Delia Prance's Arc

Chapter 18 of 59

The wedding was done. Delia's tears had dried, but her legs still ached. Nick kept his arm around her as they walked back toward the field. The nobles had not left. They stood in a loose knot near her worktable, where her ledger lay open under the sun. One reached out and turned a page. Another leaned close, reading. Delia stopped walking. "They're at my book," she said. The ledger held everything. Every plant she grew. Every use. Every poison, with its price. She had written it because the king demanded it. Now the nobles studied it like a market list. One tapped the page and spoke low to the others. She caught a few words. Wolfsbane. Predator deterrent. A fortune, one said, if the crown pays for each dose. Nick's jaw tightened. "They see coin in it," he said. "They'll want a cut. Or want it taken from you." Delia crossed the grass. The nobles did not step back. One held her ledger up and smiled thin. "A clever record," he said. "Perhaps too clever for a healer. The crown should hold such dangerous knowledge, not a woman in an apron." Before Delia could answer, a heavy step sounded behind her. King Rowan Rider came through the flowers, his blue coat bright, his belly leading him. The nobles went quiet at once. They lowered the book. The king looked at the open ledger. He looked at the noble holding it. "Put it down," he said. The man set it on the table. "Your Grace," the noble began, "the poisons alone are worth—" "They're worth what she says they're worth," Rowan said. "I read the book. The crown owes her for the pest work. For the predator work. I signed it." He did not raise his voice. "The knowledge stays with her. She grows it. She names it. She keeps it." The noble's smile fell. "And if she dies? If it's lost?" "Then the kingdom loses a healer," the king said. "Not a thief." He turned to the whole knot of them. "You came to my son's wedding. You'll leave it now." The nobles bowed and moved off through the field, past the flowers, toward the road. Delia watched them go. Her hands had stopped shaking. Rowan picked up the ledger and held it out to her. "They'll try again," he said. "Not today. But they saw what your field is worth. They won't forget it." Delia took the book. "Then I'll keep growing it. Free for the sick. Paid by the crown for the rest." "That's the deal," the king said. He looked at Nick, then at her. "Guard the book. It's the only proof you own any of this." He walked away, slow and heavy, and left them alone in the field they had married in. Delia held the ledger to her chest. The field was hers. The knowledge was hers. But now the whole court knew its price.