Page 132 of Trial of Thorns
Rev
Ispend the next fewdays sleeping, bathing, eating, and otherwise being a complete mute. My parents come to visit me when I don’t join them for meals in the great hall, but I don’t dare mutter more than a few words.
“What the hell happened out there?” my father asks.
“You don’t know?” I accuse.
“What does that mean?” my mother says.
“Nothing. They betrayed me, that’s all, and I took the only allies I could come up with.”
“Well,” my mother says with her head high. “Folk always look to attack their biggest threat. You should take it as a compliment.”
“Even Brielle?” I ask.
My mother’s eyes dart to the floor. “She won’t be your bride. Her loss.”
My eyebrows flick up. “I’m going to bed.”
I don’t care enough to check my father’s expression as I turn away. Maybe he suspects I know what he did and why. Maybe he doesn’t.
I don’t really care.
The final trial is in a few days, and I am still not ready. Maybe I’ll never be ready.
But I will win. That much I’m confident about.
Drake and Brielle aren’t strong enough to beat me head on, and I won’t lethertake anything else from me.
But then someone grabs me by the upper arm. My father’s breath tickles my ear. “Tell me what happened?” he says low. I freeze. He doesn’t want my mother to hear.
“I know the truth,” I say simply.
He releases me with a subtle shove. “Good. You know you’re not my heir. I’ll find a way to disinherit you. I won’t stop.”
I curl my lip in a silent snarl but don’t turn.
“Guess I’m just going to have to win the trials then. Won’t I?” Then, I march up the steps toward my rooms.
