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“She did,” Nanny confirmed. “But her Sire put an end to suchchildish notions.The Summerstreams were only allies on paper, so he said, may he rest in peace.”
“May he rest in peace,”I murmured under my breath.
“Heartbreak was the tempo of that season.” Yet again, Nanny seemed as though she was stuck in the past. “A sense of sadness hung in the air like an invisible mist. Every corner of the palace felt heavy with unspoken sorrow. Even the breeze seemed to carry the weight of shattered dreams and lost love.”
She paused abruptly, as though realizing the nature of her words. She cleared her throat once, twice, three times, but it seemed as though the thicket of emotions was here to stay.
“I heard about your father’s passing,” she said quietly. “My condolences.”
“Thank you.”
“Our Queen Consort was in mourning for three years following the news,” she said as though revealing a secret.
Words tangled in my throat. “Was she?”
Nanny nodded. “She never loved anyone else, you know. Although to hear our king speak of it, she had scores of lovers leaving her bed each morning. But I knew the truth. The poor lamb only had eyes for your father—an omega who could offer her nothing. Not even a way out of her royal prison.”
The obligation to defend my father was undeniable. “He didn’t have a way out either, Nanny. He was also trapped.”
“Be that as it may… Their relationship was doomed from the start. Two mated omegas seeking solace in each other’s arms? Heartbreak was inevitable.”
She squeezed my fingers between her own. “Tell me he passed with some contentment in his life?”
I hesitated only a moment before shaking my head. “I wish I could say he was content—I really do. But there was always an aura of sadness about him, and it’s something I remember most when I think of him.”
“Love brings great sorrow, doesn’t it?” she murmured with a sigh. “Like the ripple of a wave from the sea, the sadness touches everything in its path.”
“It does,” I agreed.
“And bitterness,” Nanny murmured. “The bitterness eats you up inside.”
“You speak from experience?” I queried.
A ghost of a smile lifted her lips. “Not my own, lamb, I have been fortunate enough not to be touched by the ichor that is love. Rather, I draw conclusions from observing those around me.”
She tucked the shawl around her waist, pulling it tight. “When he realized his mate was looking elsewhere for love, the late king pickled in his own bitterness. It was painful to bear witness to such a fall from grace.”
“Yet, beneath it all, was a wounded heart,” she continued. “An ego that had been slighted. His bitterness was a shield from it all—a façade that not many could see through. The high consort had wounded him gravely when she took your father as a lover, and the late king made it his sole priority to sever the centuries-old allyship and poison Zoei against your family.”
“Poison?” I echoed. “Poison how?”
“Zoei is not who she used to be, little lamb,” Nanny whispered as though revealing a grave secret. “She is the result of twenty years of manipulation in the hands of her father. She’s grown hard. Distrusting. He molded her into a granite version of himself.”
A sudden screech of Nanny’s name made us both jump and turn in the direction of the north wing.
“The kitchen girls have a hard time without me,” she said.
She pushed to her feet with a creak of limbs. “I was only supposed to be away to gather a few herbs when I saw you creeping about the gardens like an intruder.”
“Well, I…” I paused, unsure about her last words about Zoei. Had they been a warning? A cautionary tale?
She’s grown hard. Distrusting.
What did that mean for me? For us? For all of Vetri?
I walked beside Nanny as she turned toward the kitchens.
“Do you think I’d be able to visit with you now and again?” I asked. “I can send someone to escort you to Vetri, if you desire.”
