Page 83 of A Tongue so Sweet and Deadly

“While we allow women in our ranks, many aren’t willing, so this would also allow more opportunities for them outside of working the farms or moving to the capital in search of employment. I will speak to our admirals and see how we could go about setting this up.” Loche shot her another glance before shifting his eyes to the nobles again. “Who’s next?”

“What about the Fae?” Another man stalked forward, a sneer on his face beneath his neatly combed golden hair. “They drive up the prices by bringing their goods here. We should seal the borders from them, should have never opened them in the first place!”

Lessia schooled her features into a mask of neutrality at the disgust that twisted the man’s face when she cleared her throat. “Don’t the Fae and humans trade different goods, though? We have never purchased any produce or liquor from Fae vendors. My understanding is that they mainly providesteel for weapons, or even finished weapons, if you can afford it. And building material, of course.”

She made the mistake of glancing out over the crowd. The blond man wasn’t the only one staring at her with outright loathing. Most of the people closest to the dais averted their eyes when she met them, one woman even hiding behind the man closest to her and shuddering.

The blond man’s lip curled. “We only have to purchase the building material because the Fae burned down most of our forests in the war. It takes centuries to get those kinds of forests back. They should be giving it for free as payment for their destruction.”

“But it was also humans who started the war. The Fae lost almost as many, and they depend more on trade now, as they can’t reproduce as fast as humans can.” She tried to keep her voice even as more faces turned her way, stares of pure hate burning into her skin.

While she wasn’t the biggest fan of the Fae, she knew they relied heavily on trade, since they had fewer Fae able to help produce food and clothing. And despite all the bad seeds, there were good Fae too.

Lessia winced when people around her started screaming in outrage.

“She is on their side!”

“Of course she’d defend the Fae. She is a halfling. She’s one of them!”

“She shouldn’t be allowed here. She’d probably put Ellow under Fae rule if it was up to her!”

She shot a quick glance at Loche, but his face was turned away, his foot nonchalantly bouncing up and down. Steeling the emotions churning inside her, she made sure not a lick of the pain those words caused reflected in her features.

“Quiet!” Frayson barked, breaking throughthe chaos.

Before anyone else could speak, Lessia sucked in a breath and rose from her seat, hiding her shaking hands behind her back.

“I understand why you might not trust me. Believe me, I’ve seen firsthand how cruel Fae can be. But like humans, Fae differs from Fae, and I am also half-human—one of you. I consider Ellow my home, and I’ve made sure to contribute to society during my years here. I have no ill intentions in this election.”

She bit her cheek not to grimace at the last bit.

It wasn’t a lie.

Not really.

She might have been forced to be here by King Rioner, but she was doing everything she could to ensure Ellow remained safe.

Even if the people here treated her like an outsider, she knew Ellow was safer for someone like her, for someone like Kalia or Harver, than Vastala would ever be.

And she needed to make sure it stayed that way.

Make it better if she could.

The only way to do that was to show them they had nothing to fear from half-Fae like herself.

It was quiet for a moment, but then someone called out, “You’re not one of us! Go home, halfling!”

The room erupted in more shouts.

Sitting back down, Lessia tried to shrink into the chair, making herself as small as possible.

It took Frayson a long time to calm everyone down, and when the debate continued, no one asked for Lessia’s opinion again. Not even Frayson looked her way as they discussed taxes, how to feed everyone until the end of this long winter, and how to fill the ranks of soldiers while keeping enough men and women at home to manage farms and stores.

When the debate finally ended, Lessia walked right off the dais, keeping her head down until she reached the stairs.

She felt Merrick follow closely behind her, but the Fae didn’t speak as she bolted up the stairs and didn’t enter her room when she walked in and threw herself on the bed.

Chapter

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