Crown of Blood

8.1.|| Failing Kingdom

Endir was crumbling under poverty and corruption.

When Kat removed the Steward from office, she thought she would find his stockpile of resources and gold which he refused to share with his people. As it turned out, the man consumed everything he received and had nothing saved for a rainy day.

All days were rainy, figuratively speaking, but Endir was in the middle of a drought which had lasted over three years. Food was scarce, as was the game now that the forests started to dry out as well. She had no idea what she'd expected to happen after she took the throne, but it wasn't endless paperwork.

What made it even harder was that nothing was presented to her. The people in power were all close to the Steward and she guessed whatever she would find would make all of them look bad, so even if they recognized her reign, they did nothing to aid her in untangling her kingdom.

The only people lending a hand were Leila, and Keith, the newly appointed commander of her personal guard. She'd left it to him to draw up reports regarding the state of the army and navy and whatever other military force Endir had. Meanwhile, she and Leila searched the Steward's office and the entire castle in Corosa to try and get an idea about what they'd gotten themselves into.

"Don't worry, Kat," Leila kept saying. "We'll figure it out and then you can start fixing what needs to be fixed."

"How?" she asked. "I can't conjure food out of thin air."

She'd tried, but her magic refused to do that. She'd even considered freezing the ground over, but the soil needed snow, not ice, and without rain clouds it was impossible. She couldn't control the weather. A fleeting thought crossed her mind, like a fragment of a dream. Rainmakers. Irrigation systems. The words left behind longing and confusion and were gone before she could make anything of them. She'd never felt so in over her head.

"You're not responsible for producing food," Laila said with a shake of her head. "Your sole responsibility is to do the best that you can do to offer your people the opportunity to do it themselves."

That didn't answer anything, so Kat kept searching. She hated it. With every hour she spent reading various administrative documents, she felt like she was failing her people. They'd rejoiced when she'd appeared, convinced that she would bring Endir to its former glory. A glory she knew nothing about.

It didn't matter that she'd assimilated the language with such ease, that the customs there felt natural to her. She was born and raised in Iride, and it felt like a constant boulder on her shoulders. It made her an imposter.

"This is taking much too long!" Kat slammed the book in her hand on the desk. "The people won't be patient until I learn what I need to learn about my country!"

Leila heaved a sigh and dropped the ledger she was holding. "Look, Kat. I'm going to be honest with you. I love Endir, it's my kingdom and I am one of her people. But more than half of the people here can't even read. Why do you think they'd expect you to change everything after only a few weeks?"

"Because I have magic," Kat said miserably. "And magic was supposed to fix everything." She glanced at her hands, at the snowflakes dancing between her fingers. That's what she'd thought, anyway, naive as she was.

Her determination could only get her so far. Thanks to Lucille's help, she had moments when she was very focused, and what she needed to do would simply pop up in her head. That was how she knew to give out orders and what needed to be checked. But there were times when she felt small and insignificant. A fraud who would only disappoint her people.

And there were times when her chest hurt so much, she found herself crying in the middle of the night. It felt like a part of her was missing and even if she functioned without it perfectly, its absence sometimes took her breath away.