Page 195 of Night's Fall
No.
With how little of any emotion there was.
Neither of them met my gaze.
No one said anything for so long, it started to feel weird, and then the king spoke.
“You do not wish to hail your daughter?” he asked.
My father’s gaze darted to me, and he said, “Wewish to…we had hoped…”
He stopped talking, raised his hand as if to adjust his collar, dropped it and said no more.
It struck me he appeared nervous, which was not somethingI’dseen him be in all the timeIknew him.
My mother shot him a look of pure disgust (and that was very familiar), before she said to me, “You’renamed after her.”
My spine went rigid asIunderstood exactly what she was saying.
Aleksei’s fingers dug into my waist, and he clipped, “Unlessgiven leave, you will not addressLauradirectly.”
Mom’s lips parted in astonishment.
“Explain this statement,” the king demanded.
“I had a mate, your majesty,”Dadsaid. “Shepassed.”
“This is not unknown to me,” the king replied.
“He named our daughter after his dead female,”Momspat.
And that was exactly whatIunderstood she was saying.
Oh mygods.
Why on earth would he do that?
KingFillionturned to me and asked gently, “Didyou know this, dear?”
I shook my head.
“The point of you sharing this?”Alekseiall but barked.
“The point—”Dadbegan.
“Every timeIsaw her, or talked to her, or spoke her name,”Momcut in to say, “Iwas reminded thatIwas nother.Iwas not the one he wanted.Andevery timehe”—she snapped her head to the side to indicate my father—“did it, he was reminded she was dead.”
“And this explains why you broke her wrist, her ribs, and assaulted her beast?”Alekseiasked.
I heardAleece’ssharp gasp.
I watched my father grimace.
“He thinks, now that she has a mate, she’ll get it,”Momsaid.
“She’ll understand emotionally and physically abusing a child because she’s found her mate?”Alekseididn’t hide his angry incredulity.
“Consider if you lost him,”Dadurged me.
