There was a long beat of silence where he offered no further explanation. Instead, he continued on as if we had never entered the room, lifting his quill from the inkpot before signing the parchment on the table in front of him.
Everly shivered as the temperature in the room dropped by several degrees, the righteous indignation flooding the bond apparently insufficient to keep her warm.
Are you going to slaughter him too?She demanded silently.
If I must.I replied in the same manner.
She shook her head, apparently preferring to let the court and my Lord General run wild until they overthrew us entirely.
A muscle ticked in my jaw, and I focused on the male who had always been loyal… until now. “You have something to say. So say it.”
Eryx’s eyes sliced up to meet mine in challenge.
He held it for several seething breaths before his gaze flitted down to Everly. “You wish to discuss this in front ofher?”
He practically spat the wordher. As if she was undeserving of a name, let alone a title. As if I had forced him to confront his actual enemy instead of my wife.
My patience was running as thin as the ice spider-webbing along the floor beneath my boots.
“If you are referring to your queen, you will address her with the respect she deserves,” I said, my voice as icy as a frozen tomb.
Eryx squared his shoulders, not missing a beat as he replied, “I’m referring to the monster you hid within our palace walls while you speak of hunting the ones beyond.”
Everly’s breath hitched, and an array of emotions flickered through our bond. Anger and humiliation and regret. My mana surged in response as more frost snaked up the walls and wind ripped through the room.
Eryx did not so much as flinch.
I stepped forward, ice cracking underfoot. “I will allow that one remark to go unpunished on account of your previously loyal service, but it will be the last derogatory thing you say about my wife.”
His features went pale with fury, the expression making him almost unrecognizable.
“Yes, my service has been loyal,” Eryx seethed. “I loyally followed your order to kill the Unseelie on sight, and you reward that service by keeping secret the single greatest threat in the Court I have pledged my life to protect.”
“My wife is not a threat,” I growled. “Do not forget that the Shard Mother chose her.”
He let out a scoff. “Even if the goddess did choose her, her very existence is a threat, which your majesty cannot possibly be blind to, let alone the implications if the court finds out. It was bad enough when you were hiding her in your suites, but how long do you think the secret will hold when she’s out amongst the people.”
Few could read my features, by necessity, but the male who had fought at my side from the moment I stepped onto a battlefield must have seen something in my expression I hadn’t meant to show.
His mouth dropped open, and he shook his head.
“But you never planned to keep it a secret,” he said more to himself than me.
It hadn’t been a question that needed an answer, so I didn’t reply.
Eryx ran a hand over his scarred face, the lines of exhaustion in his features even more evident with the movement.
“After decades of being at war with the Unseelie, after they killed our monarchs, after ordering even the citizens to dispose of them on sight, you cannot possibly believe that they will accept her in their midst, let alone as their queen.”
Each word landed like another blow.
Everly went deathly still, save for the slight press of her fingertips against my bicep. The bond swirled with so many emotions—hers and mine—that I couldn’t begin to make sense of them.
Except for the rage. That one felt clear enough.
Perhaps now Everly would understand the reason the court needed displays like the one I had put on today.
“They will accept what I order them to accept,” I said, my voice calm in the way blizzards were calm right before they devoured everything in their path.
