Page 48

“Just the other day, after he announced his engagement to Mrs. Middlebrooks.”

Tiberias’s eyes widen. “He proposed to her while married to Emery?”

“He said it was his right.”

My uncle frowns. “No king has taken a second wife in centuries. It’s barbaric. He didn’t talk to Emery before the announcement?”

I shake my head. “Not to either one of us. She made him choose, and you can see who he picked.”

“Do you know why?”

“Not a clue.”

Tiberias leans back in the chair, looking deep in thought. “I do. Partly, anyway.”

“You do?”

“The two of them had a romance when we all went to the academy. It was complicated, but he ended up marrying your mother.”

I nod. “I did pick up on the fact that they had some sort of past.”

“You say your mother only just left the sea again. How was she up until that point?”

I shrug. Why does he keep asking about my parents? Is he trying to figure out weaknesses in our family? Getting me to expose some secret that’ll give him the upper hand in this mess? He already has more than we do as the rightful king who the people love.

“You don’t know?” he asks.

“I don’t know if she was happy. Dad sent me to the academy as soon as we got back here. I barely saw my mom. She came to check on me here and there but really didn’t have much time. She helped me out. Middlebrooks kept getting me in trouble before I knew she was seeing my dad. It was all so she could call him away from the castle.”

“You say your mom helped you. How?”

“She used a spell that helped me with my schoolwork. I barely had time to study because every time I turned around, I was either getting in trouble or kids were out to get me.”

“Out to get you? Why? As the king’s daughter, they should’ve showed you honor.”

I frown. What I’m about to say is likely what Tiberias has been fishing for with all of his questions. But I can’t sugarcoat the truth. “Almost nobody likes my dad.”

“Do you mean students or the people of Valora?”

I hesitate. “Both.”

My uncle nods. “I see. Because of the harsh decrees he’s been passing.”

“Right.” I hate selling my dad out, even though he deserves it. The way this conversation is going, I will be responsible for his death even if I don’t deliver the fatal blow.

“Do you plan to join your mother?” he asks.

“On the surface, you mean?”

Tiberias nods. “You grew up there. Isn’t that your home now?”

Is he trying to give me an out? Or testing my allegiance to Valora? I clear my throat and consider my wording. “I did grow up there. Before we moved back here, I had friends and aspirations to go to college, but—”

“What’s college?”

“Kind of like academy. But as I was saying, now that I’m back here, I also have a life here. Friends, classes.” I twist a lock of my hair around my finger.

“Why did you choose pink?” he asks.