Tedric leaned forward, elbows on the table. “No? What has being an Omega ever brought you but shame?”
She had no answer for that.
“You Awakened around the same time as your half-sister, Princess LinXin, yet it did nothing to elevate your standing in your father’s eyes. To him, and the court, you were worthless. Nothing but a blemished, limping child. A stain to be scrubbed out of the illustrious Xûen dynasty.”
Her hands began to shake. “How do you know all that?” The words came out thin, barely held together.
“Even when you married,” Tedric ignored her question, voice lowering. “I was there, you remember? I watched the light in your groom’s eyes die when he saw your birthmark. The disgust on his lips every time he watched you limp. The annulment was already firmly planted in his mind before you even crossed the threshold of Parandor Castle as his wife. Do you think a man like that—an Alpha—will ever see more than your shortcomings?”
Her fingers dug into her palms.
“You could be free of every chain,” he continued, voice smooth as velvet. “No Heat. No leash. No fear because an Alpha’s scent turns the air against you. With your skill, you could be the knife that ends them all.”
His gaze didn’t waver. “Not because of bloodline, beauty, or grace.” He leaned forward, one hand lifted to trace her birthmark with a touch that felt like a brand.
“But because you were one of the heroes who broke the world and built it anew.”
CHAPTER 49
JINGYI
Tedric nudged the plate closer to her, the cut of meat glistening beneath a glaze that smelled of spice and smoke.
“Eat,” he said, as though he was a benevolent ruler who took pity upon a starved, wretched woman.
Her fingers itched to hurl that food at him, but JingYi lifted her cutleries and ate. She kept her expression mild as the oily tang coated her tongue. She forced herself to eat enough bites to give her body fuel for long nights of healing to come.
But when his gaze drifted to refill his wine, she tipped her head, bent into her napkin, and spat the masticated morsel into its fold, pressing the linen closed as though simply blotting her lips.
Tedric’s gaze flicked to the crumpled napkin beside her plate. “The fare is not to your taste, princess?”
JingYi put her utensils down. “If you want the Omegas to recover, give me control of your kitchen.”
His stare flattened, as if testing whether this was insolence or practicality.
“They need more than full bellies,” she explained. “They need nourishments: broths, herbal infusions, food that will repairwhat the limyerite stripped from them. Not this oily, gristly, hard-to-digest food. Otherwise, they’ll relapse before they’ve even begun to heal.”
Tedric regarded her evenly. “If you take control of the kitchen, you’ll have to cook for my guards as well.”
Hope sparked. Her fingers clenched on her lap. “So be it.”
For a long moment, the only sound was the soft crackle of the fire torches mounted on the walls. Then his mouth curved. “Do it.”
She lowered her eyes, hiding the spark that flared behind them. He thought he was granting her a burden. He didn’t see it for what it was: access to ingredients, heat, and time alone for plotting.
Cautiously, she added, “I’ll also need help.”
Tedric’s eyes snapped to her, but he said nothing.
“If you expect me to care for eight Omegas all at once, I’ll need some who aren’t sick to assist me. Without them, I can’t keep them all alive. Unless,” she paused deliberately, “of course, you’d rather watch half of them die before I’ve had the chance to treat them.”
He brought his goblet to his lips, eyes never leaving her. “And you already know whosehelpyou want?”
“It makes sense to recruit the healthiest one,” she replied, keeping her voice neutral, and let the logic speak for itself. Her mind’s eye could already see the Omega who had shouted defiance from her cell without a thought for the consequences.
She would get the princess by her side. Somehow.
JingYi had written the list of medicinal ingredients herself, jotting down each name in both Isseric and Xûengua, addingthe goldenroot last. It was a gamble, and one she might not win, but she had totry.
