A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

I couldn’t wait to meet him on the battlefield.

“That seamster is certainly…something,” Hannon said, leaning over a sawhorse and cutting into a piece of wood. In addition to his advisory duties, he’d been helping people rebuild their homes. He often made his workstation here, where I came and went, so we’d have a chance to chat despite my busy schedule.

I straightened up from my workstation next to the shed and drew my forearm over my slick forehead. The afternoon sun beat down on us at our respective stations. He had a woodworking station set up, and I was drying and cold-seeping everlass leaves in the bright sunlight. The first step to a cure you’d never made before was trial and error. I used to have to do that one idea at a time, but now, with all the castle resources, I was humming along. It would cut my time in half. More, hopefully.

Assuming I could actually find a cure.

“He’s colorful, yeah,” I said absently, remembering my trip to the seamster yesterday when he’d measured me with a lot of tsking and head shaking, grumbling about all the weight I’d lost. Which set off Hadriel’s defensive streak; he made the very logical comment that, when starved, a person tended to lose weight. The conversation devolved into bickering.

I looked down at the large pot filled with shimmering water. Everlass leaves floated within the brew, swaying gently.

“You’ll do it,” Hannon said softly. “You’ll cure him if anyone can.” He put down his tools and sighed, looking off into the field, then turned and leaned on the sawhorse. “Would it really be so bad if you couldn’t, though? I didn’t think it bothered you. His condition, I mean.”

“It bothers him.” I took a few steps to join him, looking out at nothing, and then put my hands on my hips. “After the curse was lifted, he wouldn’t shift in front of me. He was scared of what he’d see. When he did eventually shift, he didn’t want to admit to me that his scales hadn’t returned to normal. I already knew his wings hadn’t been restored. It bothers him, and that bothers me.”

He nodded. “He’s been through so much. It would be nice to see him live in peace.”

“I don’t think he’d know what to do with peace. Would any of us?”

“Self-peace,” he said softly. “He tries to hide his turmoil, but…he’s not just scarred on the outside.”

I looked at him for a long moment. My brother had always been perceptive, and he knew a lot about Nyfain’s struggles through me, but his tone was filled with a deeper kind of knowledge.

“And the dinner with his mom is tonight?” he asked, not meeting my gaze.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you hiding, Hannon Mosgrove?”

“Nothing. I’m just worried about you guys, is all. Despite your hero’s journey, most of the kingdom is rooting for the former queen. When I’m in the villages, helping, I hear what they say. They loved her before the curse. And while they respect and put their faith in Nyfain, he doesn’t shine as brightly as he once did. Now he’s…broken. Like their kingdom. Like them. The queen symbolizes a time of glory in their minds.”

Fire burned through my blood.

“It wasn’t a time of glory. The kingdom still had money, sure, but it was faltering. Nyfain himself told me so—” Cutting myself off, I narrowed my eyes at Hannon. “You’re trying to get a rise out of me.”

“Yes, while also informing you about the current state of affairs. The villagers must not remember it faltering. Or, if they do, it can’t possibly seem as bad as the last miserable sixteen years. Besides, you do your best work when you’re riled up. I figured I’d…give you a nudge.”

“One day, Hannon, that nudge is going to have me pushing back.”

A smile stretched across his face. “I doubt it. You think I am breakable. You wouldn’t harm me any more than you’d let someone else harm me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” I grumbled, stalking into the shed.

It was infuriating that he was right. And while I’d seen firsthand that he was anything but breakable, he’d always be the soft touch between the two of us. The sensitive one. The caretaker. I couldn’t beat on a guy like that.

And he knew it, that dickface.

“I can hear you,” he called with laughter in his voice.

Apparently I was mumbling to myself, something I tended to do when working the plants.

“Good,” I called back.

I looked around the messy shed before deciding it was time to restore some order to it in case Arleth and her grumpy sidekick wanted to come work together before the big dinner. They might need to get their heads straight, and this was a good place to do it. That could only help Nyfain. Hopefully.