"If they wrote to insult you... if they wrote to defend that rotting corpse of an Uncle..."
"I think they didn't," Seraphina stated with unshakeable certainty.
Kaelus stared at her. "How can you know that?"
Because Seraphina was the mastermind who had deliberately detonated the emotional bomb in the conservatory.
She had told the 'puppies' exactly how stupid their sacrifice was. She knew that these letters were the direct fallout of her psychological warfare.
"Because I saw them, Papa," Seraphina lied gently, offering a half-truth to protect him. "When the old man was yelling at you, I looked at their faces. They weren't mad at you. They looked really, really sad."
She reached up with her other hand, gently wiping the tear from his cheek.
"Read them," Seraphina urged softly.
"I'm right here. If they say mean things, I will summon the ducks and we will ruin their lives. But I don't think they are mean."
Kaelus looked at his daughter.
