Ina laughs, “You, my dear, go back to your own kingdom. Kenric had that written into the trade agreement. Hedde told me all about it. He thought it was brilliant and very kind of Kenric to do that.”

  I mull this over, trying to see it from multiple angles. “What usually happens to women here if their husband dies?”

  I know what the Sergeant told me, but I want to hear from Ina.

  Ina pours out a little of her tea on the ground as a libation to prevent any bad luck from speaking about this. “May the gods never let me outlive Hedde. Even the highest-ranking women are not treated well. If Oskar were to die tomorrow, gods forbid, Grethe would be mostly powerless and utterly dependent on Jannick’s goodwill. Jannick doesn’t get along with her and would probably send her straight off to some temple. If it were me, Hedde’s boys, my own sons, would toss me out in a heartbeat if anything happened to Hedde. I’d be lucky to keep my dresses and jewelry.

  I make a face, and Ina shrugs, sipping. “I’ve heard that some of the other kingdoms have different laws, but Centis still follows many of the old ways. Being female, we can’t even buy food unless a man permits it. If I came to this teashop without one of Hedde’s liegemen, no one would serve me, and I’m a Duchess. That’s the sad truth, Víl?. At least men think a horse is valuable enough to pay for. They expect us to pay to get one of them. Think about that, and it will explain everything you need to know. Now, that’s enough depressing talk. We’re supposed to be shopping so you can see what a beautiful and lively place Centis is. You mentioned wanting some art to brighten up your rooms. Let’s go to the Guildhall of Artisans and see what’s available. The well-known artists often work on commission, but the lesser-known ones usually have pieces for sale. Many of their works are pretty good, and I’m curious to see what you might choose.

  When I return to the inn, Kenric greets me with a grin.”How was the shopping trip?”

  “I quite enjoyed spending Oskar’s coin. The orphanages are well-stocked. Once we have rooms back at the palace, some art will be delivered. I arranged to ship Ellisar a gift and another for my parents. A few things for my ladies, my honor guard, and your men, too.”

  Kenric laughs, “I am certain that the two of you managed to revive the economy in Dobile single-handedly.”

  I shake my head.”Most of what we spent, we spent on the orphanages. In truth, the rest of it wasn’t so much, except for the gift to Ellisar and the clock for my parents. The artists I purchased from are all but unknown, but they are quite talented. The other things also came from… less-than-famous purveyors, but the skill and quality are on point.”

  Kenric grins and winks. “I am certain that if you choose these things, they’re wonderful. You chose me, after all, which speaks to your impeccable taste.”

  I peck him on the cheek and nod. “Having seen how many husbands here act, I do have impeccable taste.”

  Kenric laughs, but then turns more serious. “Now you see why I included some of those things in the trade agreement.”

  Sighing, I nod. “You meant to protect me. I understand. I’m not unhappy with your motives. I’m unhappy with Ellisar’s interpretation of it. If the wording had been slightly different, we wouldn’t have to come here at all. There would be no need to stay here either. You know well why I’m not pleased about it. Those reasons have nothing to do with you, and you know it.”

  Kenric pulls me into a hug. “I know, but everything is fine. Everything will be fine, Víl?. Stop worrying. No matter what, we’ll make sure that we’re okay.”

  Inside my head, I’m practically screaming in frustration. Nothing feels okay. This is just the calm before the storm. War is coming. Oskar has already set these events in motion. Centis will be reduced to cinders and ash drifting on the wind.

  This is precisely what the Fey kings do with human kingdoms that threaten them. I can’t stop it any more than I could use my newly purchased lacy fan to stop a hurricane. Left to my own devices, we’d be far away from here. Inaba’s plan to go with us disguised among them has merit, but Kenric won’t hear of it.

  He refuses to abandon his smallholders. I can either leave him or try to ride out the coming storm. Since I won’t abandon him, we must prepare as best we can for what I know is coming and hope it’s enough to keep the storm from crushing us. I cannot say any of this aloud, so I grind my teeth instead.

  Kenric notices me grinding my teeth. “Are you truly that concerned?”

