The silence that followed was not empty but measured in a way that made her feel scruntizied. Lucrezia felt her chest loosen for a fleeting moment, before tightening when a laugh followed, breaking the silence in its soft and almost indulgent tone.
"How devoted," Those words followed after, voice warm enough to pass for approval. "One would think House Veximoor had raised kinds from the cradle itself,"
Lucrezia felt the words brush against her skin like silk concealing a blade and she inclined her head, deliberately towards its owner.
For the first time across the table, the Nameless King regarded her as one might a chess piece placed deliberately in the wrong square, not with anger, but with interest.
His fingers rested lightly against the arm of his throne, nails immaculate, posture relaxed in a way that suggested nothing in this room could surprise him.
