Father’s expression didn’t change.‘No.’There was no room for argument in his tone, but I hadn’t expected any other answer and was prepared with my own response.
‘Then why do I have the delivery records?’I asked.I hadn’t brought them with me; I wasn’t foolish enough to hand him the evidence of his own crime and risk its destruction.‘They were signed in your hand.Raleigh organised regular aid ever since hehad built the dam, to make up for the lost irrigation.You were given a cart full of supplies every two months, but they never reached Orlfen.Why?’
‘The prince is lying to you,’ Father said simply.
‘Raleigh didn’t tell me.I found the records myself.’
‘Then they’re forgeries he planted for you to find.’
‘So why does everyone in Triz think that you were selling surplus supplies from Orlfen during the famine?’
Father intertwined his fingers, peering up at me while I caught my breath.‘What do you want me to say?’
‘The truth.’
‘That is the truth.’
‘Would Raleigh agree that’s the truth?’I asked.‘Or Moira?Or shall I bring Father Leon here?You remember him, don’t you?Because he certainly remembers you.I imagine everyone in Orlfen would be much more likely to believe what he has to say over Raleigh.’
‘Are you threatening me?’Father asked.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I am.’
‘Well, it won’t do you any good.There’s nothing else to tell you.’
I tried to keep my face set, the way Raleigh always managed to.‘Raleigh is very well connected, you know.’I strayed to the far edge of the room, imagining I was following his footsteps, trying to echo the way he would handle this.‘I wonder who they would believe in Vienna.The Prince of Rostenburg?Or the provincial mayor who made himself a laughing stock by trying to sell his daughter to every titled bachelor on the continent?’
Father did not react.‘I wonder how Vienna would react to my own stories about the prince.’
I made myself smile, but below the surface I wanted to be sick.‘And what stories would those be?As far as the crown is concerned,vampires don’t exist.They’d be laughing at you again before they ever heard what you had to say about the famine.’
Father splayed his hands as if to sayWhat do you expect from me?He didn’t try to argue back, didn’t so much as open his mouth.He only watched me from his desk, his expression darkening with every word I spoke.
Frustration reared in my chest, overpowering every other dizzying emotion rallying for my attention.‘No one else is listening,’ I hissed through my teeth.‘Tell me the truth, or I’ll make sure every grieving parent in Orlfen knows exactly who was responsible for their children’s deaths.’
Father held my stare for so long I wondered if we would be trapped there all night.But eventually he closed his eyes, let his expression soften and fell back in his chair.‘I did it for you,’ he whispered.‘Every pfennig was for your dowry.’
That only made my outrage boil over.‘Mydowry?’Father Leon had said the same, but I thought that was just a charming story Father had told the people of Triz.How could that possibly justify a fraction of what he did?‘You think starving your own people to death was justified because it was for my dowry?’I felt like I was forgetting to breathe.I looked to Enrique for any sign he could see the logic in Father’s words, but his horror mirrored my own.
‘Orlfen never had any love for you.Don’t argue,’ Father added when I tried to protest.‘You’ve always known that.I knew the best hope I had to give you the happiness you deserved was to get you as far from the valley as possible.Orlfen is my town and these are my people, but you could marry up and away.Your mother’s salary would have been enough, but after she died all we had was the pitiful salary the prince allowed me.This was the only way I could earn enough to give you the life you deserved.And if that was at the expense of the people who made your life a misery, then so be it.’
‘You didn’t do it for me,’ I translated.‘You lost what little power you had when Raleigh came back to the valley, and you’ve always been desperate to get that back.You thought you’d have more sway over Orlfen if your shrewish daughter was out of the picture, and if you managed to land me a title in the process, you would have a better position against Raleigh.’
‘Don’t put words in my mouth, Clara.You’re jumping to conclusions again.’
‘But this time I’m right, aren’t I?’I cried.‘If this was really for me, why did you never ask me whatIwanted?I was happy with Yann.’
‘Youweren’thappy with Yann,’ he said.‘You’d never known anything else, and you simply convinced yourself that you couldn’t hope for anything better.’
My stomach dropped.He was right.I had never stopped to think about it before, but now it was so obvious.I truly had loved Yann, but part of me had always known there was no one else in Orlfen who could look past my flaws like he did.Without Yann, I would have been alone.Or trapped in a loveless marriage to the first stranger desperate enough to reply to my father’s petitions.So I’d clung to that love with all that I had and forced myself to suppress any doubts that crossed my mind.Yann wanted a wife to care for him and a mother for his children, he had never made it a secret, and I’d let myself think I was happy with that.
Maybe Father did know what was best.No.I shook that thought away.I would have birthed a dozen children if it meant no one had to die.This was never the solution to something so selfish.No one should ever die just to raise one man’s position in the world.
But it wasn’t just us, was it?There was a reason the French no longer had a king, why our own emperor was so afraid we’d follow in their footsteps.The people of Orlfen weren’t the first to starvefor someone else’s gain, we were simply caught in the middle of two different monsters bleeding the valley dry.
‘I think I understand why Grandfather always said you only married Mother for the money,’ I said.It was a cheap blow, but it was the only thing I could think to say that could possibly hurt him as much as I was hurting.
‘Don’t you dare suggest that,’ he snapped.
