Tears welled up in Daphne’s eyes. She wasn’t one to cry easily but anger overwheld her senses, so much so that she couldn’t control herself but to let slip a few drops of tears. Her fists had unknowingly clenched themselves, and she had to remind herself to calm down and take in deep breaths to stop herself from quaking with anger.
"Their excuse was that Jonah was out on a date, spotted with an unnad blonde last night," Daphne continued. She rolled her eyes and huffed. "Evidently not."
"So there must be sothing else that he is up to," Leonora said, finishing Daphne’s train of thought. "Or, there must be a reason why the infirmary was empty last night. It was left unguarded on purpose, despite King Atticus’s promise to post knights around it."
"But what is the point of that?" Silas asked. "There’s nothing to steal! Hey, ouch!"
Silas yelped in pain, moving his head back and forth in an attempt to dodge away from Zephyr’s angered attacks. Zephyr’s beak pecked down, aiming straight for his eyes. However, Silas was surprisingly agile even though he was without a body and successfully evaded all of Zephyr’s attempts.
"Cut it out, you stupid bird!" Silas shouted. "Don’t think too highly of yourself. You’re not that important to steal!"
Seeing that he was unsuccessful, Zephyr huffed. Daphne swore she could even see Zephyr’s beak curve into a smirk. An uneasy feeling settled in her heart.
"Oh boy," she murmured.
Before any of them could react, there was a loud, squishy toot, followed by a pungent sll that filled the entire room. Daphne’s nose instinctively scrunched up as her hands flew to cover her nose. Scowls and yelps of disgust filled the room, and Leonora dashed over from where she originally stood near Silas to where Daphne was, further away and closer to the window.
"Good heavens!" she said, coughing and gagging at the odor. Hurriedly, she cranked the windows open, allowing the fresh breeze to co into the room so as to dilute the scent. "That is utterly vile!"
Zephyr sat on top of Silas’s head, utterly satisfied with using the Prince’s hair as toilet paper. He chirruped in satisfaction, making sure to wipe his butt a few more tis across Silas’s silky strands of hair before flying over to proudly perch on the bed fra.
"Fuck you!" Silas scread, angrily twisting back and forth as more and more strings of profanities spewed forth from his lips. "Fuck, this is disgusting! Nora! Good God, Nora, please! Wash my hair, please! This is... This... Ugh!"
"No way!" Leonora said, turning up her nose in disgust. She looked over at Daphne, wincing. "Well, your husband is definitely hiding sothing. There was only Zephyr in the room, so if there was anyone breaking in, it would surely be for the griffin. Either way, griffins are notoriously valuable creatures. Their feathers and bone marrow could be used for all sorts of things."
Daphne perked up. She had even forgotten about the stink. "Bone marrow?"
Leonora nodded. "Used for all sorts of potions and tonics. It’s said to also boost vitality and even increase the human lifespan, though that might just be a bunch of rumors to sell the bones in the black market. Either way, you have yourself a rare pet. It’s not strange that people want it for themselves."
"Leonora!"
"I get it, I get it! Shut up!" Leonora scread. She rolled her eyes, rubbing her temples as she made her way to the door.
Zephyr flew over into Daphne’s arms, and she quickly followed after Leonora, not wanting to stay in this putrid room for a second longer. Never mind that he was the cause of said putrid sll. In Zephyr’s mind, this was entirely not his problem.
"I’ll need a dozen maids just for this," Leonora grumbled under her breath.
Once the sisters were out of the room, she let out a huge breath. Her face had gone a little flushed from staying inside, and now with fresh air, she was starting to look much better. She looked at Daphne, then at the main culprit of her ruined room.
"Are you going to confront him?" Leonora asked.
"Who?" Daphne asked. "Atticus?"
"Who else?" Leonora rolled her eyes. "I suggest you not. You don’t know what he is up to, and frankly, Daphne, I don’t trust your husband one bit. There’s sothing about him that always feels eerily off. He’s definitely hiding more than you think, maybe even sothing that might ruin us all."
Daphne bit her lip. She trusted that Atticus’s words were sincere and that his worries for her health and safety were always genuine. If anything, it was ridiculous to think that he would wish her any harm. However...
"Don’t forget," Leonora said. "There’s no reason for him to have spoiled the union between you and Prince Nathaniel. At that point in ti, you’ve never t him. It couldn’t have been love. There’s sothing else that he wants from you. We just don’t know what it is."
"It might just be a thing of the past," Daphne weakly argued.
She wanted to believe in Atticus, but Leonora was right. What if him wanting to keep her safe was just his way of raising the pig for slaughter? Perhaps he was only keeping her alive because she was of more use to him alive than dead. There might be sothing he needed from her― his overprotectiveness might not be out of love.
"It could," Leonora said with a shrug. "Or, he could just be waiting for the opportune mont. Once you’re ripe, you might just be picked right off, just like the rest of us."
Leonora took a step closer, closing in the distance between them. She lowered her voice, making sure that their words were kept just between the two of them. While Leonora was sure there wasn’t anyone around, she couldn’t be too sure.
King Atticus might have her head for what she was about to say.
"Don’t forget that n like him don’t understand what love is," Leonora said. "Power and ambition will always be their goal, not romance. If I were you, I wouldn’t blindly trust such a bloodthirsty man so easily, even if he was my husband."
Daphne gulped, her tongue darting out to wet her bottom lip out of nervousness.
"I know you have no reason to trust , considering our sour relationship up until recently," continued Leonora, "but it’s still better to be safe than sorry. Put it this way― even Alistair could betray Drusilla, the sister whom he doted upon the most. How hard would it be for King Atticus to betray you?"
With that said, Leonora walked off, continuing down the corridor in search of unfortunate palace staff who could help with her room’s clean-up. That left Daphne alone, stewing in Leonora’s words.
Leonora was right. Atticus could no longer be trusted.
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