LUMM 1: Die a Horrid Death, Arlo Crowhaven

8 | kings & mangoes

My room bore witness to my angry stomping. This day had been nothing but one disappointment after another. First Alyson, now Alexi. They did nothing but hinder my investigation and cloud my judgment. At one point, I was convinced Alyson was the culprit, but certain details didn't add up. With her father working for the Ocalira, why risk their ire by committing a series of murders? And why me?

"Oh, you're here," a lazy voice I didn't want to hear now bled into my senses. I turned to find Andy propped on his bed, a book to his face. What happened to the recital he had to rehearse? The days crept forward but never backward. "I took care of the rubbish for you."

I looked around. "I can see that," I replied, kicking a ball of crumpled paper off the rug's borders. The clutter on the table has now colonized my half. Crossing borders should be forbidden. "Can I ask why you're talking to me?"

The book's pages crinkled against his chest when he slid it down. "What do you know about the Mango Conspiracy?"

"Are you bloody shitting me, Andy?" I snapped. "Seriously, not in the mood. Go bother your professors or something."

A sigh ripped out of my lips as I dragged my boy onto the chair. I ran my hands into my hair, mussing the soft and thinning strands. This amount of stress wasn't doing me good. The bed to my right creaked, catching my attention once more. Andy had rolled to his side, resting his head on his knuckles.

"What, what, what?" I clicked my tongue and waved my hands in a poor attempt to erase his presence from my life. "If it's about that crackbrained mango thing—"

"It might be of some merit thinking about," Andy interjected. "Since you're thinking anyway."

I scoffed. "Fine, whatever," I said, massaging my temples. "You're not going to let it go, are you?"

Andy settled back to his bed, bobbing briefly on the mattress. The book went back up, and he flipped the page. "History can tell you a lot of things," he said. "It's up to us to listen."

"Okay, genius," I said. "What is this about the Mango Conspiracy?"

"Before the reign of Hylsa Lochrame, monarchs ruled Lochrainn." Andy turned another page against his chest, finger tapping the edges of the book. He wasn't reading at all, was he? "As expected, the monarchs, their vassals and officials, and the nobles worked together to raise taxes, impose trade and production regulations, and revise laws and privileges in asset ownership."

I leaned back, the chair's backrest creaking under my added weight. My arms crossed on my chest. Come on, get to the point. Andy, daft as always, continued jabbering. "The common folk had a lot to say about it, of course. Their livelihoods were affected, and in all technicalities, their profits and benefits have an enormous cut taken by the government. Do you know what will eventually happen?"

"Public outrage?" I threw a hand to the air with a shrug.

Andy hummed. "Public outrage," he echoed with a hint of confirmation in his tone. "A certain group of merchants in the west coast has had enough of their hard work exploited, so they devised a plan to force the Monarchy's hands and gain the common folk's trust. They started withholding the supply of mangoes."