While Waiting to Wake

Again, Ben stiffened, and the knights exchanged looks. The girl sucked in her breath, but Flint didn’t look away from the shepherds.

“... What do you want?”

Flint waved a hand at the second knight. Who bowed.

“This is Sir Leonard Chez. He will be my unofficial representative in this reeve until I can appoint a permanent one. Which won’t be for another month, unfortunately. Until then, I need someone to work with Chez. Someone who can keep up the appearance of a submissive reeve while preventing this nonsense.”

Flint picked up and held out the bill of sale.

When Ben took it, his facial expression didn’t change. But the paper crinkled under his clenched fingers.

Flint almost smiled.

His guess about the apparently more submissive one of the pair was proving to be more and more correct. Neither predator was broken.

“As well as appropriately distributing funds for the repair of buildings and equipment, the hiring and support of healers and physicians, food distribution-”

“Why are you asking me?”

Flint thought about being vague. But there was no point in that, so he chose bluntness.

“Because half the citizens of this reeve are Lycan and are more likely to respond to one of their own. Especially someone who’s worked tirelessly for them since the occupation already.”

Silence.

Ben was now openly studying Flint’s expressionless face. Looking for a clue to what the Baron knew.

Flint didn’t even glance at the other paper. The one with orders to find who had tried to stop the sale of the youth. Sucket had been a smart idiot. He’d had all the clues all along, but never put them together.

“And afterward?”

“What about it?”

“When everything is functioning well, what will happen to my people?”

“Ah.” Flint decided here he’d use a different truth. One the abused Lycan would be more likely to accept. “You are afraid that once everything looks and runs well, I’ll send the lot of you to the nearest slave trader.”

The man didn’t move, continuing to stare at Flint.

“The thing about selling people off is you only get the profits once.” Flint rubbed his fingers together. “In the long run, it’s better for my treasury to keep those people happy and settled in one place. Do you understand?”

Ben’s jaw clenched.

“Yes.”

“Good. You will work with Sir Chez to better the condition of the reeve. I suggest you take full advantage of every opportunity to improve your people’s conditions while you can. But that’s up to you.”

“And if I refuse?”

Flint smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“You won’t. But since you need some persuading, I’ll be sending this young lady away from the reeve manor. Along with the rest of the staff. And no one will be hired again until you agree to be involved in the decision making.”

The Lycan clenched his fists on his lap.

“Tell me, Ben. Can you afford to be completely blind to what’s going on in the manor?”

For a long second, no one said anything. No one moved.

Until abruptly, the little girl jerked her head up and wriggled off her father’s lap. Jay and Ben both made a grab for her as she ran around them and around the desk.

Both Lycan paled when the little girl jammed her nose into Flint’s thigh and took a deep, audible breath.

Flint froze.

The child raised her head and looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

“Laisha likes that smell,” she announced. “You smell like big girl. I like her.”

Flint blinked at her, then relaxed. His mind quickly made the connections. “Laisha, is it? You must mean my sister. I like her, too.”

The little girl beamed.

“Can she come play with Laisha?”

“I’m afraid she’s too far away to play today. Maybe next time.”

The child pouted.

“Laisha,” Jay hissed. “Come.”

The little girl ignored him. “When? When can big girl play?”

“I don’t know. We don’t come this way often.”

“Please?!”

Flint blinked. A feeling of deja-vu washed over him. Did all children beg like that? It was hard to say no when they were looking at you with such big eyes.

He took a deep breath.

“I’ll bring Em with me in a few months,” he promised. The royal wedding was in six months. He’d have to bring her with him then, anyway. “Jay, get your daughter. Everyone, out. I have work to do.”

He ignored all of them as they left.

Leaving him in blessed peace.

***

The activity inside the March manor had changed for the last few days.

At first, Em didn’t notice.

She kept going with her new schedule, blithely unaware of what was going on around her. And delighted that she could now pull herself a whole four feet up that huge tree!

(Though, since Tracy disapproved of her leaving the grounds without an adult, she couldn’t brag about her success.)

The day she finally realized something was going on, she also noticed something else.

Now she wasn’t just avoiding remembering Em Taylor.

Sometimes she went whole days forgetting she wasn't Emmaline Grimshaw.

Every day, the world presented her with new details about it that made it difficult to imagine she was dreaming.

Maybe she was really Emmaline? And had dreamed about being Em instead?

That was when she put a stop to her thoughts. Flint came home yesterday, she decided to ask him for a journal. Preferably one she could lock with magic so no one could read it.

She needed to write down what she remembered of Em. And her fading memories of the book “The Lost Prince.”

She was sure it was dangerous to forget.

Troubled with her thoughts, she left the ball game later than normal and headed toward the main building. The training grounds were located behind the large manor and beyond the wall, so it took her some time to get to the courtyard up front.

Where she discovered her things had just arrived from the Capital.

Instantly forgetting her fears, she squealed and ran the rest of the way. Straight to her pony.

The creature whickered in delight as she pressed their faces together.

“Hello, Star,” she told the little mare softly. “Did you miss me?”

“She sure did, miss.”

