The Bastard's Guide to Overthrowing a Nation

Chapter 29

THE numbers fluctuate on my screen as I stare down at them, mindlessly eating grapes. The dining hall is empty, music from the floor above and chatter from the hall prevents any stillness as everyone carries about their afternoon. The chattering softens as a pair of heels click against the marble floor. I do not raise my eyes as the heels enter the dining hall. The gentle swoosh of fabric as the woman sits at the table draws me out of my trance.

"Hello, Alewyn."

I look up from my phone, glaring at the woman in an angel-blue coat sitting in the chair across from me. Annoyance and bitterness drip off my words, "Maria Caspian. Who invited you here?"

"I asked the young lord if I could call upon you."

"Of course, the one who will be lord, not the actual master of the house."

She crosses her arms over her chest, "Is it such a crime for a woman to wish to see her offspring?"

"Yes. Yes, I think it is especially when the woman ordered for the child to be killed."

"Which brings me to one of the reasons I'm here: how are you still alive?"

"Ask your staff and give my heartfelt thanks to your closets. Why are you here?"

"I already told you; I wish to learn about how you are still alive."

"A steaming pile of bullshit from Maria Caspian herself. The truth."

"Dearest-"

"Don't." I cut her off, "I am not your dearest anything."

"I believe as you are of my blood I am entitled to such endearments."

"But you are not, Maria. You threw away that chance seventeen years ago. I am not your daughter; you are not my mother."

"I gave you life, no matter how little I wished for it to happen. I am your mother."

She reaches out, trying to grab hold of my wrist. I jerk it out of her fingers, screaming, "Get the hell away from me!"

"You do not get to pick and choose when you are or aren't my daughter!"

"These fine words coming from a hypocrite."

"Hypocrite?"

"You deny being my mother yet at the same time you demand the right to my life and knowledge as the woman who gave birth to me. Make up your mind."

She lunges towards me, hands curved as to wrap around my neck. As I jump out of the way I slip my hand under the leather fabric of my coat. I pull a gun out of my jacket, brandishing it in front of me. The worn leather strip wrapped around the handle hides the steel beneath. The barrel of the pistol is pointed directly at her chest. I flick the safety off, looking her dead in the eyes. Anger wrapped in wariness fills her face.

"Do not come any closer." The quiet deadliness of my voice sounds like a shout in my ears.

"Do not point a gun at me!"

"Do not claim to be my mother! You have no right to me."

"I am High Lady Maria Camila Romina Alessandra Magdalena Caspian. I am your superior in age, title, and blood. You are a seventeen-year-old, half-breed, an honorary lady of Iunctus; you have no right to any throne!"

Sneering laughter bubbles in my words, "Yet you are threatened by me."

Over her shoulder I see the Duke enter the dining hall, concern written across his features.