A Whisper of Night

6.1 || MAJAEYRA ❄️

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter briefly touches on eating disorders. I understand that there are many who currently struggle or have struggled with this. Although I have never had a full-blown eating disorder, I did suffer from disordered eating for two years. Please reach out if you need help - my PM's are always open.

           

The next petitioner was a woman.

Oh no, Jae thought.

"Another one?" Tristaen muttered. Verradaen shot a bored glare at him.

Thankfully, the woman gave no indication of having heard. She had scraggly brown hair, a face lined with worry and pain. She wore nothing but a thin woolen cloak. As she knelt before the throne, Jae glimpsed blood on her knees. A religious nutcase, Tristaen would've said. Why pray on broken glass when you can run? With the onslaught of disease, the Reformed Faith had infiltrated Svanvald, seizing the inhabitants of the kingdom with a religious fervor almost as vicious as the plague.

"Rise," Jae said, "and tell us what brings you to court."

The woman struggled to her feet. "Princess - I mean, Queen - I'm sorry."

"I am not yet a queen," she said, trying to ignore the pounding of her head. She'd held the required vigil and had been bathed by the Priests three days ago, but she was yet to be coronated. "Please continue."

"My children are dying," the woman said, "I got three of 'em, and they got the plague."

Not again. Guilt consumed Jae every time she sent away a mother. Still, she let the woman finish her petition.

"If I have more water - "

"Do you think," Tristaen snapped, "that we can afford to give out more water? Half the kingdom would come to our feet...and then what would we do?"

"Tristaen," chided Verradaen, offering the mother a cold smile, "do not be so rude. This woman is worried about her children - nothing more."

Jae cleared her throat, blushing as her brothers turned to her. You can't let them drown you out, her father had warned her on his deathbed.

So far, she was failing.

"A-although we cannot provide you with more water," she stammered, "we can guarantee you a place by Dellia's River, w-where our medics are working for a cure."

The mother's eyes narrowed. "That's sendin' my children to their deaths. They'd die more quickly there, not less."

"The camps are your best option," she said.

The woman gritted her teeth. "Have you ever seen the camps?" she spat. "Even the guards and medics are afraid to go inside. Even the Lady of Valchtnallan goes to see and feed her people. What are you doing here?"

"The Queen has decided," Verradaen said, nodding at the guards. "Please see her out."

Furious expletives burst from the woman's mouth as the guards dragged her outside. The doors shut behind her, and Jae closed her eyes. I am so, so sorry.

"I need a drink," Tristaen said. "All these wailing peasants are driving me mad." He stood up, popped a joint in his neck, and headed down the dais, his guards flanking him as he disappeared through the side door.

There was a blessed moment of silence.

"You've stopped asking for their names," Verradaen remarked, raising one eyebrow at her.

Jae sighed. It's easier to grieve for faces than for names, she wanted to say, but just shrugged instead. Verradaen may be the gentler of the twins, but he still despised weakness.