Jesenia felt those questions sharp in her chest. She knew it wasn’t unprompted charity, but a debt being paid—a promise being kept. But the bread was fresh, and the meat was hot. It was real enough for her.
When the carts finally opened, the crowd surged forward, trying their best to keep order despite their bellies crying for relief. Jesenia watched as her people savored every drop of brothand every crumb of bread. For the first time since they arrived, the Lunarethian’s looked alive.
But she knew it was temporary.
Her eyes were pulled to a flash of white across the square. Val-Theris stood there, half-hidden in the shadow of his guards, watching her people wait for their rations. No unrest. No climbing over each other to be first in line. No fights over who got a bigger piece of bread.
She watched him for a while, to observe his face. She searched for disgust, or arrogance, or cruelty hidden behind a halo of gold, but she found none. Then, his gaze found hers from across the crowd. He slightly tilted his head to her, to offer wordlessly that he had kept his promise.
She wanted to bow her head back in respect and thanks, but Jesenia knew that by this time tomorrow, her people would be starving again. She could not find it in her heart to be grateful for that.
The guards continued to hand out the bread and soup and meat to the Lunarethians, looking as though the task was beneath them. Their armor caught splashes of sunlight, but there was no warmth in the reflection. They were careful to avoid the gazes of the refugees, and Jesenia could see it plain as day: they did not think her people deserved even a single meal.
Her gaze shifted back to the king, who was speaking with the Angelicus Prime, the man who escorted her from the prison cell. Val-Theris’s wings shifted restlessly against his back, as if they were itching to get away from her people, too.
Jesenia hesitated a moment, then approached him, weaving carefully through the crowd until she reached theHastatiformation. One of them stepped forward as she did, his halberd angled slightly downward in warning.
“Let her through,” Val-Theris said from behind them, his voice soft. The guard stepped back immediately and shiftedhis body to allow her to pass through the line. Jesenia quietly stepped forward, her hands tightening around her shawl again.
Now that she was closer, she could see that the king looked even more tired than before, shadows pooling beneath his eyes where his radiance did not linger. He was still turned slightly away from her, but she somehow knew he was listening.
“I just wanted to say…” she paused, swallowing back the sudden emotion in her throat. “Thank you.”
His gaze shifted to her then. “I made you a promise,” he said simply. She wanted to say more, but his words didn’t seem to invite any more conversation. “This will not make things easier,” he added. “There are many who see this as an indulgence, and others…” his gaze flickered to the refugees, “that would say it is not enough.”
“I know,” Jesenia replied. “But I shall remember who gave it to them.”
For a moment, he only studied her, the light of the high sun catching on the planes of his face, and filtering through the feathers of his wings. Val-Theris’s expression softened, faintly, and he gestured with his hand for her to step away with him. “Do you have a moment?”
Jesenia said nothing, but followed him a few paces away from the guards and the Angelicus Prime—but she could still feel their heavy gazes on her back.
“My people grow restless with the Lunarethian presence here within my walls,” he said. When he saw Jesenia’s head lower, he added: “I don’t tell you this to make you feel shame, but because it is the truth. I can command soldiers, but grain, property, water—those things are governed by my council, and I cannot begin to mend what I do not understand. You live among your people, and you hear what I do not. Tell me, Lady Jesenia, what is it your people need from Solmiris?”
Her fingers began to fiddle with the fabric of her skirt. There was so much to say to the king who sought to understand her people, and yet, when she met his gaze, the words that escaped her lips were an answer neither of them expected.
“They want to go home.”
Val-Theris furrowed his brow. “Home.”
She drew in a breath. “You’ve given us your grace by letting us in the walls, given us safety when we had nowhere else to go. But Solmiris isn’t ours, and it will never be. My people want your war to end so we can return to Lunareth. To our markets. To the stone houses built by their forefathers and the graves of their mothers. We don’t want to stay here fighting for scraps of food any more than your people want to spare the grain.”
He stood up straighter, his wings shifting faintly. “I’m sorry I did not see before that Korvath didn’t just burn Lunareth, but took your hearts with them, too.”
Jesenia saw grief beneath all the command and certainty he radiated. “We do not fault you for that, we know who took our homes from us. But every morning we wake up under your banners, and we’re reminded of what’s been lost.” She swallowed. “Have you ever been to Lunareth, sir?”
“No,” he admitted shamefully.
Jesenia gave him a soft, but sorrowful smile as her eyes misted over. “We had celebrated the Festival of First Light just hours before the attack. Nearly three-thousand of us crowded into the streets. Dancing, drinking, laughing. We lost twenty-two people on the road here. Do you know how many of us are left?”
Val-Theris shook his head.
“Ninety-three arrived here at your gates. I counted this morning; eighty-nine remain.”
He was quiet then, studying her with a focus so intense it felt like standing directly beneath a beam of light. At last, he said softly: “I am sorry, Lady Jesenia, that Solmiris has failed yourpeople. I asked to speak with you because I had hoped you would speak freely with me about your people, but I have found now that you speak with more clarity than my entire council. You have reminded me of what I serve, and that is all who live within my city, however temporary.”
While his words sat heavy on her heart, Jesenia took notice that he did not promise change. Something unspoken lingered between them, and when neither of them spoke again, she bowed her head and turned away.
Before she stepped through the line of guards, she turned back to find Val-Theris had rejoined the Angelicus Prime, and both of their gazes watched her with a depth she had no words to explain.
