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I take one step forward, and every person in the road takes one back.
“Understand this clearly,” I say. “The woman you spat at today is the reason your fields may grow again, the reason your sick may live long enough to see another winter.”
Alessia stirs faintly against me, her fingers curling weakly against my coat.
“She owes you nothing,” I say. “She is not your salvation to demand,” I continue. “She is not your punishment to fear. She is not yours at all.”
My gaze sweeps over the crowd once more.
“She is mine to protect, and if anyone here so much as breathes wrong in her direction, you’ll answer to me. You will not disrespect your queen.”
A low murmur breaks through them, uncertain, afraid of the word as much as the title. Alessia’s head shifts against my chest.
The man who threw the stone drops his gaze.
“You,” I say.
His head jerks up.
The crowd parts around him without hesitation when Eagan’s voice slips into my head. “My king, if you hurt them, she won’t forgive you. That’s all she asked of me.”
I bite back a growl.
The man drops his gaze; he is younger than I expected, though old enough to know better, with mud on his boots and a split nail bleeding on one hand.
“My king,” he stammers.
“You threw a stone.”
His mouth opens.
Eagan steps forward. “Do not lie.”
The man closes his mouth.
I hold Alessia closer and force myself to keep my voice even.
“If I were the monster you whisper about, your hand would already be on the ground.”
He begins shaking.
“Fortunately for you,” I continue, “your queen told Eagan not to hurt any of you.”
His eyes flick to Alessia, and shame moves through his face then.
“You will spend the next month repairing the lower sea wall without pay beyond food and shelter,” I tell him.
He nods quickly. “Yes, my king.”
“And if you fail to appear tomorrow at first light, I will find you.”
His nod turns frantic.
“Yes, my king.”
I look toward the rest of them.
“No one touches her,” I say. “No one follows her. No one corners her, threatens her, blames her, or decides what she owes this island.”
