Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“They’re Royal Lilies!” the little girl piped up. “Ma says they don’t grow unless a Royal of the Blood is near.”
“They don’t?” I asked, wondering if this could be true. Probably it was just a superstition—who ever heard of a plant that would only grow in the presence of someone with a particular kind of DNA?
“She’s right about that.” The woman nodded with assurance. “I’ve had that patch in the garden set aside just for Royal Lilies for centuries—our family was always the supplier to the Queen’s Table, you know,” she added proudly. “Those plants haven’t bloomed since the old Queen—your mother, my Lady—died in childbirth. And a sad day that was for all of us,” she added, looking mournful. “But now you come back and look—all in bloom again!” She gestured proudly at the flowers I held.
She and the little girl were beaming at me and I couldn’t help smiling back—their happiness was infectious. I still felt like an imposter, but since I also still halfway felt this must be a dream, I just went with it.
“Thank you so much, ah…” I waited for the woman’s name.
“Oh, Teelah, your Ladyship—Teelah’s my name. And this here is Leeza,” the woman said hastily, gesturing to herself and the child.
“Well, Teelah and Leeza, I’ll do my best to be a good Queen for you both,” I said, smiling. Because what else could I say? “I’m so glad I got to meet you,” I told them. I leaned down to get more on the little girl’s level. “Especially you, Leeza. Thank you for coming out to see me, but shouldn’t you be in school?”
A sad look crossed the little girl’s face.
“No more, Miss,” she said, scuffing one bare foot against the floor. “I used to like it but I can’t go now.”
“You can’t? Why not?” I asked, frowning.
“The Lord Regent Mordren says there’s no point in Lesser Fae females getting any education,” her mother answered, frowning. “Since they just end up in service anyway. He says you don’t need book learning to cook and clean and mend.”
“What?” I demanded. Straightening up, I turned to Krynn and Seldarin. “What kind of sexist crap is that?”
“It was one of Mordren’s first rulings as soon as he took over after King Valerin died,” Sel said. He raised his hands in a “don’t shoot” gesture. “Don’t look at me, Princess—I don’t agree with it either.”
“I tried to argue with him,” Krynn said. “If you look in the Records Archive, historically the Dark Fae are happier and more prosperous when all of the people are well educated.” He shook his head. “But Mordren wouldn’t listen. He, ah, doesn’t have a very high opinion of females,” he added.
“He says Lesser Fae don’t need meat either,” the little girl, Leeza, piped up. “He says we eat too much, so he cut our food. Now we only get scraps—if we’re lucky and old Keezer is working in the kitchens.”
“Hush, Leeza—don’t complain to the Princess,” her mother said quickly. “We still have plenty of vegetables that we grow in our own gardens, my Lady,” she said to me. “We’ll not starve for the lack of a little meat.”
But her words didn’t do anything to make me less upset.
“Mordren really took away your food?” I demanded. None of the people I saw before me looked overfed. In fact, many of them looked too lean—at least to me. I turned to Krynn and Seldarin, who were both frowning. “Did Mordren do that too? Did he cut their food supply?” I asked them.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it, so I don’t know,” Krynn said, shaking his head.
“I hadn’t heard either,” Sel confessed. He frowned. “Perhaps we should have been paying better attention. Fucking Mordren…”
“Begging your pardon, my Lady Princess…” It was an older Lesser Fae—he must be very old indeed, considering how slowly these people aged, I thought. He came hobbling forward, holding onto a gnarled stick he was using as a cane. His hair was almost all gone, leaving just a long white fringe around his bald head and his face was a nest of wrinkles.
“Yes, do you know anything about this?” I asked him. “About Mordren cutting your food supply?”
“It’s just the meat,” the old man confirmed. “I’m Keezer—I work in the kitchens, so sometimes I can get a few scraps to send around, so people can bulk up their potato stew and the like. But the Lord Regent wouldn’t be happy if he knew it, I fear,” he added, looking worried. “So please don’t tell him!”
“I won’t tell on you, Keezer—don’t worry,” I said quickly. “But this isn’t right! Everyone deserves a good education and nutritious food.”
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being vegetarian but I got the sense that these people—the Lesser Fae—didn’t have the variety of foods to choose from that a modern vegetarian or vegan in the human world would. They were living in a kind of feudal system where the Lord at the top dictated every aspect of their lives. And right now, the system was definitely detrimental to their health and happiness.