Thessian remained near the entrance without interrupting the silence. He neither pressed the matter nor repeated the question.
The torchlight behind him stretched his shadow across the damp stone floor until darkness pooled at the Queen's feet like a tide slowly advancing upon the shore.
At length, she swallowed.
Then she slowly shook her head.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
The answer arrived too quickly.
Not with the confusion of an innocent person confronted by false accusation, but with the smooth certainty of someone who had denied the same truth for many years until repetition had turned it into habit.
Marcus stared at her in disbelief. How could she not know? How possible is this as a human?
"I am asking why you stood there while your daughter was tortured and chose to look away, you have answers that I need and I want to hear them."
Something flickered across her face and it vanished so quickly that another person might have missed it entirely.
