Lilia and her husband exchanged glances as their carriage made its way towards the nearest port, glancing carefully at the sleeping woman lying nearby. Poor Janessa looked absolutely exhausted, she thought to herself. With everything that had happened in the last few months, it was no wonder. Lilia was determined to set Janessa up with a good man, one who could help her forget Antyny and what she had just gone through.
Her husband Vidar looked guilty every time he glanced over at the redheaded woman, and Lilia felt a slight sense of satisfaction. It wasn’t Janessa’s fault she’d been stuck as a concubine, after all, and it had been unfair for him to be angry about her talking to his wife.
“We need to think about who might make a good husband for Janessa.” She whispered quietly. Vidar looked skeptical. “I don’t know many men who’d accept a former concubine as a wife, especially a lowborn one.” He said grimly. “Maybe she should just stay with us for now?”
“I don’t want her to have to rely on us forever, Vidar!” the princess whispered back. “She needs an estate of her own. There’s no telling how the war in Karagot will end….and I think it would be good for her to know not every man is like Antyny.” Simply saying the name caused anger to swell through Lilia. How dare he treat a woman like that! Northfjord had a history of female warriors, and if she had a sword she might have been tempted to do something…reckless.
As they continued down the road, a variety of different options were suggested and dismissed for one reason or another. Some of the men’s castles were too far away; Northfjord was a large country, albeit one without many people, and they wanted Janessa to live close by so it would be easy to keep an eye on her. Others didn’t have the sort of kind, patient personality Lilia knew they would need to help Janessa recover from her ordeal. By the time they reached the port closest to the capitol, where their ship was waiting, they’d narrowed the options down to three or four names.
Janessa had seemed nervous as they boarded the ship, as if she’d expected Antyny’s men to be waiting to capture her and drag her back to the palace. But the local guards had seemed totally uninterested in their party, and before long the ship was safely out of Karagot’s waters and heading back towards Northfjord. Janessa stood at the railing and watched the coastline disappear, wondering if she would ever be able to return.
The trip back to Northfjord took most of three days due to the strong seas, and despite how comfortable the ship was Janessa was nervous. How could she get back into contact with the Royalists? She knew they knew where she was heading, but she wasn’t sure how to turn back into Prince Jasper without Anya’s help. Becoming Janessa had already shown her that using the amulet without fully understanding it could cause almost anything to happen.
Finally they arrived at one of Northfjord’s main ports, and Lillia led Janessa down a ramp to another carriage, waiting to take them to the capitol.