I’d promised Raewyn that when I was King, I’d do better by the humans than my father had, that I’d listen to their needs and concerns and try to do something about them.
Besides, as all the village mothers were, Caitriona was an Earthwife. It was best to avoid getting on their bad side, if possible, so I’d agreed to see her before riding for Stormcrest.
I made a hand gesture to indicate that she should be admitted, and Caitriona entered the throne room. Unlike Lord Hyland, she gave me a pleasant smile and curtsied when she reached the proper distance from my throne.
“Your Majesty, thank you for agreeing to see me,” she said as she rose.
“What is your petition?” I asked.
“I have come on behalf of my sister Earthwives to ask for the King’s justice, Your Majesty.”
“In what matter?”
“Our sister, Sorcha of Waterdale, was executed on your father’s command.”
My heart skipped a beat. Was this woman here for revenge? Did she have some spell up her sleeve that she meant to cast upon me?
“I remember. She plotted the assassination of the royal family,” I said to the woman calmly. “I’m sorry for your loss, but justice was served.”
“I understand, Your Majesty, and that is not what I am here about. Before she died, Sorcha entered an agreement with a young woman from her village.”
Raewyn.She was talking about Raewyn. My interest in what she had to say increased tenfold.
“Services were rendered, but payment was never delivered,” Caitriona said. “An Earthwife always exacts her price. We village mothers cannot maintain peace and control over our villages if it becomes known that those who strike a bargain can escape making good on their end without repercussion.”
“So exact your price then,” I said in the most apathetic royal tone I could muster. “I don’t see what this Earthwife business has to do with the Crown.”
“I was getting to that part. The young woman disappeared from our awareness some time ago, cloaked by a force our locator spells could not penetrate. And then she reappeared briefly on the day my sister died—here at Castle Seaspire—but by the time we reached the castle, her essence was gone again.”
They’d been tracking Raewyn. My heart began punching the wall of my chest, though outwardly I kept up the farce of disinterest.
“Perhaps she is dead,” I suggested,
“No, Your Majesty. We thought the same. Until two days ago when she reappeared, once more here at Seaspire.” she said.
“A group of us immediately began traveling here to retrieve her, but her spirit-sign has gone dark again. It is impossible in this amount of time that a human girl could travel far enough away from Merisola to be out of reach of our spells. She is being cloaked somehow. We ask that if you are giving her shelter here, that you hand her over so that we may exact our price.”
“Out of curiosity,” I asked, “what is that price?”
“She agreed that if she failed to uphold her end of the bargain, we would take one of her sisters to become our daughter, so that we could train the girl as an Earthwife. But she has hidden her sisters from us, Your Majesty. We haven’t beenable to find them. And so the only other price we can exact is to take her life instead.”
Wellthatwasn’t going to happen.
“Thank you for coming to me with your request.”And for cluing me in that you’re after Raewyn.
“I am not sheltering her here, and I have no idea where the young woman is,” I told her honestly. “But I will consider your request for help. I’ll be traveling for the next week or so. When I return, I will give you my answer.”
Caitriona curtsied again and began backing out of the throne room with her head down, following court protocol.
“Thank you, Your Majesty, you are most gracious.”
Before she reached the doors, I called out, “Wait a moment.”
She lifted her head and met my eyes. “Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Can you tell if someone is under a spell? A love spell for instance?”
Pharis had accused me of being under a spell, which I knew wasn’t the case. What I felt for Raewyn was so real, I simply couldn’t be enchanted.
