“Then I’ll run away,” I murmured.
My mother looked at me disapprovingly. “He’s the dragon king of Embergate. There is nowhere you could go that he could not follow.”
Chills ran the length of my spine at her declaration.
My mother stepped forward, placing her hands on my shoulders. “If it looks like your power is discovered, and it’s clear that you might have a magic that is greater than even he contains—”
“Mother, that’s not possible!” She’d gone mad and was paranoid. Now I was really scared.
She leaned closer to me, her grip on my shoulders tightening. “Listen to me, Arwen. If it appears to go that way, that your magic might be a threat to him somehow, then you make him fall in love with you so he won’t kill you. Understand?”
Kill me? Kill me because my power would be greater than his? Wasn’t that what he wanted? Maybe not. Maybe he wanted a woman with just enough power to give him an heir but not too much? Like Regina said, a man doesn’t want a woman stronger than him. Maybe that’s what had happened to the woman who’d birthed me.
For the first time since this whole thing started, I was genuinely terrified.
“How? How do I make him love me?”
Red colored my mother’s cheeks. “Your body can do certain things that a man craves. Make him think of that every time you are in the room, but don’t give it to him until you’re married.”
Now it was my turn for my cheeks to go red. She meant bed him.
Kendal had told me all about that. She’d learned everything from her aunt who worked in Gypsy Rock, was only two winters older than us and… uninhibited.
“Oh. Okay,” I muttered with embarrassment.
Marry him? Was she serious?
“If it comes down to it, you be the strong queen he wants and give him many heirs, but make sure he adores you so that when you’re done having children for him he doesn’t kill you.”
My mother’s counsel was harsh. He wouldn’t do that, would he? What decent man would?
All I’d heard of King Valdren was of how kind he was to his people, how much he cared for his late wife, Queen Amelia. He saw her through every loss of child—everyone loved him. He was kind… right?
Kind enough to wait outside the gates of Cinder Village? Kind enough to call his guard on me and pull his blade? Kind enough to remarry quickly simply for an heir?
These thoughts scared me, so I shook my head to dislodge them.
Tears welled in my eyes. “Adaline… should I go and say goodbye?”
But my mother shook her head. “She’ll be too distraught and make a scene. Leave her a note and send her a gift with the first food shipment.”
I nodded, walking to our shared nightstand, and pulled out a torn scrap of paper and a pen. I’d taught Adaline and my mother to read and write during my two-year apprenticeship with the scribe.
Dearest Adaline,
I love you more than all of the jade stone in Jade Mountain. Take care of Mother. I’ll send a gift from Jade City.
P.S. Don’t be a brat.
Love, Arwen
I hated leaving her like this, especially after our tiff this morning, but Mother was right. She would throw a huge fit and I didn’t want to leave the village crying.
“Ma’am…” The guard’s voice carried into the house and my mother groaned.
“You come in and take our daughters and give us five minutes to pack them up and see them off!” she yelled back at him. He said nothing in response.
“Mother, be kind,” I told her.
I knew she was flustered, but now I worried if she’d made trouble for me in Jade City. If Regina and now Nox thought my mother unkind, they might make life hard for me.
My mother and I grabbed the trunk at the end of my bed which held the winter furs and started to pull them out and put in more practical items. Jade City was near the ocean; it didn’t snow there. I started to pack my things and my mother slipped out of the room. “Be right back.”
When she returned, she was holding the most magnificent leather armor I’d ever seen.
“Mother!”
She grinned. “Kendal and I have been working on it all year. It was supposed to be for your birthday. These are all of the pelts you’ve killed. Each one put food on our table.”
She laid it on the bed and I sat there, stunned. It was shiny, well-oiled bronze leather that had been stitched together piece by piece. Each piece from a different animal. I recognized the darker muskrat hide. Mother and Kendal had placed it in the center of the corseted chest, and then Kendal had carved swirls and flowers into it, which she was known for. The shoulder spaulders were such a delicate filigree that I couldn’t help but reach out and touch it.