Chapter 151

MILA

To say the crowd was restless was putting it mildly.

They were all pushing and shouting, clamoring over each other to be the first person to the castle walls. We were still a few miles out from the capital, but the closer we got, the angrier the mob became.

Although I wanted no part in any of the riots, I knew it was far safer for me to walk with the crowd than attempt to walk against them. They were practically a stampede at this point, and despite being their queen, I was afraid.

Of course, no one knew who I truly was. I had tugged a baseball hat over my eyes, shielding most of my face from any of the citizens. I was just another brunette in the crowd.

It was a good thing, too. Given some of the things they were shouting about the royal family, I was positive that they would have tarred and feathered me on the street if they knew who I was.

I tried listening to what the crowd was chanting, trying to get to the bottom of what their true complaints were. They were all pushing and shoving and yelling to the point that it was hard to make out what exactly they were chanting, but I kept hearing the word dragon over and over again.

This was a mess. The people had no idea that the real reason cleanup in Barlow had been so delayed was due to the King being so ill that he could not move, and then being forced into mourning his wife of two months. Felix would never intentionally abandon his people–not that any of them could see that.

Once I was reunited with my husband, perhaps we could heal the rest of Fresonia, too, not just the magic.

We shuffled along for about another mile before curiosity got the better of me. I tapped on the shoulder of a young woman, about my age, who was marching ahead of me.

“Excuse me,” I said, “may I ask what you all are so angry about? I was on my way to market and got swept up into this, I really have no idea what’s going on.”

The girl barely glanced at me before saying, “We’ve been hung out to dry by King Felix. The land is drying up, the crops are dying, and there’s rumors of dragons. It’s a nightmare.”

“And the King has done nothing about this?” I questioned. Surely someone in the castle had to be looking into this instead of looking for me.

The girl shrugged. “No one’s seen him or the Queen in weeks. In fact, there’s a rumor that the Queen is dead.”

A cold dread ran through my body. “What are you talking about?”

The girl lowered her voice and leaned in a bit closer. “There was apparently a great commotion at the castle a few weeks ago, that only a few guards and servants were privy to. They’ve all been sworn to secrecy. But some are saying that the Queen was killed, either by an assassin or by the royals themselves.”

My mouth went dry. “And why would they say that?”

The girl smirked. “Lots of reasons. The King was losing popularity following the mess at Barlow. The Queen was tremendously well-liked. Maybe she was killed out of jealousy, or maybe they killed her to garner sympathy from the people.”

I couldn’t speak. I was outraged by the lies about Felix that the people had fallen for.

“But my favorite theory,” the girl continued, “is that the Queen found out about the dragons and ran away so that they couldn’t feed her to the beasts. That’s what the royal family does to traitors, I hear. They serve them up as breakfast for their precious dragons.”

“There is no way King Felix would ever kill his Queen,” I blurted out. “He loves her. We all saw that on their wedding day.”

Defending him was pointless in this scenario, but it was still odd to hear those words of forgiveness come out of my mouth.

The girl looked at me strangely. “This is no place for a loyalist. Why are you here, exactly?”

I swallowed. “I’m looking for someone.”

As soon as I said it, I saw recognition flare in her eyes. She studied my face closely, searching for any hint of their long-lost Queen. I blushed, avoiding her gaze, but I knew that it was too late.

The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute, aren’t you–”

I was sprinting away before she could finish her sentence. I had to get away from the mob. I stood no chance at healing the magic and finding Felix this way. I made it to the side of the road before ducking behind a large oak tree, shielding me from any prying eyes.

I surveyed the scene before me before reaching into that magical core and sending a small wave of wind over the crowd. It blew out all the torches, and if anyone paid close attention, they would see that the sharp, pointed ends of their pitchforks had been suddenly dulled.

If there was going to be a riot, it was the least I could do to minimize the bloodshed.

There were cries of disappointment as the torches went out. When someone went to light theirs again, they were suddenly struck with the knowledge that the torches would no longer light.

It was the least I could do to protect not only my friends in the castle, but the mob themselves. These were still my people, even if they were rioting. I still cared for them and wanted them to be safe. I could not protect them from their own anger, but I could at least weaken their weapons.

Despite the setback, the crowd kept marching onward. They were nearly at the capital now, and from the small pillars of smoke that were billowing near the castle, I could tell that riots in Fresia had already begun. It appeared that they were almost at the castle gates.

I knew the guards would be hesitant to turn against civilians, but their duty first and foremost was to protect the castle and its inhabitants. I could only hope that no large-scale conflict broke out until I was able to do something.

Was the royal family in danger? Was Felix in that castle now?

I stumbled away from the crowd, hoping to find a clearer route to the castle. The road was surrounded by meadows and farmland on either side, so I moved deeper into the greenery. The grass went up to my hips here.

I could see clearly for the first time just how much the magical drain was affecting the land. The grass was withered and brown, breaking with each step I took. I winced at the plight of the farmlands. If we did not fix this, and soon, Fresonia would starve.

That is, if it did not burn first.

I had just made it to an open spot in the grass when I looked up.

There, standing only a few feet away from me, a look of shock, surprise, and joy on his face, was Felix.