CW: implications of, but not descriptions of, sexual/physical abuse and murder.

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Now that Charlona had left her alone, she allowed the ideas from last night to come back to her. She forced down the images tied to the memories in the book and just tried to focus on the facts that had been helpful. Her chest tightened and her face and hands went cold, but she succeeded in not letting the memories overwhelm her.

Their county had once been larger, but now it was quite small, with the forest in the north having been claimed by the crown in her grandfather's day. But what she had read and remembered from her book was why Duke Brendwald had wanted her family's land in the first place, why he had been willing to torment them for years to get it. There were two reasons.

The first was that in the hills to the south was an old, forgotten mine. The mine would later be revealed to have both emeralds as well as a mineral known as jensite. Jensite had no use back when the mine was open to find emeralds, and most of the emeralds were already gone. But now, in the last decade, jensite had been revealed as a rare mineral, once thought of as worthless, that could strengthen metals beyond that of steel. It couldn't be found just anywhere, so it was expensive and used only on special weapons commissioned by the royal family.

Brendwald had desired that mine to make an even more dangerous ploy: creating strong weapons of his own which were able to rival the royal military. Though, her visions did not show her what Brendwald's end game was. Her own death–poisoning by Brendwald's wife–had come before that could be revealed. But she had several terrible conclusions she could imagine.

The second reason was that their county bordered not only the Brendwald duchy, but also the Rithan duchy, the former to the east and the later to the south-west. Control of their county would put Brendwald in a position to gather his own forces right outside of the Rithan border. That was why the mention of Rithan had seemed so familiar to her.

In her visions, there were many times news of covert attacks on Duke Rithan had reached her. The servants were not shy with their disdain for the rival duke. It seemed he had been attacked so often that his injuries kept him from attending court, then showing his face, and eventually from leading the military during unrest or conflict with neighboring lands.

And Brendwald broke out the fine cognac on the day Duke Rithan's death was announced and celebrated. But my vision self barely noticed the news since Brendwald had also chosen that night to visit my chambers. A shiver ran through Lianna, and she forcefully pushed all images related to that memory away.

But what she did know was that the Duke Rithan was doomed to die after many close calls that left him injured and weakened, yet he was the only major power that stood a chance of opposing Brendwald. Even the royal family had been duped by him, and they seemed to believe him to be a loyal and honorable man–or at least they never made a move against him. If anything could change the future, saving Duke Rithan could be it. His mere presence kept Brendwald in check, and who knows what he could have done if he hadn't been injured.

And that was when Lianna's sleep-deprived thoughts had clicked together. She had recalled Reggie's words from their trip home from town: "Well, allies have something to gain from one another in lue of trust. I would find out what they needed. Hopefully it would be something I could provide, and then we could strike a deal."

Though it came with a horrible cost, she could heal anything that was not a natural failure of the body, even something fatal. She could trade her healing ability–and even the secret of the mine–for her and her family's safety and for a chance to change her nightmares.

Lianna pushed up off the door and began putting her mother's things back in the wardrobe. The beginnings of a plan had taken root, and now she just needed a way to make it happen. She'd have to meet with Duke Rithan somehow, probably travel there well before her debut, and in order to do that, she'd have to worry and anger the rest of her household and her family. But she had no time to feel sorry for what she was going to do.

I'll need to make preparations as soon as I can and in ways that won't be noticed. She finished putting her mother's things away just as Charlona's footsteps came down the hall to her door heralding her breakfast.