Page 33 of Given to the Black King

“Can I stop you after I call?”

“Yes.”

The old law does not require that mercy. I do.

Iona sees something in my face. “You added that.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because your choice does not end when mine begins.”

Her composure finally slips. Her eyes shine. She looks away, toward the cracked throne.

“My council sent me here because I was the easiest person to lose,” she says.

“I know.”

“They gave Callas permission to offer me without asking.”

“I know that too.”

Her head turns sharply. “How?”

“This hold carries sound.”

“And you let me walk into your hall blind.”

The accusation strikes clean. I could tell her Callas had not made the offer. I could call silence restraint.

Neither changes what I did.

“If I had warned you,” I say, “his authority would have become mine. You would have wondered whether refusing him meant losing the treaty with me.”

“I wondered that anyway.”

“Yes.”

Her mouth hardens. “So you chose for me. You chose what I was allowed to know.”

My claws press into my palms. “I chose silence because I wanted the first word from you uncontaminated. It was still a choice made over your head.”

She studies me. No forgiveness in her scent.

“You would refuse him,” she says.

“Yes.”

“Even if I wanted to stay?”

“If the words came from him, they would not be yours.”

“That answers Callas. It does not excuse you.”

“No.”

She comes up the last two steps anyway.