Without saying a word, the servants stab and scoop at the morsels, piling our silver plates high with a feast fit for a small village. They leave as swiftly as they arrived, but one servant remains holding a giant jug of wine with both hands, ready to replenish our cups on command.
I study this servant curiously. Like Solena, what makes these Fae serve while others rule? Were all Fae not magical, ethereal creatures? You would think I would strive to keep my mouth shut after the trust comment, but I speak out regardless.
“What is the hierarchy of House Mordorin?”
Daedalus’ eyebrows knit together, but his gaze stays fixed to the bottom of his cup. “Why would you ask such a thing?”
“I am a Princess of the Sundered Kingdoms now, aren’t I? Shouldn’t I know these things?” I reply bluntly.
At last, his eyes lift to look upon me, and a warm shiver radiates down my spine. His lips part to speak, but before he canutter a word, Queen Lanneth loudly skewers a slice of rare beef with her fork.
“The only thing you need to concern yourself with is filling that womb with an heir as quickly as possible.” She nods towards my belly, then lifts the beef to her mouth and bites down hard, the bloody juices of the meat smearing across her lips.
My cheeks flush red, and I turn my head to look at anything but her.
She chews her food tightly, then swallows. “Especially if the rumors are true. That the newly wedded couple spent their first night as man and wife at separate ends of the castle?”
Now is the time I choose not to speak. Although I was grateful for it, it was not my decision to sleep separately. It should be Daedalus who responds to his mother.
Daedalus sprawls across his chair, a picture of nonchalance as he rolls his eyes with exaggerated impatience, making it clear that this conversation is a tedious chore for him. He leans back, arms crossed behind his head. “She was a sweaty, sickly mess. She could barely stand. She vomited all over me.”
I cringe and my shoulders shrink. Souls, I did do that, didn’t I?
Lanneth chews her food, unperturbed. “And all these things prevented the consummation of a marriage the king and I bargained at great cost?”
Daedalus looks to his father, but the king offers little support, seemingly more interested in a slice of bright yellow squash on his plate. His upper lip twitches as he snarls at his parents, then he quickly snatches my bandaged hand and holds it out on display.
“We forget that frail human bodies do not heal as ours do. Look…” He shakes my hand at the king and queen as if to prove his point, but we both spy the blood seeping through the white bandage at the same time.
I wince at the sharp pain when he closes his hand around mine and hides it under the table just as Kaelus and Lanneth lift their eyes from their meals.
“Look at what?” the queen asks.
“Nothing,” he says through a long breath. “Only that the princess failed to arouse me last night.”
He did not just say that.
My jaw clenches and a bitter rage claws at my neck. He hurls insults at me while still clutching my hand under the table, and after whispering in my ear of bodies tangled passionately in the moonlight. A sharp retort sits on the tip of my tongue, but the tense narrowing of his eyes—so at odds with the relaxed sprawl of his body in that chair—quells me into silence.
“You appear paler than when you first arrived,” Queen Lanneth remarks.
My anger lulls when I’m reminded of the queen’s intimate knowledge of my body.
“You must eat more meat,” she states.
“I do not eat meat,” I snap through grit teeth as I try to wrestle my hand from the prince’s grip, but he does not release.
“Ridiculous,” Lanneth sighs. “Fine, eat something else then.”
I yank my hand, but still Daedalus does not let go.
“I’m not hungry.”
Lanneth leans her bony elbows on the table. “I did not ask if you were hungry. Itoldyou to eat.”
“I may be trapped in this horrible place, married to your awful cad of a son, but I and I alone will decide what goes in and out of my body!” I shoot Daedalus an ice-cold glare as I finally free myself from his grip. “In all aspects.”
Lanneth leans back in her chair, her lips straight as a line. “Very well, then. If you do not eat with us, you do not eat at all.” She nods her head at the servant, who puts down the wine jug and rounds the table to take my plate and carry it away.
