Chapter 229: The Question of Seduction
Lyria's POV
The Queen turned her gaze toward Jacinta.
"Calm yourself," she said. "That is not the way to go about matters."
Jacinta's mouth pressed into a thin line, but she stepped back, her arms folding across her chest once more. Her eyes remained fixed upon me accusingly, but she said nothing further.
The Queen's attention returned to me.
Her expression had shifted. The annoyance was still there, along with something akin to anger.
"Tell me," she said, her voice soft and pleasant, the way one might speak to a child who had failed a simple lesson, "do you know why I instructed you to step upon the broken porcelain?"
I paused.
Blood had begun to seep from the cuts, warm and sticky against my sole. I could feel it spreading, could feel the dampness soaking into the fabric of my slipper where I had set it aside.
But I did not look down.
I kept my gaze fixed upon the Queen's face.
