Chapter 40

Sun hadn't snuck out of the house that night to revisit her friends graves, though she had been a little tempted. But the memory of the absolute fury and anguish she'd felt afterwards, it was probably best if she stayed away for now. She would definitely go back before they left Solaryse to say goodbye. She'd never had the chance before being carted off to the Revenants.

Knowing what she knew about the Traverse, she didn't subscribe to religious views on the afterlife and what happened to the souls of their loved ones. But she still thought it might be of some comfort to her to leave a few offerings at their graves. And maybe she didn't know as much as she thought she did, and somehow her lost brothers and sister would know she was thinking of them, was still searching for them, and trying to reach out to them.

In the morning, after breakfast, Kalys took her out to the training hall again; this time there was more structure to it than yesterday. But it was no less rigorous and did leave her drained and exhausted afterward. When she'd returned to her room, Mika had already filled a bath and laid out a simple dress for her luncheon with Emily today.

It was close to midday when Sun was summoned to the foyer to greet the Intrieri siblings. Emily had brought her brother with her for some reason. When Emily saw her, she smiled, taking quick strides to pull Sun into a brief hug in greeting.

Sun looked to her brother for an explanation. While she hugged the boys regularly, they were close; they were family. She had only met Emily last night. He just stared back placidly, no help.

When Emily let her go, she took Sun's hand in hers. "It's such a lovely day; I thought we might picnic at Covenrey. Is there anything you need before we go?"

Sun just stared at her blankly. "Covenrey?"

"The Gardens," she said by way of explanation.

At least Sun knew what a picnic was now, having been on one with Nick.

"I don't need anything," Sun said. 

"Fantastic, let's go," she took Sun's hand, leading her out to the waiting carriage.

"Emily," Nathaniel chided. "You're getting carried away. We invite to lunch, not drag."

"Sorry," she gave a small self-deprecating laugh. "Sun, will you please join me for lunch?"

Sun nodded, once again practically being dragged towards the carriage.

"Will you join us, Kalys?" Nathaniel asked her brother. 

"No, I have business to attend; I'll leave my sister in your care."

Nathaniel nodded. Sun tried not to scoff. She didn't need anyone's care; they weren't children. Kalys did walk them out to the carriage, offering his hand to help Sun in. He squeezed her hand gently before letting go. Once Sun was sitting, Emily switched seats to be beside her, Nathaniel taking the seat opposite.

The carriage started driving, and Emily started talking, thanking her for coming and then nattering about inane things. She was a talker. And she spoke about people Sun didn't even know, though she was familiar with some of their last names—other members of the nobility.

When they got to Covenrey Nathaniel got out first, helping the girls out after him. Emily led her into the sun-drenched gardens, Nathaniel keeping his distance behind them, carrying the picnic basket.

"Are you excited for tonight?" Emily asked.

"Is it something to be excited about?" 

"Of course! We'll be mingling with the royal family. I've seen Prince Cardis once; he's very handsome and just a little older than us. He's of age, Sun. We must make a great impression."

"You want to be queen one day?"

"It's the most powerful position a woman can rise to. Don't you?"

"No one would like what I'd do with that kind of power," Sun replied. "What would you do with it?"

"I want to open schools and universities for women, encourage them to get better educations, higher education. So far, the only way for women to have their own careers is wealthy spinsterhood, permission from their husbands, and the Revenants. Though no noblewoman would be able to get permission from their family to join them. Except for you."

Sun had picked up that Emily felt stifled by the society she lived in. 

"I didn't get permission; I was already part of the program when Kalys found me."

"But he didn't pull you out."

True. She had always believed that was because she had kicked up enough of a fuss about everything else, and he didn't want to take away what little she had left and risk her behaviour and attitude getting worse. With nothing to lose, there would have been nothing to stop her.

"Oh, here is lovely," Emily stopped on the path, looking out to a grassy spot in the shade of a tree. 

Sun and Nathaniel followed Emily to the tree where he laid out the blanket for them to sit on. Emily started setting out the food. 

"I wasn't sure what kind of food you like, so I tried to pack a variety. I'm partial to the scones myself."

"Strawberries are my favourite," Sun told her, almost hypnotised as Emily pulled out a small bowl of them.

At Sun's utterance, she smiled and handed the bowl to her.

"Have you explored much of the city since you've been here?" Emily asked.

"Not this side of it," she replied.

"Right, you grew up on the other side. What's it like over there?"

Sun looked at her, a little flabbergasted if she were honest. The question had sounded almost flippant, and Sun couldn't exactly understand why, but it offended her.

