Page 244 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“You thought what?” Valter pushed with faux concern.
“You said I could have those muffins in the kitchen for breakfast.”
Eviana glanced at her plate where nothing but crumbs remained.
“Ah,” Valter said, sounding as disappointed as she did. “I know I promised you that, but unfortunately, the muffins are gone.”
“Gone?”
He nodded gravely. “I told her not to eat it, that I had promised it to you, but she ate it anyway.”
Eviana’s stomach sank as she realized exactly what the trap was.
“Who?” Priya asked, and she wasn’t on the verge of tears like one would expect. She sounded…angry.
Valter didn’t answer, but he did glance at Eviana pointedly. Then he reached over, patting Priya’s hand. “I’m sorry she made me break my promise. I will think of a way to make it up to you.”
Priya glared across the table at Eviana, her eyes hard chips of ice. That hatred Valter had promised was already building, and he was adding layer upon layer to it.
“Why is she at the table?” Priya asked, her tiny hands in fists on either side of her plate.
Valter clicked his tongue. “You know she is my Source, Priya.”
“But she hasn’t been eating with us this whole time.”
“I know, my sweet,” he said with more fake sympathy. “But she is still mine to care for.”
Her gaze snapped to his, andnowthere were thin pools of tears there. “But I’m yours too, right?”
“Of course you are,” he answered, reaching over and cupping her chin. “But in a different way.”
Eviana watched as she shoved down her tears, her mouth pressing into a thin line of determination.
Everything that goes wrong in her life, every hurt and treachery, I will make sure she can trace it back to you.
“Let’s eat our breakfast, hmm?” Valter said, sitting back and picking up his fork once more. “Then later you can show me how your plants are doing. I’m sure Eviana could help some too.”
“I don’t want her help,” Priya bit out, stabbing at a strawberry a little too harshly.
Valter sighed. “I know, but you must learn to get along with her. She will always be with me.”
For the rest of the meal, Eviana sat as her daughter cast glares at her across the table in between her conversation with Valter. When she spoke to him, those glares morphed into smiles, and she held on to every word he said. Soaking them in. And when breakfast was done, he sent her on her way with the nursemaid for her studies, promising to meet her when she was done to look at her plants.
The dining room doors shut with an ominous thud, and Eviana sat frozen, her hands in her lap and eyes on the plate of muffin crumbs. She heard his chair scrape. Heard him get to his feet and stop beside her chair. Then he cupped her face, tilting it up to his. Hazel eyes studied her, full of triumph and cruelty.
“We have visitors coming and new alliances to build. Your services will be required,” he said sharply, still holding her face.
“Yes, my Lord,” she whispered, his hold tightening at the soft answer.
“Who did this, my flower?” he asked, leaning in so his words fanned across her lips. “Whose fault is this?”
“Mine,” she answered.
“And who must pay for their betrayal?”
“Me.”
He stepped back, reaching for his belt, and she already knew what was next as she slid to her knees.
