He nodded. “You know we don’t grow much here. The Vale is fertile, but there’s not much other suitable land and our winters are too long. We can’t eat gold and silver and copper. We’ve always depended on trade with Arden and Tamron and the other kingdoms to the south for our grain. With the wars dragging on, what little food comes north costs too much for most people to afford.” He paused, then forged ahead, blunt to the bone. “You can’t assume that because you have plenty to eat that everyone does.”

Raisa was mortified. “I don’t want to be that kind of queen,” she said. “Thoughtless and selfish and shallow and…”

“You won’t be,” Amon said quickly. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Yes it is. And I deserve it. I need to find a way to help people.” But what could she do about it? She might live in a palace, she sat down to a feast every single night, and she had a wardrobe full of clothes—but no money of her own.

She could try speaking with the queen, but she’d had little luck pressing her suit earlier in the week. Based on that conversation, her mother probably planned to spend any extra money she had on a wedding.

Besides, Raisa wanted to do something on her own. Something important. Something emblematic of the queen she meant to be.

She’d felt totally useless since returning to Fellsmarch from Demonai.

Maybe she could empty her closet and sell some of her frilly dresses in Ragmarket and use the proceeds to buy food for people who had none. Though that wouldn’t bring in much money.

And then she had an idea. The more she thought about it, the better she liked it.

She looked up at Amon. “Thank you for telling me the truth. Now that you’ve done that, will you help me?”

He squinted at her suspiciously. “Help you how?”

“Could you carry a message to Demonai and tell them to give it to my grandmother, Elena?”

He hesitated. “I’d need to know what it was about,” he said.

“I’m going to ask her to send one of her best traders down to meet with me at Southbridge Temple day after tomorrow.”

“Why Southbridge?” Amon asked. “Couldn’t they come here?”

“I’m unlikely to be recognized there. And there’s someone at Southbridge Temple I want to talk to. Have you heard of Speaker Jemson?”

“Well, yeah,” Amon said, as if surprised Raisa had heard of the outspoken speaker. “Anyone who’s been to Southbridge knows about Jemson. Only…how are you planning on getting there?”

She shrugged. “I’ll go in disguise. You said I should get out more and see what’s really going on in the city.”