Nettle & Bone(53)

“Babies happen occasionally. Chickens happen all the time.” The dust-wife plucked the chick out of Marra’s fingers, shaking her head. As the door was closing in her face, Marra heard, “I know you aren’t broody, demon, but you’re going to make an exception or so help me…”

The door shut with a click.





Chapter 14


The other room had two narrow beds with a small table and basin between them and a shuttered window. Marra collapsed onto one with a groan and put her head in her hands.

“Are you all right?” asked Fenris.

“Horrible puppet,” she said, “demon chicken, fairy godmother.”

“And it’s a fool’s errand and we’re all going to die,” said Fenris. He patted her shoulder. “Still, I have to admit I didn’t see the chicken or the puppet coming.”

“Nothing’s ever easy,” said Marra, too tired to yell at him for taking her fatalism to heart. She remembered suddenly that she had cried in front of everyone earlier in the day and felt herself flush with embarrassment. To hide it, she turned away, pulling back a corner of the blanket and investigating the mattress.

It was stuffed with horsehair and the blankets were coarse but clean. The room itself was shabby but painfully neat, much like the rest of the house. She did not see fleas jumping anywhere. “Well, it’s not a bad room.” It reminded her of her room in the convent.

“I’ve slept in far worse,” agreed Fenris. The small bed looked even smaller when he sat on it. Marra was fairly certain that his feet were going to hang over the edges. He gave her an apologetic look. “I, uh … realize it’s awkward that you have to share a room with me. If there were a stable, I’d offer, but there isn’t one. And honestly, I’d rather be close at hand, in case…”

He trailed off, but Marra knew that he was thinking about the curse-child. “I’d prefer you were close, too,” she said. “It’s fine. No worse than the road.”

Fenris made a noncommittal noise. Marra knew perfectly well what he meant. Once you added walls and a door, things became … complicated.

It’s not complicated. It doesn’t have to be. He’s your friend and you’re here to kill a prince and that’s all you need to know or think about. She forced a smile. “I suppose beds like this aren’t quite what you’re used to.”

Fenris shrugged. “I’m not really used to anything. I slept in barracks for a long time. When I was traveling, I’d sleep on the ground. Sometimes I’d go from sleeping on dirt to sleeping in the best guest chamber in the castle.”

“And sometimes in fairy forts,” she added.

His face changed. She felt as if a shutter had closed in his eyes. You fool, why did you say that? “I’m— I’m sorry,” she said, stammering a little. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have joked about it—”

“It’s all right.” He reached out and took her hands in his. The room was so small that he could do so easily. “Marra … Princess Marra…”

She winced. “Don’t. I’m not. I mean, I am, but I’m really a nun, except I’m barely even that.”

“You are the princess of the Harbor Kingdom,” he said. “I learned that at the first inn we stopped at in your homeland. Your sister Kania is married to Vorling of the Northern Kingdom.”

Of course he’d learn that. You should have guessed. It’s not like it was much of a secret. She told herself this firmly, trying to ignore the sudden clawing in her chest that screamed that he would tell Vorling, he would betray them all, he knew too much and it would all be used against them …

No. This is Fenris. He is a friend, and he has never been anything but decent. She stared down at their joined hands, trying not to feel trapped, wondering what price she would have to pay for his silence.

“People love to gossip about the royal family,” he said. His voice was very gentle. “They told me why you were sent to the nunnery. A few people thought there had been some scandal, but most of them said that you would be Vorling’s third wife if your sister died. You were being held in reserve, they said.”

no no my mother said that I was out of the game I was set free I was sent away because I did not have to stay at court because I hated it and I was free

She looked at her own thoughts and they seemed to belong to a much younger Marra, one who had never been to the goblin market, one who had never built a dog out of bones. One who could afford to be innocent and ignorant. I can no longer afford to be that person.

“It’s probably true,” Marra said, marveling at how steady her voice was. “My mother never said as much, but Vorling is obsessed with having his own blood sitting on my father’s throne. And, of course, our harbor was worth controlling anyway. A good, deep harbor is a kingdom’s wealth. I could never have been allowed to marry anyone else and produce a son that might challenge that. And there was always the chance that my sister might die, like our older sister did, and that I would need to be pulled out of the convent and sent to the altar.”

Fenris nodded. His hands were warm. He turned them gently and caught both of her hands between his palms. “I suspected as much. So do many of your people. They know that Vorling is ambitious.” He paused, as if weighing his words, and then said, almost hesitantly, “They still remember your sister Damia fondly.”