Page 152 of Onyx Cage: Volume II
Condescension dripped from her voice, bleeding through the cracks in the feigned smile that didn’t come close to meeting her eyes, like perhaps I had merely failed to realize the inherent barbarism of my own carefully considered judgment.
I grappled with my own temper, willing it not to rise in conjunction with her own. Even if she had just corrected me in front of a room full of men who already resented us both for her invasion in what they considered to betheirspace.
Even if she was skirting perilously close to the edge of destroying all the groundwork I had painstakingly laid, both for the sake of my clan and for the sake of my lemmikki.
My jaw clenched as the wordsurelyresounded in my head, and I resisted the urge to respond thatsurely, she wasn’t contradicting me now in a role I had filled for years based on the precisely zero Socairan laws she had bothered to read up on in the ample time she had spent lounging with the cat every morning.
The last thing we needed was to add fuel to the fire of all the respect I was slowly losing by having a lover’s spat in the middle of the storms-damned lords meeting.
So instead, I explained in the same efficient tone I had used for her far more reasonable interjections, hoping that she would hear the implied dismissal.
Though, I knew by now that my hope was naïve.
“Twenty lashes is standard for disobedient soldiers, given the potential consequences.” Did she understand that people could have died? That they would, if an open rebellion were to break out? That even if neither of those things happened, lives were still at stake on the battlefield because no one would fight alongside men they didn’t trust? “Theleniencyis because of their age.” I emphasized the word, ensuring she understood how far off base her accusation of the punishment being excessive was.
Of course, that was apparently also too much to hope for, because an indignant huff escaped her instead, the sound far too loud against the silent backdrop of the horrified Council of Lords.
“Leniency,” she echoed, unconcerned that every word she spoke was another brick torn down in the wall I had built to protect my people.
Taras nodded, while I tried very hard not to react, even as my fists clenched under the table.
“Well, then.” Her voice was quiet, but it nonetheless resounded in the indignant hush she had incited throughout thevast room. “I suppose I can be grateful Lady Mairi was even morelenientwith me.”
If my temper had been hanging by a scant few tattered threads before, she sliced through them entirely with her unfounded righteous indignation.
Having exactly no experience with flogging aside from her own, she was not only assuming that a standard punishment enacted by a trained commander would be as traumatic as her torture at the hands of Samu, but also willing to debate the finer points of her lashes here.
In front of an entire room full of lords who were currently eyeing us both with thinly veiled disdain.
Had she forgotten that she was hardly the only one who knew what it was to suffer at the whims of my stepmother’s cruelty?
Perhaps if she had watched the blood of children coat the snow—had been responsible for wielding the blade—she would give enough of a damn about the stakes to dredge up the smallest increment of self-control. But as usual, she charged on, blissfully unaware of the consequences of her impatient tongue.
It was no wonder she was defending the boys who might have gotten someone killed with their recklessness.
“I’m sure their families will appreciate the concession,” Taras cut in before I could respond, which was probably for the best. He turned to Lord Juto with a politely expectant expression, as though nothing at all had happened. “Is there anything else, Lord Juto?”
I found myself absurdly grateful that there was at least one person in this room who could be counted on for support, since my wife had no plans of filling that role any time soon.
“No,” Lord Juto responded tersely, his narrowed eyes never leaving my lemmikki.
I cleared my throat pointedly. As furious as I was with her, she was still my wife and his future Clan Wife, and he woulddamned well treat her with respect. His gaze returned to me, but the censure in his expression remained.
In all of their expressions.
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
After spending the next hour pretending not to notice the open disgust of the lords, paired with the open fury of my wife, I prepared myself for the immense pleasure of enjoying lunch in the same company.
Rowan all but stormed out of the room, and I weighed the relative merits of letting her stalk up to our room alone against the likelihood that she would do more damage if I didn’t prepare her for lunch.
Decision made, my longer strides easily caught up to her, and I nodded at Kirill that I would accompany her back to the rooms. Like we needed one more witness to this disagreement. We’d already had an entire audience for the start of it.
He followed at a respectful distance, preparing to guard the room once we were both inside. I suspected he would have some jibe to make later, but he was wise enough not to hint at it now.
The strained, silent walk to our suites did nothing for my temper, especially when it was punctuated by Rowan’s furious huffs. By the time we reached our room, it took every last shred of my self-control not to slam the door, something I wasn’t sure I had ever actually had the urge to do before.
She spun around to face me, her fists clenched into the folds of her gown.