a bespelled and poisoned comb, and the third was a basket of poisoned apples. Less magic was used every time, so clearly they figured out that the simplest approaches are often the most effective.”

  The Fey sighed. “Where did it come from?”

  Everyone looked around, knowing that they hadn’t picked it up.