Page 23 of The Call of Crimson
“How was your meeting with Lord Craylor?” Mother asks as Father enters their chambers. She sits in front of her vanity, thick robe draped over her thin shoulders, running a comb through her waves.
Exhaustion carves lines through his typically jovial face. Something heavy is weighing on him, but all he says is, “It was fine.”
“Has he heard any whisperings from Prudia? Their silence unsettles me.”
“Nothing, My Queen,” he replies, slowly beginning to shed his weapons and outer clothes.
Mother, clearly not satisfied with his clipped answers, pushes, “What are we to do about Prudia and Prince Ayden II?”
Something unrecognizable crosses my father’s face, leaving it cold and harsh as he barks, “Weare to do nothing, Genevieve. I am working on a plan to ally Rimor with Prudia and end the bloodshed.”
I had never—in all my years—heard my father address my mother in such a tone. And apparently, neither had she.
She flinches, her aqua eyes flaring wide in disbelief. Then hurt.
“Ally with Prudia?” she breathes. “I can imagine no world where the prince would agree to any terms you propose. He is too embittered.”
“I wasn’t the one who proposed them,” he answers flatly.
“And what are his requests?”
“None of your concern.”
“Raynor, tell me you didn’t…” Fear and concern cover my mother’s face, her mouth hanging open as she stares at him.
"I haven’t done anything. Yet. But I will do what I deem necessary to secure peace.”
“But at what cost?”
“Enough, wife.”
“What have you done, Raynor?” A stray tear rolls down her porcelain cheek.
“I said enough,” he roars, his fist landing so heavy on the desk that the wood shudders beneath it.
My father was not a violent male. Whoever this is… it’s not him.
Tears stream down Mother’s face, her body trembling. Not out of fear, but out of anger, I realize.
“You will not speak to me that way,” she says calmly. Too calmly.
Something shifts in my father’s eyes, the mist lifting from his mind just briefly enough for him to understand his mistake.
“I will stay in the queen’s chambers tonight. When you come to your senses, you know where to find me.”
I had never known my parents to sleep in private rooms. It was something other royals did—but not them.
“Genevieve, wait,” my father calls after her.
Without saying another word, my mother unleashes her Kaminari Gift, freezing his boots to the floor.
Message received.
A half dozen more memories flash by, all of similar encounters. My father growing distant, cold, and borderline cruel. His warm hazel eyes fading and dimming with each passing memory.
I watch the father I had loved all my life transform into someone I didn’t recognize.
And in the process, I watch my mother love him despite it all. Never leaving his side, never giving up.
