Nori had never loved Crosnee. She had never even liked her.

The paragon of beauty. That's what they called her. And when Nori first arrived in Ambrosia City, she believed it. She had first caught a glimpse of the princess at the Ambrosial Summit. Nori had marched with the Urokans in the parade—best to keep them pacified so they'd continue to support her path to grand king. Crosnee had stood up on the stage, and the Urokans stopped to let Sansho speak. The Urokan king had been unable to attend due to his failing health, but the Harper patriarch was more than ready to attend in his stead. Nori doubted the king was even sick, such were the controlling ways of the Harpers.

And while Sansho spoke next to King Basil, Crosnee twirled her fiery red hair in the background. Nori moved through the ranks to get a better look, she was so stunning.

Even Crosnee's voice was beautiful. The first time Nori heard it, she thought she might be more than a bit smitten with the princess. But the second time she heard it, she knew better.

"Father is getting too soft," Crosnee had said at a gala. Nori had brought her a drink, and halfway through, Crosnee's lips loosened and let her nasty spirit out. "Foreigners have a stink to them, you know? And they're all different stinks, but they're all bad. The city reeks of it. Drive them out by force, I said."

And then she laughed. And Nori laughed too. She had to. Such was their difference in status. Such was her ambition.

Marrying Crosnee had been a duty. She only had a three-year stint as acting queen after the assassination of her father, but she had made a mess of things. A lifetime of neglected studies left her without the knowledge necessary to rule, and her megalomania punished anyone who dared to try to help. But she loved Nori, and her father wanted her to marry Nori, and being a queen was hard work, so when the war ended and the time came, she gave Nori the crown and a kiss without a second thought. Her breath smelled like decay, and her beauty, which Nori had stopped seeing years prior, waned by the hour. Still, Nori did her job, and within a couple of months, they knew that Crosnee was pregnant.

Her belly grew. And grew. And grew. And so did she. By three months, she had grown to twice the size without counting her belly, which must have held a baby horse in it with the way it bulged. And then her body twisted. Word spread around town that the queen harbored a monster in her belly. Gluttons were less common then. Many would go their whole lives without ever seeing one. Nori had never seen one. She got the best Veratores and smartest scholars to study her wife. They found that not only did Crosnee have Gluttonous ancestors, but Nori did as well. They said Crosnee's Gluttony was a unique one, likely caused by the baby within. When asked if the child would be a Glutton, none of the experts were brave enough to answer. They had heard of what Nori had done in the war.

At six months, Crosnee started to slur her words and could no longer walk unassisted.

At nine months, she only spoke in whispers, begging the Veratores to induce labor.

At twelve months, her belly continued to grow. Veratores spoke to Nori about an early termination—if it could be called that. Nori had never loved Crosnee, but she hated seeing how much the woman was suffering. She'd almost certainly never recover. But if the child died and Crosnee became incapable, people would doubt whether or not Nori should remain as grand king. Her legitimacy would come into question, and people would look to the elderly king of Labrusca, Crosnee's cousin, to step in to keep the kingdoms together. So Nori let the baby continue to grow.

The baby finally came at eighteen months. For all that Nori had seen in the war, she could hardly stand to be in the room when it came. The baby's neck came out too far in the front of its chest, and its arms were long and knobby. They clung to Crosnee's leg, and the Veratores couldn't pry the baby away. But when they tried to move the baby up Crosnee's body, it let them as far as her breast, where it latched on. Crosnee screamed—it was a wonder she had any voice left after the delivery. The Veratores eventually gave up on pulling the baby away, letting Crosnee cry while the baby ate. It was the first time Nori had seen Crosnee as a human in months, and it broke her heart to see such suffering.

After an hour, they worked the baby off of Crosnee, and it wailed and wailed and clawed at the hands that took it from its meal. But once they got a wet nurse in front of the baby, it calmed down and latched on. The wet nurse's discomfort was apparent, and she'd end up fleeing the city by the end of the week.

Nori thought to smash the baby's head on the floor. Such a creature should have never existed. No one had ever seen a natural born Glutton before. No eyewitness accounts, no anecdotes, no history books. It should have been killed at first breath.

