She’s going to refuse to walk.
With a single insurgence, right here on this street, she could shatter my claim of control over her. I wonder if she realizes how much control over my future she has in this very moment.
Too much fucking control.
Suddenly, I’m forced to confront a question I’ve been ignoring: How far would I go to bendher to my will?
A heartbeat later, she turns her focus to a point on the road in front of her, lifts her head high, and takes a step, then another, her boots clacking on the paved street.
Lady Delphina glides out of the way, but as we’re about to pass her, she speaks in a hush. “With your permission, my king, may I walk with you for a short way?”
I consider refusing her request, but she could be useful. “You may.”
At my permission, she follows the scantest step behind me and to my right so that we’re now walking in a sort of cascade with Thyra at the front.
Around us, the whispers haven’t abated, and I let them grow. More fae have gathered, and I’m aware of the quiet calls passing through the crowd to come and see, it’s the Oracle, the king has the Oracle.
The throng builds in numbers to the point where there’s very little space for newcomers to kneel to me, although I admire the way they try.
Lady Delphina studies the growing crowd while her servants follow on quietly behind her.
Her voice is a murmur as she speaks more plainly than I expected. “You’ve chosen to present the Oracle to your people before you present her to your mother. Are you sure that was wise, my king?”
It’s a shame Lady Delphina can’t see my smile. “Are you sure it’s wise to question me?”
“W-ell…” She recovers quickly. “I would never question you, my king, only that your mother?—”
“Will be wrathful.” I cast a cold stare at Lady Delphina. “I’m not sure why that should bother me.”
I expect a smooth comeback, but Lady Delphina is unusually quiet. She worries at her painted lip before saying, “Ifear your mother was already wrathful, my king, as soon as she learned you’d taken your sister with you to secure the Oracle.”
I’m unruffled. I expected Mother would be unhappy about it. “Cassia can make her own decisions.”
“That’s true. But when it comes to you, Cassia’s decisions are often to her own detriment.”
I narrow my eyes at Lady Delphina. I don’t miss the warning tone in her voice. Tugging Thyra to a halt, I pin Lady Delphina with a steely look. “Speak plainly, Lady Delphina.”
It’s impossible to tell if Delphina’s cheeks have paled beneath all that white paste, but she swallows visibly before she replies, “Your sister didn’t return with the other riders.”
A jolt of fear passes down my spine. “The border guard told me?—”
“Your mother ordered them to lie to you.”
Boiling rage rises up within me, so sudden and uncontrollable that a roar reaches my lips, but I clamp my teeth around it.
I spoke to the border guards an hour ago.
I’ve been back for a whole fucking hour, thinking Cassia was safely home because our mother?—
“She would endanger her only daughter to hurt me.”
My snarl is so violent that Lady Delphina takes a hasty step back from me, but she isn’t wise enough to hold her tongue.
“She said it was your own fault.”
I bare my teeth at Delphina, wishing for once that my face wasn’t covered.
Delphina knew full well what she was doing, breaking this news to me in public. No doubt she’s doing Mother’s bidding, playing Mother’s game to perfection.