  I shoot him a pointed look. “You should know by now that I am, and why. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve wanted to curse your foolishness. I said what I needed to say, clearly enough, but you keep dismissing it. You know Ellisar listens to my advice, so I don’t understand why you refuse to take it. Am I only fit to advise a king, but not you? That raises the question of why you refuse to listen. Is it just because we’re among your own people, and you think I’m safely wooed and won? Or maybe even trapped? Are you going to start treating me like these other men treat their wives? Will you try to beat me, like many of them do? Will you be deceitful and unfaithful, like the rest? I don’t think my heart can handle it if that’s your plan. If this is the start of that kind of treatment, I tell you plainly, you should never sleep again.”

  Kenric’s expression becomes incredibly tender as he moves to embrace me.”Oh, Víl?. Stop this, love. You know that I adore you. I have obligations that I cannot shirk. Not even for you, my heart. I wouldn’t be remotely worthy of you if I were the kind of man who would walk away simply because something was a bit difficult. If I were to do that to them, I would do the same with you. I will never willingly walk away from you, my treasure. I told you that I would be by your side every step of the way, from then until my last one. I meant that. I still mean it. I see now how much all of this frightens you. Set aside your fear. Let us dance in sunshine, knowing that the storms will come when they decide to come. Just wait for the storms before we drag out the waxed canvas, hmm?”

  He waits a moment, gently rocking me against his chest. Finally, he hooks a finger under my chin and lifts my head. “That doesn’t mean we can’t have the waxed canvas ready. Let’s be happy while happiness lasts. Calm yourself, love. What will come, will come. We’ll face it when it arrives. We’ll prepare and weather the storm as best we can. Our best, together, is not something to be lightly disregarded.”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Kenric scoops me up and sits, cradling me. “I would never do those things to you, my treasure. I don’t think you believe it, either. You wouldn’t have come here with me, otherwise. Trust yourself. Trust me. Believe that we will find a way to make it all turn out. Aren’t you the one who told me that half of winning a battle is believing that you can?”

  He waits for me to nod, and when I do, he continues, smiling at me. “Stop this prattling nonsense. Just sit here and let me dote on you a bit. Next time you’re feeling like this, come and tell me instead of threatening to stab me in my sleep. For the record, I do believe you. I don’t know what anyone can do about it.”

  Sighing, I shove my face into his chest and inhale the scent of the Old Forest. I can’t help but wonder how long I will be able to do this. I can’t blame this entirely on Ellisar, since Ellisar tried to get him to stay there, rather than coming here.

  He’s partly right. If he weren’t the honorable, kind man he is, I wouldn’t love him so much. Damn these scheming kings. Now we’re caught between Oskar and Ellisar. I hate this, and I can’t get us out of the way of the coming storm.

  Kenric is right in that this doesn’t necessarily guarantee our safety. We might arrive in Nintoku to find it in chaos. No place is entirely safe. Now we wait. We wait for our rooms at the palace. We wait for the wedding. We wait to be allowed to go to Kenric’s house. We wait for whatever Ellisar is planning.

  I think it’s the waiting that’s wearing on me more than anything else. For once, I wish I were one of the empty-headed, foolish chits who know nothing. It would be easier to handle all this. I’d be comfortable waiting, thinking I’m safe and content, dreaming of a wedding and my new life as Lady Kenric.

  I’d be concerned with dresses, jewels, and parties. Instead, I am worried about surviving a war that might not happen for years. I hope it takes its time arriving so we are prepared. Slowly, I begin to relax, and Kenric senses it.

  I murmur into his chest, “I hate all this waiting. Waiting for this. Waiting for that. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

  Kenric laughs and shifts me slightly in his lap so he can look at me.”Said every military person everywhere. It doesn’t help us to start tearing at each other,”he says.

  Lowering his voice so no one else can hear, he adds,”You just need to burn off some of that frustration through physical activity. I’d be happy to help you work through it tonight. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

  He pauses and studies my face before grinning. “If all it takes to have a well-tempered wife is making sure I bed her regularly and thoroughly, I don’t see that as a hardship. I’d call that one of the most enjoyable husbandly duties and gladly do it. Feel free to use me to work out your frustrations anytime, my dear. Just let me know you need my help.

  I lightly punch his arm as he laughs.”Come on now. It’s time for dinner, and I doubt you’ve had more than tea and those silly little sandwiches.”

  “They were delicious,” I admit, “but not much to them.”

