Chapter Text
Isla Crown has been dead for 15 years. She died in childbirth and now I have a child who has far too much power for their own good. Yes, I love Sol with all my heart, but the people won’t accept them as ruler when I have to step down. The people killed my dad’s father when it was announced that he was marrying the Moonling ruler, Lance, at the time. They would never accept a non-binary ruler.
That’s why I need to keep Sol a secret for now.
The people believe that Sol died when Isla did. Everyone except for me, Sol, and a few close attendants know. And I’ll keep it that way for as long as possible.
In other news, Grimshaw is on his knees in my throne room, I assume to give me a headache. I don’t have time for this, but that never stopped him before. He’s probably here to declare some war that has something to do with resources or possibly just to spite me.
He rises and before I can even open my mouth to dismiss him he says, “We want to rejoin Lightlark.”
I flinch for a second. “What?” I almost yell.
“Nightshade wants to rejoin Lightlark. There are storms on our island that are getting rougher and more unpredictable by the year. We know it will take a ton of work, but we just want peace.” He starts pacing around the room. It looks to me like he seems almost nervous.
“We have no ulterior motives. I promise. We just want safety.” I feel the sweet truth of his words on my tongue, possibly the most bitter truth I’ve ever tasted.
“You know it took our people a while to accept Wildlings back onto Lightlark. Do you think they’ll even accept you and your people after what you did to us?” I accuse. It took years and me marrying the Wildling ruler for most of them to accept Wildlings. The Nightshades caused multiple wars, one that was purely for a woman who he betrayed, and thousands lost by the hands of multiple Nightshades. There are a lot of people on Lightlark who still don’t even like Wildlings still. But Grim must have known the side effects, but he’s still here, standing before me.
“W-we are willing to take the risks.” In other words, he’s desperate. He looks away from me for a second before saying, “Please, Oro.”
It would take a lot of resources. The Wildlings would probably need to help with the wildlife. And everyone would need to pitch in to help hold an entirely new civilization-
Wait, why am I even considering this? This should be an automatic answer. He and his people have killed thousands of ours. But then, I can’t just leave him, right? I mean, we used to be friends. Maybe. . . we could be friends again.
Before I can think better of it I say, “I’ll go over it with my council. We’ll give you a guest room while you wait for a decision.”
A look of relief flashes across his face for a second before he says, “Thank you.” He turns to walk out. He reaches for the doorknob.
The door slams open and Sol freezes in the doorway.