“It—it’s the blight,” he responded, voice shaking. He wiped dirt from his forehead. “Our field’s been hit.”
The blight. The one Vespera told me of last night. “Where is it?” I asked without thinking. “Your field.”
“Just over there, Your Majesty. On the northern end of Gold Row.” He pointed north as his partner began hauling sacks of potatoes away.
“I want to see it,” I said to Vespera. “We’ll go with you.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “Your Majesty, it might not be safe.”
At that moment, Thorne chose to reappear at my side. “Lady Silenus is right. Galen wouldn’t want you putting yourself in danger.”
I rounded on him. “If I’m meant to marry into this kingdom, Lord Reaux, then I want to knowexactlywhat I’m getting myself into. If you won’t take me to the fields, I’ll go myself.”
He stared back at me, a silent battle taking place between us. Each second under the hot sun sent another bead of sweat rolling along the column of my throat. His eyes dragged down my neck, watching the droplet glide over my skin and out of sight. When they met mine once more, his jaw tightened.
“Fine,” he finally said, running a hand over his dark beard. “Let’s go.”
Thorneand I rode in the back of Aiman’s wagon with several guards to his fields on the north end, while Vespera and mymother stayed behind to calm the nerves of the other vendors. Anticipation built inside me during the short trip. I didn’t know what to expect. The way Vespera had described it was like a plague eating the land. I wondered how far it had spread or if anyone had been hurt.
The look on the farmers’ faces was so permanent. Devastated. Hopeless. As if once the blight hit, there was no return. And this was theirlivelihoodat stake. If they could no longer grow crops or breed livestock, if theironlymethod of providing for their families was wiped away…I could see why the thought caused such panic.
My heart raced as we drew nearer to the site and the wagon slowed.
I saw it the moment I stepped down.
It was like an invisible line had been drawn in the ground. On one side was vibrant greenery, rows and rows of golden wheat stalks and green foliage of potato plants shining under the sun. And on the other side was darkness.
Death stretched back beyond the field and into the surrounding forest. Every single leaf, stem, and flower was rotted and crumbled, some of it blowing away in the wind. What were once rows of strong stalks were now lines of wilted, black thickets with torn roots breaking through the soil like claws rising to strangle anything in its path. Even the dirt looked sunken and starved.
Words failed me. I ran my fingers through my tangled hair, letting it blow to the side in the soft summer breeze as I thought about what these farmers might be feeling. What words of comfort I could offer, what empty promises I could make. A small crowd had gathered around us, what I assumed were Aiman’s employees and neighbors muttering with arms crossed over their chests and fear in their downcast eyes.
When I stepped toward the blackened land, a callused hand grabbed mine. “You can’t, Clarissa,” Thorne said in his low voice. “It will kill you.”
I looked back at him. A warning shone in his eyes—not to control me, but out of genuine fear. Protection.
As if this had happened to others.
“How do you know? It’s just a blight. It only affects the land.” I moved closer, my forehead creasing. “Right?”
His jaw clenched, but he didn’t answer. His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “There’s nothing you can do. What’s done is done. We need to get back to the manor.”
I looked back at the rotted field. “More secrets,” I murmured. This kingdom was full of them. First the dead sea life, now this. Lord Reaux knew more than he was letting on.
“Clarissa, look?—”
“Don’t worry, Lord Reaux,” I said, removing my hand from his. “I’ll find them out eventually.”
18
Clarissa
When we returned to Silenus Manor, Thorne immediately disappeared to Fates knew wherever Galen and Dion Silenus were. They all resurfaced briefly for dinner. Galen’s features were strained and pale, his behavior jumpier than normal. I was sure Thorne’s report of the blight hitting the field today put him and Dion both under immense pressure.
I couldn’t take my mind off it. Howdeadeverything was. Like something had sucked the life right out of every cell, every inch. I’d seen dead crops before, and they didn’t look anything like that. I imagined it spreading, hurting more and more farms, killing everything in its path. Thorne said there was nothing they could do, but were they eventrying?
I spent hours pacing in mine and my mother’s shared suite, fixating and rearranging all my luggage, then the decorations in the room. Mother’s soft snores eventually dragged me out of the suite so I’d avoid waking her.
The corridors were empty, without so much as a guard or maid in sight this late. A clock on the wall of the drawing room read eleven o’clock. I’d never been able to go to sleep at a decent hour. Mother always said it was the fox in me. Always alert late into thenight, my mind unable to rest, my senses coming alive when the sun went down.
