Never Yours ✔️

Ch. 36

 The weeks passed. Eventually, Serden let her out of her confinement. He didn't say a word to her about the book or what happened in Careion and that made Arysa uneasy, but she didn't try to bring it up. She continued working with Lara, Regan, and Kryssa, and they were getting closer, but their goal still felt miles away. There was no news from the battlefield, no news of Demian, and supplies were growing ever thinner. They had only about 1 month of rations left. The farms had stopped producing entirely and all they had was what they'd managed to scrape up the last couple of months from the dying crops. It wasn't enough.

Arysa ran her hands through her tangled hair.

"There has to be something somewhere." She said.

Grayson Archknot shook his head. "There isn't, Lady Arysa. Every last crop has died. We can't afford to send any more supplies to the other cities. Every last grain needs to be guarded as if it were the most precious valuable in the kingdoms. Rations cannot be wasted."

Arysa rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands.

Around the wooden table in the storage barn sat all the head farmers, each of their hollow, sun-withered faces grave. They all knew what this meant.

"What about the elderly," she breathed, "the injured, the sick, the children?"

"That's your call." Braxton Wheelworm said solemnly.

Arysa stared down at her hands, cracked and dry from dehydration, split open in spidery lines across her knuckles. "I can't make that call." She whispered. "You can't ask me to make that call."

"Someone has to." Woodcliff replied. "Would you rather it be Lord Dreadroot?"

Arysa let out a heavy breath. "No."

She got to her feet.

"You'll receive news on where the rations will go tomorrow. I need to think."

The farmers nodded and Arysa felt nothing but grief as she left the storage barn. The walk back to the castle took ages, and the pressing eyes of the city folk didn't help. Serden was waiting for her at the castle doors.

He took one look at her face and his own tightened.

"I assume from your expression, the news isn't good."

"No news is good news anymore." Arysa replied.

She brushed past him and he took up step beside her.

"I should be the one making these decisions, not you." He said.

Arysa shook her head. "I won't let you."

"I have more power than you. I can force them to accept my word over yours."

Arysa only laughed. "Because the people are going to listen to you over me."

"They will listen to their king." Serden snapped.

"No." She turned on her heels to face him, her eyes burning. "They will listen to the one that protects them, that cares about them. They will listen to the one who looks out for their interests, their safety, their lives. They will never listen to you."

Serden's jaw clenched. "Watch your tone, Arysa."

"That's Lady Arysa to you." She spat. "I'm done with your games."

She turned and his fingers clamped around her elbow.

"You're done when I say you're done." He hissed.

She yanked out of his grip and when he reached for her again she drew a dagger and cut across his cheek. He flinched back. His hand covered the wound and he grit his teeth. When he pulled his fingers away they were coated in blood.