Talvon has come to our suite to tell us what he discovered about Mother.
Good.His sharp gaze met mine in the mirror.Make him talk.
All business and alert now, are you?I asked.
He’s not speaking.
If you stop chattering, I’ll question him.
I never chatter.
You are now.
He rolled his eyes.
“What have you learned?” I asked Talvon. “Be quick about it. I have an appointment in less than five minutes.”
“It’s as you suspected, my king,” he said, rising. “I cannot sit while you stand. I apologize but it’s just not done.”
“Sit. Stand. Whatever makes you comfortable.”
“Thank you.” He wiped sweat off his brow. “The queen mother is telling the high lords and ladies that you may not be—” His snarl broke through his statement. “I don’t want to say this. It’s a nasty rumor, nothing else.”
“Name it, please.”
“She’s suggesting that you’re not the true heir to the Evergorne throne, that she is.”
“I look very much like my father.” Or I used to, per the image hanging on my sitting area wall. Lorant and I looked similar enough that some speculated he might be a relative, but neitherof us looked like we did before. Our appearance had split as well.
“You have your father’s hair color, his eyes, build, and facial structure.” Talvon clenched his fists at his sides. “How dare the queen mother, who should know who the father of her only child is, say such a thing?”
Because she’ll benefit,Lorant said.With you shoved aside, she’ll claim the throne and rule with a stone fist.
Talvon stiffened. “I’m certain you’ve heard the rumor that she dallied with your father’s high advisor, but I’ve never believed it was true. Not only because I’m loyal to the throne and the royal family, but her lying with the high advisor? I cannot believe it. She was as aware as everyone else that any heir she produced had to come from the royal line. I will swear on my grave that she was loyal to King Theon.”
Except she wasn’t.
She actually was,I said.
She wasn’t in every way possible. She hated Father, and she made it obvious. She adored the high advisor and willfully fucked him.His dry laugh rang out.I imagine she may have felt a twinge of guilt here and there while lying beneath him, but she knowingly went to his bed.
If only she’d loved Father like she did him.My throat tightened, a warning that I was sliding too close to the edge of a very steep cliff. If I wasn’t careful, I’d fall. Speaking about the curse directly in our mind choked us off as quickly as speaking aloud.
“You’re the true heir to the throne, and I will defend this until my dying day,” Talvon said. “But the rumors are taking root. One of your high lords in particular is whispering with those who feel sympathetic to your mother. If they can convince enough, we’ll be fighting off a coup.”
Kill her,Lorant said.
We can’t kill Mother.
Why not?
Because she’s…Mother.Despite everything, I still loved her. Some would say I was a fool, but kindness and compassion were my attributes and my curse, not Lorant’s.
Gullible,he said simply.If you can’t do it, leave it to me.
Don’t. Please. I see who she is now, though she wasn’t like this when I was young. You remember.
More or less.
