I join her circle of sycophants. Mother looks at me, finishes what she was saying, and then takes a long sip of her champagne.
“Finally deigning to talk to your mother?” she says coldly.
My heart thumps and my mouth goes dry.
She takes another sip of her drink. “Let me guess, you are here to beg for your little friend?”
One of her followers titters. The sound is sharp and harsh. I flinch, but keep my head high.
“Yes.”
One of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows rises.
“Dyfri is loved by his brothers,” I blurt before I lose my nerve. “They all think highly of him. Including the Crown Prince.”
Mother’s green eyes blaze at me.
“It would be diplomatic to rescind the forfeit!” I say all at once before she can stop me.
“The boy has a point,” says Viscount Bellany.
Mother’s eyes narrow and her lips purse. “Are you insulting my intelligence?”
“Not at all, Your Grace,” I reply. “I just wasn’t sure if you had heard the rumours about what happened to the last person who defeated Prince Dyfri in a duel.”
She glares at me, but her little crowd of followers starts murmuring.
“They say the Crown Prince himself killed the man,” I say solemnly.
Viscount Bellany nods eagerly. “I heard he cut off his balls and forced him to eat them first.”
Everybody within earshot gasps. Except Mother. Her brow furrows, and fury begins to smoulder in her eyes.
“Nothing but rumours.”
“I heard the same story from several reputable sources,” says Bellany.
Gosh. I was not expecting his help. Bless Dyfri and his many webs. Whatever his intention in flirting with the viscount was, it is certainly paying off now.
“Your Grace, perhaps you should rescind. It would make you look very forgiving,” says one of her lackeys with a deeply worried expression.
“I agree,” nods Bellany.
Mother turns on him with a hiss. “You just want my position, don’t think I don’t know that!”
Bellany places a hand over his heart. “Your Grace! You are the only one who can lead us.”
His expression does not match his words at all. Heavens, was this Dyfri’s plan? Did he plant the seed or merely water what was already there? Not that it matters. The end result is the same. Bellany has been forged as a weapon to wield against my mother.
“Yes, I am. I know what I am doing,” Mother practically growls. She hates people disagreeing with her. Any defiance of any sort sends her into a rage. She expects no less than immediate and absolute obedience. From me most of all, but also from everyone under her sway.
“This action has not endeared you to the royal family,” I persist. “You have made powerful enemies and lowered the fey’s opinion of humans.”
Her circle of followers stare at me wide-eyed. I am winning them over. She can see it too.
“I will not discuss this with a vessel,” she snaps.
“But, Mother, it is important,” I argue, and I really don’t know where I am getting the courage from. I have never talked back to my mother. Not once. It is kind of exhilarating to be doing so.