Em looked up and was startled to find the stable hand from the barony standing there. Grinning at her with the look of a proud father.

“You came all the way here, sir?”

He shrugged and stroked the nose of another horse. Now that Em was paying attention, she realized Star had been tied to the other horse. And this huge stallion was the one she’d healed before.

The other horse seemed to remember her, too, because he whinnied. Then he reached his head over the stable hand to bump her shoulder. With a grin, she stroked him.

“Well! I noticed he didn’t seem to mind you before, miss, but I thought it might’ve been because he was ill.”

“Is it abnormal for him?”

The stable hand looked very serious. “Yes. He likes only me and the Baron. Or, used to, anyway.”

Em looked at the horse in surprise.

“This is Flint’s horse?”

“Yes, miss.”

Oh. For some reason, she thought it had belonged to Felix. Why hadn’t Emmaline known?

“Miss Emmaline!”

Em said goodbye to the stable hand and joined Tracy at a wagon.

Flint hadn’t kept much from the manor. Which made Em sad because she was certain that meant he sold most of it. If not all of it.

Or gave it to that awful Marquis Harrow as part of that bogus bride price.

She gritted her teeth.

“Is that not alright, miss Emmaline?”

“What?”

Tracy sighed.

“I was asking if we could put this box of trinkets in another room. Just until after the Crown Prince leaves and we can finish getting your permanent room ready.”

Em’s ears pricked. “The Crown Prince is coming?”

“He should be here in about two weeks.”

Anxiety gripped her stomach.

“Wh-why is he coming? Did we do something wrong?”

Tracy laughed and patted her head.

“No, no. Nothing like that. He’s just coming to inspect the March and bestow the title of Marquis on his lordship. Normally it would be done in the Capital, but with the royal wedding coming up and with the mess the March is in, it’ll happen here instead.”

“And the Crown Prince will be coming himself? Why doesn’t he just send someone?”

Em thought it was a good question. The Lycan lands may have now technically belonged to the Empire, but it was still close to the border. And it still had many unhappy Lycan in the area. He could very well be putting himself in danger.

Em knew that no one but the ‘lost prince’ could defeat the bastard. That didn’t mean anyone else knew!

“I don’t presume to know what the young sun of the empire is thinking.”

Which was also a reasonable answer.

While Tracy directed people to take this or that of Em’s things to Em’s room and a storage area, Em stepped back to think.

The Crown Prince was coming.

As long as nothing alerted the man to Em’s power, she should be safe from him. Right?

Yes.

There was no reason whatsoever for him to notice the eleven-year-old sister of one of his soldiers. Still, she wanted to make sure she stayed as far away from him as she possibly could.

She nodded to herself.

As of now, she hadn’t even started her special training for healing. Running around until her lungs felt like bursting was about it. It should be easy to hide her talent.

Reassured, she went back to helping with her things… and thought little of the tyrant’s coming for the next two weeks.

Now that she had good dresses again, she was amused when Tracy wouldn’t let her touch any of them until dinner. At which point, she dressed Em up, ordered her not to embarrass herself in front of Flint, and sent her to sit by her brother during the meal.

It was especially amusing since all of those dresses were black and gray.

And they were getting small.

If she’d been in Elyana, the Capital, and if her parents were still alive, she would’ve just been fitted for new dresses.

But since they were here and Flint was strapped for cash, Tracy showed her how to let out her hem on the old dresses instead. Though she muttered that eventually she’ll have to take off the tight sleeves to make them last longer.

Em liked that idea. Her arms would be free!

Some dresses Tracy confiscated to do more complicated work. Using a few yards of new fabric to adjust the sizes. So Em could grow into them next year.

To her relief, Tracy took out the extra lace and frills because they didn’t adjust well. It made the dresses look painfully plain, but that was better than wearing the baby-doll styles.

Meanwhile, everyone was working hard. Even the children were roped into various small jobs. Like taking the smaller rubble out of the courtyard.

All for a stupid prince that no one was excited to see.

The day Thiago arrived, Em had made it up her tree another two feet. She dangled there, holding onto the bark with her fingertips and willing herself to take one more step up…

She fell.

Her feet caught her first. Then she lost her balance and fell on her rump.

Getting up, she rubbed her backside and stuck her tongue out at the tree.

“I am going to get up there,” she told it. “Just you wait. And when I do, I’ll have a picnic on that big branch.”

She heard a… giggle from the bushes.

Startled, she spun around to stare at the bush.

Of course, it didn’t move. And it stopped making sounds, too.

“Hello?”

Nothing.

Cautiously, she took three steps toward it. Then something burst out of the greenery in a full flung panic. She barely glimpsed Todd, the squirrel Lycan from the gardens, as he rushed past.

“Wait!”

It was no use.

He didn’t even look back as he made a beeline for the outer wall of the manor defenses.

With a huff of exasperation, Em ran after him.

She made it almost to the wall before she was huffing. Then grimaced when Todd simply vaulted onto the wall and climbed. Fine. She kept running, aiming for the nearest gate instead of the hole in the wall she usually used.

That was when she heard the commotion.

“How dare you, you little rat!”

Em dashed through the small door and almost fainted.