"Awful," Sun replied, as if it should be obvious, which it should have been. "Full of death, disease, starvation, and violence."

"I mean, I know it's not great," she replied, a little flustered by Sun's reaction. "That people don't have all that we have—"

"Most of us have none of what you have," she interrupted. "People die of starvation, children are plucked off the streets and sold to brothels or masters, women and children are raped to death..." Her voice trailed off as the images of Ami's death bombarded her mind.

"'Us'? Sun, you're not one of them anymore. You're not there."

"It still happens whether I'm there or not."

"Is that what you would do if you had the power of a queen?" She asked softly. "Change things for them?"

"I'd try. I'd at least try to help the children."

"There are orphanages they could go to," Nathaniel pointed out, having kept his silence for most of this conversation.

"My best friend escaped one; they're not that great. They beat their charges, rent the children out for cheap labour, and they're not above outright selling them either."

"That's illegal," Emily gasped.

"So is rape, murder, and theft, but they're abundant on the other side of the city."

"Perhaps this is not approriate conversation," Nathaniel tried.

"Perhaps this is why things are as shit as they are out there; anything unpleasant is deemed inappropriate and ignored."

Sun took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

"I'm sorry for snapping," she said. "I haven't been myself since I came back to this city."

"A lot of bad memories here?" Emily asked, resting her hand on top of Suns.

"Yes, good ones too. But the bad ones just..." She trailed off. She didn't want to explain it, but she felt as if she owed them an explanation given how irritable she'd been. "They're horrific..."

That bitterness from before made itself known again, this time with another healthy dose of self-loathing. She was sat here, having a picnic in a nice dress while people she had grown up with were starving and fighting to survive every day. It had been easier to forget about it while she lived in Kolver and while she was subject to the rules and restrictions of Perditions guardianship over her. Being in Solaryse brought it all screaming back.

"You know, you're part of the Great Four now; you could do something about it," Emily suggested.

"I can? Kalys gives me an allowance, but I don't think it would be enough to get food to the slums or hire people trustworthy enough to distribute it."

"You don't have to use your allowance—"

"Emily," Nathaniel warned. "I don't know if it's our place—"

"Hush, Nate. It is; she's our friend."

'Friend' might have been a bit strong, but Sun would accept it if Emily was going to give her something useful.

"You're Lady Illusen, Sun. If you have the funds there, you can divert them to charitable works. You can pull them from other places if you don't. I wouldn't recommend pulling them from staff wages, but all our families have a lot of money going to different places—funding family members, investments, other charities..."

"I don't need Kalys's permission?" She asked.

"I'm not sure; different families handle it differently, but if he's given you the duties of Lady Illusen, that usually does come with some financial control. As long as you don't make waves, you could probably pull it off without him even knowing. With me, Father hasn't given me complete control, but I have quite a bit of leeway. It is expected of women of our standing to devote time and money to philanthropic pursuits."

"Then how come you haven't started in on your education for girls plan?"

"It requires a bit of a law change and more obscene amounts of money than I have at my disposal. As for you, if you want someone to coordinate with here and ensure things run smoothly with the distribution and hiring, I would love to help. We could go in on this together. With things as bad as you say, something really ought to be done about it."

Sun thought it over, not about whether or not to do it; she was going to try. But whether or not to enlist Emily's help.

"I don't want to owe you anything; I can find a way to manage it on my own," she finally said.

"You won't owe me; it'll be a joint project. We'll work on it together."

Sun sat staring at her, weighing up how much she could trust this girl she only just met. "All right."

Emily cast a broad smile. "Fantastic. So we'll need to hire people to grow the food, or do you just want to buy it straight from farms or local vendors?"

"Whatever is more cost-effective, I'll need to research it. We'll need to hire smugglers, and we'll need to find out who needs it most-"

"Smugglers?" She asked.

"Of course."

"Why smugglers? We could just have it delivered and distributed to a central square where people could pick it up."

Sun shook her head. "You have to make sure it goes to the right people."

"Who are the 'right people?'" There was an edge to her tone.

"The most vulnerable."

"But if everyone has food—"

"If everyone knows everyone has food, the strong are going to take it from those who can't defend themselves."

"But if everyone has it, why would they take it from others?"

"So they'll have more. Whatever they can't eat, they'll sell or trade."

"I don't understand why someone would do that," Emily uttered softly, looking deflated. 

How naive was this girl?

"Because some people are just cunts," she replied simply.

Both Emily and Nathaniel looked absolutely scandalised at her profanity.

"Sorry, was that unseemly?" She asked with a sardonic quirk of her lips.

These people...