Chapter 51

CH51

Morgan

Tsuneo looked surprised.

"What is it?"

"I was under the impression that your family of humans-"

I snickered. He wrinkled his nose.

"Is that odd phrasing?"

"A little," I smiled at him. "But a little endearing..."

His smile turned warm, and his eyes brightened. I looked away.

"You were saying?"

"Your family... is from an area that bathes communally, isn't it?"

"My father's family, yes." I nodded. "But I never got the to never had the time, and I was always excluded from going."

go to the communal baths. I

My lips twitched at the thought.

"The Jaki Baths in my hometown are the best on this side of the continent, but I never went."

"Why?"

"Well..." I shrugged. "It was a luxury, for one."

"Your family didn't seem to be poor."

aren't really. It's

meeting his gaze. He looked at me as if he already knew I was lying and it pained him. I-bit-my lip and dropped my gaze to my knees. After everything, should I really be cagey about this? It wasn't like it was my fault that my family were jerk No one ever want to go

genuinely confused, or maybe troubled. Then he sat

"That's terrible."

to try it, so

sighed, leaning my head back against the

His eyes were

that made it hard to reconcile the fact that he'd killed his

a proper honeymoon," he

at the thought. He

that, but... I

away. "You were

settle

a great deal. There are these... fairy springs, hidden. deep within the mountains to the south. The water is said to have

The idea of bathing in a magical pool, surrounded by nature,

we will go to these Jaki Baths so you have something to compare

lips twitched and I sunk down a little more into the bath with a

I whispered, a genuine smile playing

"You need not thank

me, wife."

the only sound the gentle lapping of the water. The tension of the evening had melted away, replaced by

a maddening drumbeat that

CH51

82

room. Servants jumped out of my way, but I could hear them snickering, laughing, gossiping about me. About what that human woman had said. How the king was treating me now. How everything between

threatening to boil over. I stormed into my chambers, slamming the heavy oak door with a resounding

streamed down my face, blurring my vision. How could it be? How could everything have gone so wrong? Tsuneo... my Tsuneo... he was supposed to be mine. I knew since we were children that we were destined to rule side-by-side. I was

Empress.

His wife!

sound of shattering echoed through the room was almost cathartic. I screamed and threw chairs. I clawed through a tapestry I'd had since I was child. I couldn't stop until every surface was bare and overturned. My

"That little bitch!"

coma. I was at his side. I spoke with the concubines and managed them and their petty gossip. I made the lazy servants do exactly what they should be doing. The king loved me. The entire palace bent to my

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