Page 108 of The Fifth Life of Alicia
Ah.
The daughter conversation.
This was how I knew he was drunk.
Then again, Alicia wasn’t exactly holding up much better. For someone who’d been so nervous about dining with the Emperor little more than ninety minutes ago, she’d quickly relaxed in his presence, and the two of them had been drinking wine like it was the last thing that would ever pass their lips.
My father had even sent out the servants after our meal so we could speak freely.
I was the one who’d claimed to have fallen in love at first sight to obtain his permission to marry her, but I was beginning to think my father was the one who’d fallen head over heels for her in mere minutes.
“I know!” Father declared, holding up a finger. “You should call me Father! Or at least Father-In-Law.”
Alicia gently shook her head. “I couldn’t dare to, Your Majesty.”
“How about just in private?”
“I don’t know if we’re that close.”
“We should be!” Father clapped his hands together. “Oh, to have a daughter as beautiful and brilliant as you is beyond my wildest dreams, and you’re so modest. Tell me, when is your wedding? It should be the best wedding this empire has ever seen!”
I smiled when Alicia looked at me with slightly glassy eyes that begged for my help. Usually, I would leave her to get herself out of this mess, but she was so pitiful that I couldn’t be that cruel.
“Father, I’m sure you’re aware of the aid policy Allie is working on,” I said, drawing his attention to me. “We’ve agreed to make that our priority for now.”
His eyes sparkled. “You use a nickname! How delightful! Is that all you call her? How about ‘my love’ or ‘sweetheart?’”
Yes.
He was quite drunk.
And her nickname was ‘darling.’
She felt like a darling to me, even if I couldn’t begin to explain why. Perhaps it was her hatred of the word that made me want to tease her, or perhaps it was simply because that pet name suited her best.
“Please focus.”
My father coughed into his hand. “Of course, I’m listening. Many nobles are fascinated by her swift assimilation into Stein’s politics. There are some unsavoury rumours, but I don’t believe them in the slightest. I’m quite familiar with her intelligence.”
Unsavoury rumours? AboutmyAlicia?
Clearly, there were those in the empire who didn’t value their life.
How careless of them.
“What kind of rumours?” I asked, my tone hardening.
Father waved his hand. “Nonsense about you being the one to create it and handing her credit to legitimise her position as your fiancée.”
The anger that trickled through my veins was unlike anything I’d felt before. It burned white hot, furiously and without discrimination, and my fingers twitched with the urge to silence such bullshit. “It seems those who speak of such things wish to lose their tongues.”
Alicia reached over and laid her hand on top of my fist, one that had clenched instinctively. “I don’t think tongues would make a pleasant castle decoration.”
Ha.
She always knew what to say.
I met her bemused, tipsy gaze. “On the contrary, a garland of them would be perfect outside the Imperial Palace.”
