Chapter 78 - Kanta Blood (1/2)

By the time all the hats and scarves were finished, the weather had improved considerably. Al and I headed out using clothes we had borrowed from the servants' wing and set up shop in the part of town that held the public market.

I had already enacted the first part of my plan by having all of the other hats and scarves being sold bought up and delivered to the orphanage earlier in the week. We were the only ones selling and with our low prices they were clearing out pretty quickly.

Al went off to find us some lunch while I held down the fort. I made three sales in the first five minutes he was gone. I knew this idea would work!

”Miss, do you have hats in children's sizes?” a female voice asked as I was finishing up with another customer.

I bid the person I was helping a nice day after wrapping up their hats for them and turned to the next customer. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. The woman had black hair and startlingly gray eyes. Just like Al. I had never seen anyone else with his coloring in this country.

The majority of Annalaias' citizens were blonde or had hair in varying shades of brown. And no one else had gray eyes.

”I do,” I said, coming back to my senses. ”How many do you need?”

”Three, miss. And two for a.d.u.l.ts.”

I hastily grabbed what she needed and accepted her coins but I couldn't let her go just yet. My curiosity was eating me alive. I had to know if this woman had some connection to Al.

”You have the most beautiful gray eyes,” I complimented. ”I thought my husband was the only one with that color.”

Surprise lit her face. ”Your husband is from the Kanta region as well? I didn't know of any other refugees in the capital.”

Refugees? Why did this ring a dim bell? I had definitely heard of the Kanta region but I didn't know anything about their people.

Ooh, where had I read about it? Was it in the earl's library or after coming to the palace? This was going to bug me.

”What does having gray eyes have to do with the Kanta region?”

The woman seemed confused by my ignorance. ”Wouldn't your husband have told you? Those who hail from the Kanta mountains have always had gray eyes and black hair. The original leader of our clan three hundred years ago had black hair and was blessed by the mountain spirits with gray eyes. All of his descendants have been as well.”

She lowered her voice into a conspiratorial whisper. ”My mother married a shopkeeper from Annalaias after escaping the raids twenty-two years ago as a young widow with me in tow. All of my younger half-siblings have the Kanta look despite their father being blonde. My children are the same. Any child born with Kanta blood will look this way.”

Any child born with Kanta blood…Al looked nothing like any of the other members of his family, who all had the lighter hair and warmer complexions common in Annalaias. If what this woman said was true, there was no way he could be the son of the king and queen.

So which one of them had cheated? I had never heard so much as a whisper in the palace of Al being illegitimate. That seemed like the sort of thing that couldn't be hushed up so easily.

The queen must have given birth to him herself; if they randomly brought in a child from the outside there would have been talk. Yet this woman said she had never heard of any other refugees in the capital. Where had Al's true father come from?

I was still trying to figure all of this out when Al came back. The woman I was talking to saw him and a bright smile appeared on her face. ”This must be your husband! It is so very nice to meet a fellow clansman. I am Nyla.”

His brow furrowed in confusion and he mouthed ”fellow clansman?” to me. All I could do was shrug, indicating he should go along with it for now. I would explain later. But yikes…how was I going to tell him his father wasn't who he thought?

”…I'm Al.”