Page 62 of A Monarch's Fall

“What about your mother?” Talia asked.

“Died,” I answered.

“You had no Flores witch for guidance?” Rea asked, her face expressing her sympathy.

“It was just me and my mother’s books. I did fine on my own,” I explained.

“Every witch needs those of their coven as they come into their gifts,” Talia said, putting her hand on my shoulder.

I shook her hand off me.

“I’ve done just fine without the coven so far,” I snapped. “It’s not like anyone cared about me before now, and it’s not been easy to find other Flores witches. Before today, I didn’t even know there was still a coven.”

“I keep putting my foot in my mouth,” Talia said.

“Everyone here knows who you are, Percy. Or we know now. Before, you were just a half-witch, pet of the princess, and we all wondered who your mother was, but we didn’t know. Not until recently, after your novel ability became known. That’s when we were told who you really are,” Rea said.

“So, I have a novel ability, and suddenly I’m wanted?” I asked, trying not to sound as rejected as I felt.

“Pretty much. It sucks, I get that, but this is war, and we didn’t really have time to worry about one witch,” she replied.

“I’d prefer if you all had kept not worrying about me,” I said quietly.

“Have we really made that negative an impression in one afternoon?” she asked, surprised.

“I’m not an idiot; everyone wants me for my ability. I don’t mind telling you or anyone else, I’ll never use my ability to further any war or any cause, I’ll never starve anyone.”

Only those who had never experienced true hunger could ever suggest famine and starvation as a weapon against others. If they knew what it felt like, to be so hungry you can’t sleep or allyou can do is sleep, the pain comes and then goes, and maybe the lack of feeling is the worst, when just being, simply breathing, is a chore and the desperation, everything starts to look a little like something edible. I wouldn’t be the reason another person experienced that. Never.

“You’re not behind us?” Talia asked, her head tilting to the side curiously.

“I’m not even entirely sure what The New Foundation wants exactly. You want to end the House system and replace it with what? You’re happy for a House like Halvorsen to continue, but every other House has to go? All I know is that those I thought were my friends dragged me from my home and brought me here for what? So that my ability can be used as a bargaining tool at best, or to kill innocent people at worst? And it would be innocent people who starve. All those Lords and Ladies you all want to tear down, they’d be last to know hunger, if they ever did,” I said.

“Look, I get it, from the outside, it all looks like more of the same shit; doesn’t matter what toilet it’s landing in.”

I grimaced at the crude analogy, but it was right.

“What a nice way to put it,” Melina said, shaking her head.

“I do have a way with words,” Rea said, smiling confidently, before turning her attention back to me. “It’s about more than ending the House system. It’s about making an even playing field for everyone. It’s not anarchy. There’s always going to be the need for a system of power. We think that the system should be central and peacefully elected. Right now, it all comes down to how lucky you were at birth. Born into a noble family, you’re set for life and can do whatever you want. Born as a commoner, you might get lucky and be some noble's servant. Life can be quite good to those on the edges of nobility, but for everyone else, it’s a hard grind to survive. And for what? So that those who already have everything can have more?”

“You don’t have to explain to me that life is hard, that it’s not fair. Where have you all been hiding all these years? While you left the poorest to fend for themselves? And now you want to start a war. Is war not hard? You talk about peace, but you want to get there violently. How does that make sense?” I asked.

“We had no choice,” Talia replied defensively. “The decision was made to protect the coven.”

“Protect the coven from what?” I asked. When I thought about it, Lady Flores hadn’t given me any reason for why Flores disappeared or why The New Foundation was started.

“There were reports of Flores witches being taken, forced to labour instead of the charity we had been providing. After one rescue, it was reported that one of our coven had been raped to produce a half-witch of Flores' capabilities. We rescued everyone we could, and we refused service to the kingdom. We do not give at the cost of our lives. One of Flores’ lost is one too many. Then, when news of Damia’s disappearance spread, it was the push we needed to finally see the kingdom and Houses for what they were, and we withdrew our help and from interacting with the other Houses. When we first heard of you, we thought you were a result of that time. There was talk of coming for you then, but it wasn’t practical at the time,” Melina explained.

“Why didn’t Lady Flores explain all of this?” I asked, noting that Melina believed my mother had disappeared, whereas Lady Flores had admitted that my mother had left of her own accord.

Was my mother’s leaving used to rally the rest of Flores behind the same cause? Did Lady Flores lie to me, or did she lie to her coven for propaganda? Why hadn’t Selene or Sasha told me of the crimes against Flores witches? Did they not know? Were they keeping it from me? Was it even true? My head hurt from all my unanswered questions, and I was exhausted.

“It’s a dark time in our history. Those who lived through it don’t particularly like to talk about it. There was so muchfear. We were few in number and scattered across the land. The Houses tried to portray reports as one-off instances and to suggest that there were so few reports kingdom-wide compared to other crimes. Perhaps for other covens the number seemed small, but it was one in ten, one in ten Flores witches had been abused while offering our gift to the Houses, stopped from leaving a village or town, forced to work, sold, treated and used like an animal. Violence against us was on the rise everywhere. Nowhere was safe, not for any of us,” Rea continued, and the way she spoke, I wondered if she was remembering that time.

“But I thought the other Houses respected us, that we got along with everyone?” I asked, and the way Rea looked at me, I’d never felt more ignorant or foreign from Flores. She looked at me like I had swallowed some obvious childish lie as truth.

“Do you really believe that the Houses, especially during a streak of the harshest winters and wettest growing seasons, would not abuse our gift? Wouldn’t fight over us? Wouldn’t force us if we didn’t want or feel like we could help? That they wouldn’t view a shortage of Flores witches as something they had the power to change? Has your time within the Royal House been so idyllic? The Houses didn’t just ignore what was happening; they actively encouraged it. Even trying to hunt us down when we started to hide.”