For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten (freda ebook reader .txt) 📕

gray at the temples and a strong, prominent nose, a handsomeness noted by men and women both. His looks were only part of his appeal, though— he had a wonderfully smooth, rich voice, the kind that was easy to listen to even when delivering terrible news.

As the Advisor of Trade, he did that often.

“The Alperan Pass is far snowier for this time of year than usual,” he continued. “Still navigable, but it probably won’t be for long. The caravan doesn’t want to risk getting caught in it with no way out.”

“Unacceptable.” The word was sharp, but Isla’s voice wasn’t— from Neve’s vantage point at the other end of the long table, her mother was pale as the shaft of sunlight through the window. Golden flyaways haloed her head and dark rings surrounded her eyes. She hadn’t looked well for four days now, since the night she and Neve dined together, and though no one commented on it outright, others were starting to notice.

It made Neve nervous.

Next to Neve, Kiri sat silently with the High Priestess, face revealing nothing. Tealia, another Order priestess, sat on the other side, her ostentatious show of listening a contrast with Kiri’s calm. According to Kiri, she desperately wanted to be named Zophia’s heir, and knew that the best way to do that was by making herself seem like an attractive option to Isla. There might be a ceremony of votes, but the position of heir was decided almost solely by the sitting High Priestess and the Queen, and everyone knew it.

As if she could hear her thoughts, Kiri’s cold blue eyes slid to Neve, then away.

“The Alperan grain shipment is the largest we receive all year. It feeds more people than every other import combined.” Isla shook her head, but slightly, like movement made her feel ill. “You think we can pass out loads of olive oil and tea to the masses come autumn? There will be a revolt.”

Belvedere raised his hands. “I’ve told them as much. We’ve offered a massive sum to the Dukes— the Second was going to take it and force the caravan to move on, but the First and Third outvoted him. I proposed crossing into Meducia and shipping from there, but the Cevelden Range is apparently in rockslide season, necessitating sea travel, so that was met with resistance, as well.”

Neve could’ve told him that. Meducia shipped north by sea during every season but spring, when the growth of trees on the Cevelden Range anchored the ground enough to keep rockslides to a minimum. The range was the only path by land from Meducia into Valleyda, so now, in summer, shipping by sea would be a requirement— a huge cost in both time and money. Valleyda was landlocked, and the grain would have to travel from Alpera all the way across Meducia to the sea, then to the Florish coast, and then across Floriane to finally reach Valleyda. And with the current unrest in Floriane, it was unlikely the shipment would make it all the way to Valleyda, anyway.

Apparently, Belvedere needed a lesson or two with Master Matheus.

“The Florish coast, then.” This from Zophia, and everyone sat up straighter as she spoke— even Neve, though she slightly hated herself for it. “It appears to be our only option, whether the Dukes like it or not. Take whatever impressive price you’ve dangled in front of them and tell them to use it to ship the grain across Meducia to the sea, then it can go from there to Floriane Harbor.”

“Insurrectionists, Your Holiness.” To his credit, Belvedere didn’t let that smooth voice sound irritated, though it sparked in his eyes. Maybe Neve should give him more credit. “Anything we ship to Floriane Harbor will be seized by those who oppose our annexation.”

“Kill them, then.” Tealia nodded at her own suggestion, that wide-eyed look of feigned interest still on her face. “It’s a holy crime to steal from Valleyda. They should know better, especially since we just sent a Second Daughter. No one would fault us for teaching a lesson.”

Terrible, and made more terrible because it was true. All of Valleyda’s power lay in religion. The Valleydan priestesses, by virtue of their closeness to the Wilderwood, had greater power of prayer than any other country. People traveled from all over to beseech in the Valleydan Shrine, and the other kingdoms sent boggling wealth in prayer-taxes for everything from good weather to the birth of heirs. That was enough to make the rest of the continent fall in line, and when one added in the recent tithe of a Second Daughter, it only increased piety. The stories of the monsters who burst from the Wilderwood a year after Gaya’s death and didn’t disappear until after Kaldenore entered the forest were well remembered. Red’s sacrifice hadn’t brought the return of the Kings, but the monsters hadn’t returned, either. Even for those who didn’t fully believe the old tales, one young woman was a small price to pay for complete assurance they wouldn’t repeat. As far as political power went, Valleyda’s was currently at a height.

Neve’s teeth clicked together, her fists pressing nails against her palms beneath the table. “I won’t allow force to be used against the Florish.”

Five pairs of eyes snapped to her, surprise in every gaze but Kiri’s. Isla, across that long table, stared wide-eyed at her remaining daughter.

Belvedere cleared his throat, recovering before anyone else. “The First Daughter is correct,” he said. “We want the Florish to work with us. If not happy to be part of Valleyda, at least willing. Killing civilians will only turn public opinion even more sour than it is.”

Tealia looked cowed, but Zophia only waved a hand, as if the murder of Florish insurrectionists was of little importance to her either way. “Then we marry Neverah off to Arick. Make Floriane’s provincial status official, so the harbor becomes ours. The people loved his parents before they passed, so it’s possible him marrying into the Valedren line might change