15
Ashton
I didn’t like leaving Hayley alone at the teahouse, but it was better than bringing her with me. I didn’t know how this would go, and I had to make sure she remained safe.
After exiting the teahouse, I went deeper into Verdante to a poorer part of the village. The scenery changed. From well-kept shops and streets and smiling fae to streets full of holes, dirt, and broken building facades and lesser fae starving and sick.
The scene twisted my stomach. It hadn’t been this bad when King Eden was on the throne. I remembered it getting worse during the war; after all, our attention was taken while we tried to keep the entire court from being killed, but now it felt like a nightmare had taken over.
How could Vasant sleep at night knowing his subjects lived like this?
Following th
