"I hope she tries," Lorraine said, her voice like honey stirred with steel. "Or maybe she'll ask my father to do it for her. I doubt it would take much. He would oblige. A little blood on his hands, if it clears his precious daughter's path? I'd be doing them all a favor by dying."
Sylvia's breath caught. She stared at the woman in front of her—princess, seer, viper of the underworld—and the ache behind her words made her look otherworldly. Beautiful in a way that hurt to witness. Like looking at someone who had swallowed innocence, only to wear its ghost like a veil.
It must cut her to the bone, Sylvia thought. To know her own father might trade her life for convenience. That no matter how high she climbed, she would never be more than a piece on his board.
Sylvia exhaled, trying to shake the weight off. "I still can't believe that after everything she's seen… Seraphina thought he'd leave his wife for her."
