Chapter 35: The Descendant of Mariva

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It was decided that they would see the Protector after lunch. There were more details about the alliance to work out, after all, and everyone figured Morie ought to meet her. Nemia didn't approve, but she knew Morie wouldn't appreciate being coddled and kept out of the way. That would just make it worse. That would just make it seem like Nemia really believed she was useless now.

So she kept her disapproval to herself and followed Morie back upstairs to their room.

"I don't need help," Morie said crossly, but on this subject Nemia had no qualms about coddling.

"You shouldn't be doing anything with your shoulder so soon. Would you rather I call Dell in to help you dress?"

"God, no. That girl's so cold her hands would probably give me frostbite."

Nemia grinned at her over her shoulder as she pulled out Morie's bags. All her stuff had been left tied to her horse when the Englians took her, apparently, and the rebels had taken them to the Protector's hall in the hopes that she would need them again. Despite everything, the weight that had been taken off her shoulders in discovering Morie was still alive made Nemia feel lighter than ever.

"So, what is it you have to tell me?" Morie asked as Nemia took out her clothes. She had sunk into the bed, leaning back on the pillows. She looked so tired, it hurt Nemia's heart. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn't back to normal.

"It's... it's kind of a lot. But I think it's important." She chose a dark blue tunic and black leggings as she spoke, trying to smooth out the wrinkles. "After you left, I worked on interpreting the dreams. With Therese's help, I managed to figure out some of the first few scenes and what I think they were symbolizing, which is that your parents were betrayed by Therese's mother. She's the one who told the king their baby was a Guardian. Please don't ask a million questions, I'm going to explain everything."

Morie shut her mouth and made an exaggerated go ongesture.

"Therese's mother — Rutharia — is your aunt, your mother's sister. It makes sense that she would have known about you. I had to sneak into the Maenar library to figure this out, you would have been proud of me. And the other thing is that around the time we were born, Rutharia tried to poison the king, which fits in with the whole poison metaphor in the dreams. Except the king survived and she was a suspect. I think she handed you over to the king to prove her loyalty or something, so she could stay at court."

Morie muttered something very uncomplimentary towards Rutharia Verivain that Nemia ignored.

"And also maybe in the hopes that you would grow up and kill him or something. We're just guessing on that part, but she's definitely your aunt."

"How did you figure that out from the library? We aren't a noble family, and they don't keep records of just any line in royal libraries."

Here came the big part. "Well, I just meant to check the Verivain records at first, and see if Rutharia's maiden name was Laerhart. But the thing is... there was a record of the Laerharts there."

She spoke louder, as if to overcome Morie's head shaking. "The Laerhart name was established during the reign of Queen Juno, the record said so. It was so old, Morie, you could tell the first page was written back then. And you know why it was started?"

Morie sighed. "No, why?"

"Because Queen Juno had a daughter outside her marriage. Her name was Mariva, and they must have made up the name Laerhart just so she could be a noble even though she was illegitimate and couldn't be a Solan. And she got married and had children and it goes all the way down to you and your brothers."

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