The King's black eyes widened slightly as he looked at me. This was his first time seeing me since the day I was born, if he'd even looked at me then. I imagine the resemblance was as startling for him as it was for me.
Good.
Uncomfortable though it was, the fact that no one would ever be able to deny my place in the palace did ease some of my anxiety. Anyone who looked at us would instantly know we were father and child. Anyone with even the basest understanding of my situation would also know that this father had abandoned his child. In a nation like Acan, where the rights of even a commoner's bastard were protected by law—provided parentage could be proven—my father's negligence had given me quite the political advantage.
I didn't have much time to savor that knowledge.
"You dare raise your head before your king!"
I tore my eyes away from my father's and looked at a squirrelly little man standing on the other side of the large desk in the office. He was...if nondescript were a person, it would look like him. There was not a single defining feature I could use to describe him. Was this the fate of side characters? No, that didn't make sense. Freddy and his parents were also side characters, and even they, who were purposely described as unremarkable by the author, stood out next to this man.
Aiyah~, I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
I raised an eyebrow in an expression meant to mirror the one my uncle used on Freddy whenever my cousin said or did something stupid. "Saintesses don't have kings."
It was a short phrase, every word of it true, but it had an immediate and tangible effect on the people in the room. Even the servants who stood along the wall with their heads lowered stiffened in anticipation. Of what, I wasn't quite sure, but I could feel the way everyone was looking at me. My kingly father was standing right there, but I held the power in this room.
It was not a welcome feeling.
In fact, it was entirely too overwhelming. I could feel my hands going numb at my sides and my vision grew cloudy. No! This was no place for panic!
I turned away from the furious little man and looked at my father again. Aiyah~, what was that expression? Was it hatred? Disgust? The way he curled his lip at me was eerily familiar. Had I ever made that face at myself, in the mirror? I must have, to recognize it so easily.
For some reason, his reaction calmed me down. Right. This was how it was supposed to be.
That didn't make it any easier to look at, though.
I forced myself to smile at the King whose authority I had just denied. I could only hope it didn't look as false as it felt. "Besides," I took a step forward, putting distance between me and my mother's family. "Such formality is hardly necessary between us, don't you agree, Your Majesty?"
I refused to call this man father. Resemblance be damned. There was more to fatherhood than just shared genetics.
King Theodore looked at me like I was some new kind of venomous insect—intrigued by the discovery, but repelled by the subject matter. Likewise, old man.
I smiled vapidly at him, waiting for his reply. He seemed to come back to himself with a lurch and he turned away from me, hiding his face behind a fist as he cleared his throat.
"Yes, of course, welcome...." Did he not even know my name? "I trust you've found the palace to your liking?"
"I have not." Once again, the whole room seemed to be holding its breath. "You have never cared for my comfort, Your Majesty. Please, don't pretend otherwise. It's burdensome."
Was that too much? It probably was, but the thought of pretending to be a happy family with this man was like a hand at my throat, waiting and eager to crush the life out of me. Rather than dancing around the issue, it was better to have it out in the open.
The way my father looked at me changed once again. Hmm. Perhaps I had leveled up from an insect to a snake? Either way, I wasn't afraid to bite.
"I have wronged you." Truth.
"You have."
He laughed, but it was an ugly sound. I could feel how uneasy the people around us were, but I couldn't find it in me to care. Right now, my only concern was surviving this encounter. There was no greater threat to me in this palace than the man in front of me. He was the one who manipulated the original Theophania into becoming an unwitting spy against her brother. He was the one who isolated her from anyone who might ally themselves with her, who kept her chained to him by delaying her Coming of Age, who sent her off alone when the Demon King's horde made itself known. Thought it wasn't his blade that severed her head, he was the one who killed his daughter.
I would not let him kill me.
I could see the calculating look in his black eyes as he looked at me and I resisted the urge to shudder. I felt dirty, like a layer of grime had appeared on my skin.
"You resemble your mother." Truth.
"Really? That's not something I hear very often."
He smiled again. I didn't like it. Did I smile like that, too? "No, I suppose not. Not with that face." Truth. He stepped closer to me and I had to look up at him—not something I was used to. "But still, you take after her quite strongly." Truth.
He didn't mean those words as a compliment. I could tell by the way his lips twisted around them, the way his eyes—too much like mine, stop looking, stop looking—roved over my face—his face—the way he did his best to loom over me, never mind that I was only half a head shorter than him—still too small, too small. There was a strange undercurrent in his voice that compelled me to reach a conclusion the novels had not prepared me for.
"You hate her."
Once again, I caught him off guard. He stepped out of my personal space and I could breathe easily, again. I hadn't even noticed the way my lungs froze until I inhaled.
What was that? That...absolute certainty? I have always been able to tell truth from lie, but...whatever that was, I knew was King Theodore was feeling, beyond what his words told me. I knew he hated my mother the same way I knew the sky was blue. It was a visceral, instinctive knowledge that bubbled up from my bones and shook my very core. Did this have something to do with the stigmata?
The original Theophania never experienced anything like that...
Or did she?
Aiyah~, I didn't have time to linger on that. I was a rabbit locked in a cage with a starved hound. I couldn't afford any distractions.
"That's fine," I said, shakier than I wanted. "It doesn't matter to me."
"She's your mother." Truth.
I smiled again, hoping and praying to every blackhearted God in this world that it looked just like his. "She has been as much a mother to me as you have been a father."
That mother's family shuffled awkwardly behind me. Indeed, you ignored me, too, didn't you? You must be so uncomfortable, right now. Aiyah~, it's too bad I can't turn and watch you squirm. What kind of face is Freddy making, I wonder.
For a long, nauseating moment, King Theodore simply looked at me. I looked back, unwilling to even blink more than necessary. I was not safe. I will never be safe. Not until I am out of the palace and the Demon King has been dealt with. But for now...
"Perhaps," King Theodore said slowly. "I was too hasty when I sent you away."
Oh, really? How nice of you to reflect on your actions, Your Majesty. Shall I prepare an award?
Some of my derision must have shown on my face because he laughed again. "Yes, I understand. Too little too late." He looked past me for the first time and all his mirth melted away. "Though I'm not the only one that applies to, is it Duke Montferro?"
My uncle stepped forward. He looked absurdly small next to me and the king, but he stood with his back straight all the same. My aunt reached out to take my arm and tried to pull me away from the brewing confrontation, but my father grabbed my other hand.
Slap!
I pulled my hand close to my chest and glared at my aghast father. "Don't touch me."
My aunt wrapped her arms around me like a mother protecting her child from a rabid dog. I let her pull me away and tore my gaze away from the king and his simmering anger. Freddy was looking at me like he'd never met me before, grey eyes wide and unbelieving.
This was the scene the Queen walked in on.