Chapter 56 No Survivors

• The King's point of view.
• I sat at the head of the council table, my eyes narrowed as I surveyed the room. The tension was thick enough to choke on, each council member silently awaiting my command. They feared me, as they should. Fear is the only way to rule. Loyalty is fragile, easily swayed, but fear—fear is constant.
• "Florence," I said, breaking the silence that had hung heavy for far too long. The name tasted bitter on my tongue. My daughter—my treacherous daughter—had chosen to defy me, to stir rebellion, aided by the very institution I had crushed beneath my heel. The church.