Duchess Hyton swirled her goblet in her hand and clicked her thick tongue. “Just call me Freya. Andyou are…”
“B-Brietta,” Brietta choked out as she wrung her hands together in front of her. She hunched her shoulders forward, bowing slightly even though she did notmean to.
“I remember your name,” Duchess Hyton snapped. “What I was saying was you arenot ready tobe Duchess.”
Brietta glanced at me. I bit my tongue, but agreed with the mean old drunk who needled Brietta. Unlike me, she did not spend a lifetime preparing for the role because she was never in the consideration forDerrick’s bride.
Duchess Hyton’s fatigued but sharp eyes examined Brietta for a moment, then she snorted out a laugh and shookher head.
“Stop me if I am wrong, and I never am,” Duchess Hyton said with a smile that I could not tell was cruel or kind. “You are a hopeless romantic who dreamed Selection Night was just like the end of a bedtime story. All you ever wanted was your happily everafter, right?”
She could not read Brietta any better than if her entire history were written on her forehead. Brietta would lie on her belly and read faerie tales and love stories with stars in her eyes and a sigh on her lips, but she had no stacks of books to hide behind as Duchess Hyton reached into her soul and chewed on her spirit.
I grabbed my wrist, hiding Derrick’s folded message inside my palm, and kept as still as possible. Duchess Hyton kept her ire on Brietta and I hoped she would forget Iwas there.
“You also never thought the Duke’s heir would choose you, but here you are.” Duchess Hyton’s smile turned feline as she stepped toward Brietta. “Sorry to disappoint, but your happily ever after is not coming. You make heirs for your Duke and then you are thrown away. You are no faerie princess, you arejustmeat.”
I gritted my teeth and gripped my wrist harder as Duchess Hyton stalked over to Brietta, who was so scared she did not even look the Duchess inthe face.
“Good thing you have these big birthing hips!” Duchess Hyton shrieked as she smacked Brietta onher ass.
Brietta’s face turned scarlet and she blinked back tears. My throat burned from the sharp words clawing to escape. I did not care what title that woman had, she wasnotgoing to bully Brietta like herdaughter did.
I threw my fist to the side, keeping the note locked tightly in my grip. “Leaveher alone.”
The maids around us sucked in air and froze. Duchess Hyton turned to me with blue eyes like blades. My chest tightened as I hoped she would not look closely enough to find the marks on my neck or her son’s note inmy hand.
“You are Adalia’s daughter, right?” she asked with anamused smile.
I bit my tongue and did not answer. Duchess Hyton raked over me with her vicious eyes but I did not flinch. She chuckled and took another sip fromher goblet.
“First-selected,lucky you,” she said with an edge of poison in her voice. “I was First-selected too. As were all of my daughters…well, allbut one.”
She took a big gulp of her wine, completely unbothered as I stared her down. She turned to face Brietta again and gestured to me with her goblet. “Are you going to wait for her to defend you for the rest of your life? After today, she is headed to Bloodstone Fortress to live with that monster. No one in the House of Hyton will fight your battles for you, so you need totoughen up.”
Brietta’s lip quivered and she sniffed back her tears. I glared at Duchess Hyton and fought the urge to give her a taste of the back ofmy hand.
“You have a lot to learn.” Duchess Hyton licked her lips and her eyes softened. “My predecessor let me believe I was a faerie princess for far too long. I willnotmake the same mistakewith you.”
I held my breath and glanced around at the maids who were still as wide-eyed statues. Even the Duchess could not mention Ilsa without invoking the wrath of the Duke. We all made a silent agreement to forget what she had just said, lest the Duke’s ire fall on allof us.
Duchess Hyton lowered her empty goblet and turned from Brietta. Brietta hugged her arms and stared at the rug beneath her feet, but I kept my eyes on the Duchess as she walked over to her dressing table and untied the belt ofher robe.
Derrick had never mentioned that his motherwas so…odd.
The tinkle of a tiny bell at my feet made me look down. The cat rolled onto its back near my toes and looked up at me with round green eyes, begging me to pat its fluffywhite belly.
As cute as the cat was, I needed to keep my focus on the insane Duchess. I glanced up and nearly choked onmy tongue.
Duchess Hyton wore nothing but a smirk as she returnedmy stare.
I quickly looked back down to the cat, but still caught a glimpse of a body ravagedby child-bearing.
My cheeks burned as the cat’s tail swished the hem of my dress. The Duchess’s intense stare burned into me, but I felt no malice from…whatever shewas doing.
After a few thudding heartbeats, I started to understand the madness. Duchess Hyton’s tired frame bore the marks and folds of seven pregnancies that led to eight children. Even though she had already fulfilled her only job to give Duke Hyton an heir, she still gave her wisdom to the new generation of Lycaster brides, as harsh asit was.
She gave the world five princesses, an empress, and a future Duke, but someone had made her believe she was nothingbut meat.