But Nori needed a legitimate son to be a legitimate grand king. She had married into the position, and Crosnee could do nothing but sleep and feed the little demon. So Nori fought her instinct and let the baby live. She grew to believe that Wally was Ambrosia's punishment for the Unification War. Waldorf, Crosnee had wanted to call him. Wally for short. For as much as Nori hated Crosnee, she thought she'd do her that kindness at least and stop referring to the child—to Wally—as a creature.

Nori had to act quickly to keep the realm calm. She forbade anyone that came into contact with Wally from speaking pejoratives about him. She had them say the baby was sickly, not Gluttonous, and that he had been born on time nine months ago. Any word to the contrary was insidious rumor. He was big enough to be two years old already, so that lie was easy to stick. People would find out eventually that Wally was a Glutton, but maybe Nori just needed to stall things out long enough for the dust of the Unification War to settle.

Nori had never imagined herself as a father. Hers had been taken so soon, not just by the Harpers, but by his position. He rarely had time for her, and when he did, he crammed their scarce moments together with overly serious conversation. But having Wally awakened something in Nori. She wanted a child. A real one. One she didn't have to lie about. One she could love. One from a real marriage. A marriage built on love.

Maybe that's how she found herself with a second child.

Nori started her annual trips to Uroko when Wally turned five. The child had become too much for Nori to handle. It seemed that the only time that Wally wasn't throwing a tantrum was when he was eating, whether that be from one of his three personal Chefs or from one of his bevy of milk nurses. Luckily, Nori had capitalized on her worldly travels to form a trustworthy and capable council that let her leave.

On her first trip, she had left for a month. It had been so rejuvenating that she took two months the next year and three the one after that. Of course, she got plenty of work done. The Urokans needed constant attention to keep them committed to the unification, particularly in those early days. They had figured that Nori, being one of them, would have positioned them as the dominant kingdom of the five, but Nori had done everything in her power to make everyone equal. Khala suffered the brunt of Uroko's disappointment.

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On her fourth trip, Nori decided to go back to her true home, Palm Coast. It was a wonderful thing, being away from the political centers of the different kingdoms. No one recognized her, even though she had grown up there. That enabled her to walk the streets without guard and without attention, experiencing the life of Palm Coast once more. She ate at a small, rundown restaurant where they served honey bee larva over rice. Spending over a decade in Ambrosia City had dulled Nori's more adventurous appetites, but everyone claimed it was the best food in town. And it was. So much so that Nori had to meet the Chef. A Purple Jacket came out of the kitchen, introduced herself as Mitsuba, and Nori fell in love immediately.

The trips that had once been meant to foster relationships with Uroko became romantic getaways. Nori spent her days in Ambrosia City dreaming of Mitsuba, and when she got to spend those rare few weeks in Palm Coast, she spent every moment possible with her. Nori made up excuses for summer trips and winter trips and even went for weekends sometimes, telling her council she was going to see how the sugar plantation expansion was going. Mitsuba would come to Ambrosia City for the summit, and Nori would risk everything to sneak her into the keep.

And through such reckless love, Mitsuba became pregnant. Nori lived in fear for months. Fear that she'd be discovered. Fear that this child might be even a fraction as monstrous as the last. But the baby came out healthy and normal. A girl. For the second time in her life, Nori fell in love. She would have given everything for that baby. And that made her realize what true fear felt like.

This child could challenge Wally's claim to the throne. Once, a child had taken Wally's toy. Wally had poked his eye out. And now Wally was nearly a teenager and larger than most adults. And he was smart. That was the worst thing about it. It would have been one thing to just be a monster—some base beast that lived for food. But he was growing more and more cunning by the year.

Nori needed to keep her baby safe. She needed to keep Mitsuba safe. So Nori found a new pretense—researching the difference in mainland essence and the newly spread essence of Kodoloun. The subject barely interested her, but it was enough of a topic in scholarly circles to not raise any suspicions when she got on a boat to go from Palm Coast to the lone island. As grand king, she commanded the biggest cabin, and she had the crew bring a spare bed in for that poor pregnant lady to enjoy some space.

It was only then, when Nori knew the baby would be safe, that she dared to name her. "Perilla," she told Mitsuba. "I always thought that'd make a pretty name."

Mitsuba laughed. "We're going to be living in southern Uroko now. Real southern Uroko. They don't use perilla, they use another leaf like it."

"What do they call it?"

"Shiso."

