The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1)(37)

“Thank you.” He dipped a strawberry into his bowl of sugar and seemed to ponder. “The Pierce family has been collecting seeds and plants from traders for generations. Our gardeners are the best on the continent.”

“Indeed?” At last, I knew where his son had inherited his pride.

His mouth pulled into a line. “I suppose there’s not much competition. Not anymore.”

With wraith covering everything in the west, no. There were countries north and south of here, and Aecor, but this sliver of land was all that remained.

I fought a surge of embarrassment at my unkind thoughts. Why should I mind?

“Forgive me,” King Terrell said. “I wanted to speak to you because you know the horrors of the wraithland. Because you know what is at stake.”

I spooned cream over my fruit and stirred, waiting for him to go on. The fruit was sweet and perfectly ripe. I hadn’t tasted anything so delicious since I was a child.

“You requested to join my son’s wraith mitigation committee.”

“I did. He explained the committee’s position on magic and wraith.” But not what happened to the people caught using magic. How strange that I was suddenly relying on Black Knife to help me find the truth. “His Highness believes that ceasing all magic will cause the wraith to dissipate.”

“As I’m sure you were taught in Liadia. It’s the same theory we’ve been using for a hundred years.”

“Of course.”

“In many ways, Tobiah is very like me.” He turned his gaze on the window, its curtains pulled back to reveal a late-flowering garden. Ivy-covered trellises arched in the morning sun, while hedges framed walkways and chrysanthemums and helianthuses. Small bells and chimes tinkled in the breeze. “He is idealistic. He dreams up lofty goals. He wants to make this world better, though he’s only now starting to understand the horrible things that people can do to one another.”

“I thought—” No, maybe I didn’t want to ask about the One-Night War.

But the king waited, his eyes dark and tired. He looked so different from the king in my imagination, the one who’d ordered his army to invade Aecor almost ten years ago. The one who’d allowed my parents to be slaughtered in the courtyard while my people—and I—watched. The one who’d taken the highborn children and had them put away in an orphanage.

His current illness didn’t change his past actions.

Wearing my Julianna persona like armor, I made my voice strong, curious. “He mentioned that something happened to him when he was younger.”

Terrell deflated. Though it was only midmorning, exhaustion dragged at his expression, and his skin was gray and waxen. “This is all tied up together. The wraith, Tobiah’s abduction, the One-Night War.”

My stomach turned and tumbled. I couldn’t eat anymore.

“Forgive me,” he said. “I’m getting ahead of myself. You know of the Wraith Alliance.”

“Of course. That’s why I’m here: nobility from one of the allied countries must give shelter and aid to nobility of a wraith-affected country.”

“So long as they agreed to the terms. Which included, of course, that every participating country would immediately cease the use of magic. The Alliance was created in nine hundred and one by my grandfather, who recognized that action must be taken against the wraith threat.”

Where was he going with this?

“I’m sure you know that not all countries were willing to give up use of magic. One of these was our neighbor to the east, Aecor, and I spent the early part of my reign urging Phillip and Angela to reconsider their predecessors’ decisions.”

My parents’ names stole my ability to speak. I hid my shaking hands in my lap.

“The Kortes and I were friends in our youth, before we understood the scale of the wraith problem, and the animosity between our kingdoms. If we hadn’t all attended a royal wedding in Laurel-by-the-Sea, our northern neighbor, we might never have been so close.” He gave a weak chuckle and spoke toward me, rather than to me. As though he were somewhere else. His sickness had addled his brain; it was the only reason he was telling me all of this. “We always said that our children would marry and unite the two kingdoms, and the conflict between our parents would be left in the past. It was only when we inherited our thrones that we grew apart. They refused to consider that they were wrong, that their decisions would lead to the end of our world.”

My face felt numb, as though all the blood were draining from it. He’d been friends with my parents, and then had them killed?

I should have brought a dagger with me.

“Over and over, I tried to make them understand the importance of ceasing magic. I repeatedly sent our latest reports and evidence, and reminded them that the Indigo Kingdom wouldn’t always be between the wraith and Aecor. Just as”—the king focused on me for a moment—“Liadia could not remain between the wraithland and the Indigo Kingdom forever. But they were adamant. They insisted magic wasn’t as harmful as we believed, so they would not sign the treaty.”

My thoughts spun. This was too much. Too much.

“That I could not persuade them will always be one of my greatest regrets.” His chair creaked as he leaned back. “Then, almost ten years ago, Phillip’s men abducted my son.”

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move.