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“Maybe they were sent by your father and the assholes just stayed here until you gave them further instructions. Who the fuck knows. All I know is that both Teo and I have worked double time to send food to the neediest regions in the kingdom without causing too much attention to what we were doing.”
“So Teo is helping his people?” I chew on my bottom lip.
“Of course, he is. Contrary to what you believe about him, Teo is no monster. He’ll remain loyal to the north, but he’ll do everything in his power to help the south too.”
“Is that how my last few shipments disappeared? Because he used them to feed his people?” I ask, trying to make sense of all this.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. We’ve never missed a shipment to you. Ever.”
Hmm.
That’s not true, even if Cleo believes it is.
My forehead wrinkles as I wonder if there is more to this story that I still have yet to uncover.
But while I’m silently trying to connect the dots to this puzzle, Cleo seems to be anxious for us to move on to the next subject she wishes to talk to me about.
“Now, are we going to discuss your lover boy’s letter accusing Teo of murdering his parents or what?”
I want to berate her for calling Levi that. I want to tell her that he’s a king and demands respect. But then I remember that Cleo probably sees kings and queens all the same—as unhinged, greedy animals, much like my father and Teo’s father were.
How could I have been so blind to all of this?
I worshiped my father.
I knew him to be ruthless, but I never imagined just how much.
“There was only ever one disease that ever cursed the kingdom of Aikyam. And that was your father.”
Those had been Levi’s exact words, and at the time, I wanted to defend my father from such an accusation, but now… now I’m starting to see that Levi was right all along.
My father plagued this kingdom and, unbeknownst to me, my people are still suffering even after all this time, despite my father being dead.
Cleo doesn’t wait for me to respond, grabbing at my arm and pulling me to only the gods know where.
“Where are we going?”
“I want you to see something. I want you to see why Teo did what he did,” Cleo says, her steps increasing in speed.
“No matter what you show me, there isn’t a good enough reason to justify what Teo did.”
“We’ll see about that,” she mumbles ominously. “First, tell me what you know. All of it.”
“That my father went mad when my mother died. That he considered his vassals to be responsible for her death. And that he requested the other kings in his kingdom to send their queens to him as the price of their betrayal,” I explain, hating each and every word that comes out from my mouth.
“Yeah, real peach, your father,” Cleo interjects with a snide tone. “What else? What else do you know?”
“I know that King Krystiyan would never hand over his queen to my father, and that he would prefer going to war than put his wife in such jeopardy.”
“Smart man. But not so smart that he didn’t get himself killed,” Cleo chimes in.
“The only reason he’s dead in the first place is because he trusted the wrong people, Teo being one of them,” I rebuke coldly, just as we stop at a door.
“You’re right. Teo did betray King Krystiyan and your beloved Levi. But have you ever asked yourself why?”
“It doesn’t matter why. Only that he did it.”
“Oh, it matters, Your Highness. It fucking matters,” she replies as she turns the knob to open the door in front of us.
