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“Are you done?”

Eyphah’s brow furrowed further. “No. If you were able to see, maybe you would notice the state New Agenor is in. The roads are broken, the houses falling apart. We have a lot of children in New Agenor! They need good and secure homes!”

Maris swallowed hard. The woman was desperate and rightfully so. She had known firsthand how Sealians were treated growing up. At least Maris had Skylian parents that tried to make it easy for her. Of course, all of that went away when her father died, and her mother fell ill. Maris took it all as it was, part of life. She needed to come up with ways to survive because nothing was fair in life but… As she watched Eyphah, she couldn’t imagine what she and the people of New Agenor were going through. She needed to do something, but what? It wasn’t her place to tell Valda what to do.

“You know how bad it is and yet you keep on breeding,” an old man scoffed. “That’s all you people are good for, fucking and reproducing so others can take care of you!”

Valda slammed her hand against the armrest, and hollered at the man to be quiet. Without an order, two guards escort the man out of the throne room. Silence consumed the chamber until Valda spoke again, this time calmer.

“What do you want, Eyphah?”

Eyphah inhaled deeply. “Lower our taxes, and rule in our favor. I don’t think it is fair we pay almost twice as much as Skylians for our basic needs.”

“Anything else?”

Eyphah shook her head. “No, Your Highness.”

“I am sorry you are having such a hard time surviving in my kingdom. I assure you that was not the intent when we allowed you a piece of our land two decades ago. I cannot grant you what you want. Not now at least.”

“Wh— What? Are you serious?”

“Did I stutter?” Valda asked, lifting her chin. “This is my first day as queen. After I have my meetings, I will decide what to do about your taxes, and not just yours, the entire kingdom as well.”

“You—” Eyphah huffed, gritting her teeth. “Thank the gods for your mother’s decree, if not, you and your people would’ve already felt the rage of the sea in the form of a Sealian attack.”

“Are you threating me?”

Eyphah didn’t answer, instead her dark eyes shot to lock with Maris’s. Her angered gaze softened for a second as her lips parted. Her fists uncurled and she stood there, staring at Maris in complete awe.

“Sealian?” Valda asked again.

Eyphah’s jaw snapped shut before her attention was on Valda. “Ma— Maybe,” she stuttered.

Valda waved her hand, and two guards came to stand between her and Eyphah. “Escort her out of the castle.”

“There will be no need for that. I can let myself out,” Eyphah said, bowing once and shooting a glance at Maris before turning and walking out of the throne room with the two guards behind her.

Maris sighed deeply when Eyphah was gone. This whole audience thing was exhausting, but it gave Maris a closer look at how royalty listened to their people. This could also be another way for her to know what was happening outside the castle’s walls.

After the commotion of Eyphah’s audience subsided, three men walked over to the dais. They bowed to Valda in solemn respect and then looked at one another as if deciding who would talk first.

“Good day to you, Queen Valda. I hope you are well.” One of the men said, his voice did not tremble like the others. “I am Jaltious, leader of the town of Caliban.”

Valda greeted him with a nod. “Good to hear from you, Jaltious. What do you seek in today’s audience?”

Jaltious’s hand fell on his sword hilt as he inhaled sharply. “Queen Valda, with all due respect, we come here to ask for you to lower our taxes. We understand your mother raised them for—” He waved his hand dismissively. “Whatever reason it was. But since you are our ruler now, we believe it would be in our best interest if you could help us. We paying such high taxes, means we don’t have enough to help the townsfolks. Our livestock is suffering, we’ve lost more than a dozen cows as of today. I am worried we won’t be able to trade with the other towns in the month of Astralon.”

“Other than lowering taxes, what do you need?”

Jaltious laughed nervously. “Your Highness, if you lower our taxes—”

“What do you need?”

Jaltious’s jaw flexed. He took a deep breath and scratched the back of his neck. “We need to pay our field workers so they can stay longer hours, and—”

“How much?”

Jaltious stuttered. He calculated a sum in his head before uttering it to Valda. It was an exorbitant number of coins. Maris thought Valda would deny Jaltious what he asked for.