The Palace of Lost Memories

Chapter 17

"What else do you know about yourself?" I asked.

"I want answers," he said.

"That goes without saying."

"Not just to the poisoning and memory loss, but to...everything. I want to know why the people from the Margin don't cross over the border to Glancia or Dreen. I want to know how many earthquakes The Fist gets. I want to know why women aren't allowed into the colleges, and why Freedland is called Freedland."

"It became a republic forty years ago," I said, glad I could answer at least one thing. "The people rebelled against a tyrannical king. There was a lot of bloodshed but they succeeded and formed a council to rule their country. They changed the country's name to reflect their new freedom. What else do you want to know?"

He shrugged. "So many things. I want to know why Lady Lucia and her brother cling to one another."

I was about to make a rude quip but he seemed utterly serious. "Love?" My answer surprised even me. I drew up my knees and rested my chin on them. Could they love one another? Or was it simply pleasure? Or did they need one another the way flowers and bees did?

"I want to know a lot of things," Hammer said so quietly that I tilted my head up to look at him.

The sun was in my eyes and I had to squint, but he turned to look at the sea before I could make out his expression. "Ask me anything," I said.

He opened his mouth then closed it again. He rested his elbow on his knees and seemed transfixed by the gentle lapping of the waves. "Was the last Glancian king a good king?"

So he wanted to discuss dull affairs. Very well. It was necessary for King Leon to know the state of his kingdom, I supposed. "It's said that King Alain didn't care about the kingdom in his final years. Either he was old and weary or simply didn't care as he had no heir. Or so he thought. Vytill's King Phillip was rumored to be preparing to take over, and the two Glancian dukes were also said to be plotting independently of one another."

"Buxton and Gladstow?"

"The very same. As the highest ranking nobles, they had a good claim on the throne. They couldn't have succeeded though, not even if they joined forces. Apparently Vytill's army is large and well trained." I swept my palm across the warm sand, smoothing it flat. "King Leon appeared at the right time. If he hadn't, Glancia could be at war now."

He said nothing, simply continued to stare at the water.

"What does the king say is his earliest memory?" I asked.

"Waking up in the palace one morning, months ago, the same as the rest of us. The palace was completed. He knows nothing of its origins, and nothing that came before it. He doesn't recall how he became king, although he has since read about it from the documents found in his desk."

"Do you believe him?"

He gave me a sharp look. "It would be a cruel person who withholds information like that from people desperate to learn more about themselves."

"That doesn't answer my question."

He straightened and turned back to the expanse of water hemmed by cliffs on two sides and the crescent beach on a third. It wasn't a good place for smugglers to offload their wares. It was too close to the village, for one thing, and too easy to get trapped by the cliffs. I wondered if Hammer knew those things the way I did, the way other residents of seaside villages instinctively knew them.

"What else do you know how to do aside from swimming?" I asked. "Perhaps we can narrow down your origins. Being an able swimmer means you most likely came from somewhere along the coast or a river."