Wally found out. Nori didn't know how or exactly when. Wally had this horrible way of drawing out revelations, dropping little hints that he knew more than he should. And he always knew more than he should. He knew about Nori's attempt at poisoning him when he was a child. He knew that Nori had tried to get him shipped off to be a ward in Labrusca. He knew that Nori had released one of his personal Chefs to go open a restaurant. He knew who to pay to burn that restaurant down. And he knew about Shiso. He might have known since the day she was born, but he held onto it until he was a man grown. Nori had dinner with him once a month back then. A sorry attempt at keeping the peace.

Wally waited until the plates were cleared and they were alone before beginning his tiptoeing dance.

"You didn't have much of an appetite," he said.

Of course, no one had an appetite compared to Wally. "I've been feeling a little run down lately. I have this cough."

"You should have your quarters checked for mold. Those hideous wooden boards are probably rotten underneath."

Nori's alarm bells primed themselves. When Wally suggested something useful—even when he couched an insult with it—he was just building up to the turn. "That's a good idea, Wally."

"Of course, maybe the rot is in you. Have you had Hollyhock check?"

"I have. She hasn't detected anything."

"Hm." Wally drummed his heavy fingers on the table. "Maybe it's your conscience eating you from the inside."

He may have been right. Nori had never stopped having nightmares of the Unification War. Somehow, they only got more intense and clear as time passed.

"Or maybe you feel guilty about me." Wally smiled.

Again, he may have been right. Nori hadn't gone a day without thinking about the time she had tried to poison him.

"Maybe about mother."

He was wrong about that one. If anyone should have felt guilty, it was him, not Nori. He had sucked the life out of her. Of course, Nori could have put an end to it…

"Or maybe you just miss your Urokan whores."

Nori's guilt vanished, replaced by white hot rage. Her essence bristled and faded. A cough formed deep in her throat.

"I'm surprised you abstained for as long as you did—considering mother's condition." Wally chuckled, his hollow laughter bouncing around in his chest. "I could never last so long, but I suppose I'm just more of a man than you are."

Nori didn't care about such insults. She cared that Wally might know about Shiso.

"I don't fault you. Not one bit. In fact, I admire you for it." Wally stood and picked the crumbs off his coat, sucking his fingers greedily. "We are the grand royal family. We should indulge ourselves."

Nori clenched her teeth and swallowed her tongue. She just needed to take Wally's abuse. He would go away once he got bored.

"Hm." Wally sucked his teeth in disappointment and stepped behind Nori's chair. His massive hands engulfed her shoulders. "I don't fault you. But the day you make any attempt to legitimize her is the day she dies."

Wally squeezed and squeezed and squeezed until something popped in Nori's shoulder. She couldn't fortify herself with essence. She had tried that once, and it only made Wally squeeze harder. When his hands finally relented, Nori realized her arm had popped out of its socket.

Wally walked to the door and waved. "If your appetite doesn't bounce back, send me one of your Chefs."

Nori was more careful after that. She visited more islands to make her trips to Kodoloun seem less suspicious, and she had a guard set to live undercover near Mitsuba and Shiso. But despite Nori's best efforts, Daikon Harper found out, and for as troublesome as Sansho had been, the new Harper patriarch was worse.

Despite having a little girl nearly the same age as Shiso, he had no trouble leveraging her as a political hostage. Shiso was what he had been waiting for—an excuse to push for a Urokan-led United Ambrosia. If Nori tried to move Shiso out of Uroko, he'd declare her to be the legitimate heir and start a war. He knew that Wally would have Shiso killed, but he didn't care. He used her to get whatever he wanted. He kicked Nori out of the trade deals with Khala. He pushed for an imbalance in Chef jackets so that Uroko would seem superior to Labrusca. He even used Shiso as leverage against the Urokan king, threatening to drag him into a war if he tried to pass any law that might diminish the power of the Harpers. For centuries, the Harpers had found ways to keep themselves close to power. Now they had a way to seize it.

Nori's first child was a monster, and her second was a powder keg. She was the victim of one war and the perpetrator of another. She had brought the five kingdoms together and set them up for a violent end all in the same lifetime.

And people called her great. They loved her.

If only they knew the truth.

Somewhere else, in some other body in some other time, she heard Hollyhock's voice.

"Flambé's essence is unraveling inside of her. It's overpowering hers. If we don't do something, she'll die."

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