  “I’m aware,” Kenric replies dryly, “They’re made so that the corset-wearing ladies can have more than a few sips of air. I know you. You need more than that.”

  “Probably because embroidery isn’t the most strenuous thing I do on any given day,” I grouse.

  Kenric laughs again, and I am content once more, for the moment. I’ll try to set all this aside for now and just be happy. Our second wedding is coming soon, but so is Ellisar’s war. My king is… wickedly efficient and cunning.

  Kenric’s king is a lecher, a brute, and not a tenth as smart as he thinks he is. I may be married off to seal a trade deal between these humans and my Fey kingdom, but make no mistakes. Kenric loves me, and I love him. I don’t know what words are stronger than hate and despise, but whatever they are, that’s how I feel about my king, Ellisar Wynric. Oskar Restroff, Kenric’s king, is fortunate that he didn’t push me too hard.

  I had planned to murder him, devour his corpse, and glamour myself to look and sound like him. Masquerading as Oskar, I’d have issued a few edicts, made a few plans, and sent Kenric and me far from this place. Given Oskar’s obsessive drinking and whoring, it wouldn’t have been too hard to disappear, never to be seen again.

  Oskar’s biggest crime is threatening my king. We are Fey, and we do not take kindly to being threatened by the human kingdoms. We don’t attack them openly, mainly because we don’t want to show our power.

  These humans have some very odd ideas about magic, and many of their religions burn magic users alive. They’ve been at this practice so long that nearly none of them have magic anymore. No one wants an army of true believers to show up and start burning everyone alive, so we take precautions to ensure that these humans never get that far. Since they have no magic of their own, they’re pretty susceptible to our glamours, our compulsions, and our other spells.

  They have no one to detect it or counter it. That lets us plant spies in nearly every human kingdom we know of. Many of our spies are humans who don’t know they’re spies. Compulsion spells to make someone write a note and send a bird if they happen to hear certain things are all that’s required.

  Others are glamoured Fey who’ve replaced someone. They look like that person. They sound like that person. If they got to spend some time with the person that they replaced, they might even know things that only that person knew.

  I think this is where the stories about changelings come from. If we wanted human children, we’d empty the human orphanages. Children are rare and precious to us. It’s beyond appalling that humans have facilities to take in unwanted children.

  How is it possible that you even need them? Have you no care for your younglings? Human population growth often isn’t much better than our own, since they’re fragile. Humans die, quite frequently, from each other, but famine, disease, and other disasters keep them in check.

  You’d think they’d have more care for the little ones, but they do not. Simply because they are not of this or that bloodline, the human younglings are either left to fend for themselves or handed over to these orphanages. There is no need for us to go creeping about, swiping babies out of cradles in the middle of the night.

  We let these foolish, superstitious humans continue in their blissful ignorance, believing either that magic isn’t real or that it’s evil. Given their propensity towards inflicting violent deaths on all magic users, we’d be foolish to show our power and court their wrath.

  They do still outnumber us and probably always will. Perhaps they always did. Compared to the Fey, these humans breed like rabbits. Conception for us is complex and rare. Knowing this, we do our best to keep them from becoming interested in the Fey.

  We will trade with you. We might even permit some selected individuals to marry. That’s where it ends. Very few humans ever get to stay in Imelenora, our capital, for any length of time. The last thing any Fey wants to have is a flaming-sword, scorched-earth, “burn them all” human army to show up on our doorstep.

  With these humans, it’s always some religious thing, and they’re always dead sure that they’re in the right. Being right, according to these humans, gives them license to be entirely heinous toward anyone or anything that’s not them. Since anyone aside from them is clearly wrong and therefore worthy of the worst cruelty and most vile acts. Is it a fight we could win? Most definitely.

  Is it one we want to have to win? No, it is not. While we might win the fight, we’d suffer many civilian casualties in the process. No one wants that. No one wants to see their family members being burned alive. That’s the stupidity of these humans.

  They think tying us to a post and building a big fire is going to burn the magic right out of us. I’ve walked through fire. They’d have a hard time creating a fire big enough to so much as singe my hair. One of my affinities is fire. It was the first magic that I manifested as a child.

  What's your take on the changeling stories? Let me know the comments... I'd love to hear your ideas. I might even use some of them.