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“Because I was mad—”
“And you should still be mad.”
“But I was mad for the wrong reasons.”
“Wrong reasons?” I asked.
She looked away, her fingers fidgeting with her dress. “It’s complicated.”
“Nothing is too complicated for me to understand.”
Her gaze remained elsewhere. “Father…this is more of Mother’s territory.”
A flash of anger ran through me, followed by the kind of discomfort that made me sick. I didn’t even entertain the meaning of her words, shutting them off so tightly that a single thought couldn’t slip through. “You’re blind, Harlow.”
“You’re the one who can’t see straight when it comes to me.”
Ferocity burned inside me like blazing-hot flames.
“When we fled the Teeth, he took care of me. He gave me his cloak. He made me a fire so I wouldn’t freeze to death—even though it could have drawn yetis to us and gotten him killed. He could have fed on me as he starved, but he never touched me. Yes, he took me…but he’s done a lot more than that. Because of him, we’ll have an army that our enemy doesn’t expect.”
“Only to save his life.”
“He’s still an ally. And I think we should treat him as an ally rather than a prisoner.”
All I could do was stare at her, my anger thriving unregulated inside my muscles and veins. The fact that he’d had an intimate relationship with my daughter made me hate him even more. “No.”
“Father—”
“That’s my final answer.” I gave her an ice-cold stare, telling her not to push this, not when I was this pissed off. There was nothing I wouldn’t give my daughter, so she wasn’t used to hearing me say the word no, but I wouldn’t give in. “I’ll release him once he makes good on his promise.”
“Father—”
“You’re dismissed.”
“I’m dismissed?” She said each word slowly, her head cocked and her eyes pained. “I’ve always admired you as a king because you’re kind and just, but ruthless when necessary. But this isn’t fair. This is—”
“You’re not going to get your way. Now, get out of my office.”
She flinched like I’d just slapped her. Her eyes clouded with hurt, and her nostrils flared like an angry animal about to strike. But then she left her chair and walked out, not saying another word.
I’d never spoken to my daughter that way, and I was too angry to feel bad about it. But I knew I would feel differently about that in a couple of hours.
26
IVORY
I was in the aviary, sitting at the desk and rolling up my letter to slip it into the weightless tube. I would attach it to the peregrine falcon, the fastest bird on the planet, and get it to the steward as quickly as possible.
Harlow appeared at the top of the stairs, not winded from the long staircase, but beet red with anger. “I need to talk to you.”
I closed the tube and twisted it tight. “What did Atticus do now?”
“Not him.” She dropped down into the chair across from me. “Father.”
“Oh. I’m still used to the two of you fighting like cats and dogs.” I set aside the tube and gave my daughter my full attention. “What did your father do? The two of you are usually two peas in a pod.”
“I thought that same thing.”
