“I don’t know.” He rubbed his forehead and began to pace back and forth in his sister’s small cottage. “She isn’t well. She had stomach pains and collapsed. I didn’t know what to do with her.”
“So you brought her here.”
“I knew you would help me.” He let out a shaky sigh. “I know you’re angry with me that I’ve been away so long, but it’s been too dangerous to return.”
“Yes, I saw the wanted posters. What was it? Ten thousand centimos for your capture, dead or alive?”
“Something like that.”
“You killed Queen Althea.”
“I didn’t. It’s a long story.”
“I’m sure.”
He glanced around, checking for any sign of his sister’s husband. “Where’s Paolo?”
“Dead.”
Jonas’s gaze shot back to hers. “What?”
“He was taken from me, forced to work on the Imperial Road. They wanted Father too, but they decided because of his age and his limp that he was useless to them. Paolo didn’t return when the workers were finally released from their duties. What am I to think except that he was killed along with scores of other Paelsians who were treated like slaves?”
Jonas stared at her with shock. Paolo had been a good friend of his back when life was hard but simple. “Felicia, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
“No, I’m sure you didn’t. Just as I’m sure you didn’t think keeping that little Golden Princess locked in our shed would nearly lead to his death as well.”
“Of course I didn’t know that.” He cast his eyes downward at the dirt floor. “You . . . you say Father wasn’t taken?”
“No. But from the moment he learned of the chief’s death, he became very ill—ill with grief unlike anything he felt when either Mama and Tomas died. It’s like his will to live began to slip away. I lost him two months ago. I run the vineyard now. Long days, Jonas, with very little help.”
His father had died, and Jonas had had no idea. He sat down heavily in a chair. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been here for you. I don’t know what to say.”
“There’s nothing you can say.”
“When this is over, when this kingdom is back to how it should be, I will return here. I will help you run the vineyard.”
“I don’t want your help,” she spat out, anger that she’d been holding back until now spilling out like an overturned cask. “I can do it fine on my own. Now, I feel that’s more than enough catching up. Let’s deal with your current problem so you can be on your way as soon as possible. I’m no healer, but I’ve helped plenty of pregnant girls before.”
“Whatever you can do to help is much appreciated. I just hoped you might know how to stop the pain.”
“Some pregnancies are more difficult than others. Who is she?” She looked at him sharply when he didn’t answer. “Tell me, Jonas, or I’ll send you back into the night.”
His sister was different now, harder, angrier. Every word from her mouth made him cringe.
He felt foolish to think that he could return here and nothing would have changed after being gone for so long. He’d meant to send a message, to check in, but it hadn’t happened. And time had gone by.
“She’s Lucia Damora,” he answered honestly, since he owed Felicia that much.
Felicia’s eyes widened with shock. “What are you thinking bringing that evil witch in here? She is not welcome in my home. Are you aware of what she’s responsible for? A village not ten miles from here was burned to the ground, everyone in it killed, because of her. She deserves to die for what she’s done.”
Each word felt like a blow, and he couldn’t argue with any of them. “Perhaps she does, but right now her magic is needed to save Mytica. To save the world. You wouldn’t let an innocent child suffer because of the choices of its mother, would you?”
She laughed then, drily. “Listen to you, defending a royal princess—from Limeros, no less. Who are you, Jonas? Who has my brother become?”
“Amara can’t be allowed to control Mytica,” he reasoned. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to stop her.”
“You are blind as well as dumb, brother. The empress is the only one who can save us all. Or have you forgotten the past so easily now that your head has been turned by that piece of evil dung currently sleeping on my bed?”
“My head has not been turned by anyone,” he growled. “But I know what’s right.”
“Then you need to wake up. The empress is the best thing that’s happened to Paelsia in generations.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not wrong,” she said, her fiery anger finally dissipating as weariness set into her voice. “But I can’t be bothered to convince you of something I know is right. You’re lost to us, Jonas. I can see it in your eyes. You’re not the same boy who grew up wishing to be like Tomas, who went with him to poach on the border of Auranos, who chased after all the girls in the village. I don’t know who you are anymore.”
His heart ached at the thought of how much he’d disappointed her. “Don’t say that, Felicia.”
She turned away from him. “I’ll let you and that creature stay for the night. That is all. If she dies of this pain she has, then let her die. The world will be better off without her in it.”