She let out a long breath, trying to ease her temper, and then turned to face him. “You haven’t changed. You ask to be set free every time I come to see you. What about all the people you imprisoned down here? What about all the people you executed? Did you ever consider their pleas? I treat you far better than you ever treated them, and you’re still thinking of yourself and not of them. Those people you killed?” She waved a hand out in the direction of the city. “They had families. Friends.”

His gaze darkened. “They stole from me.”

“Some might say that you stole from them. That you had no right to own the land they worked on simply because you were born in a palace. They’ve suffered under your rule, Father. What would those people say if I set you free? They would say that I’m not who they thought I was. They would say I am just like you.”

Something in his face shifted, his expression suddenly guileless and hurt.

She didn’t wait for a response; she left the damp, musty air of the cellar behind, taking the steps to the kitchens two at a time, breathing like she’d just surfaced from a dive.

Ranami caught her at the top of the stairs. She took one look at her face and wrapped her arms around Phalue. Phalue relaxed into Ranami’s embrace, feeling her wife’s cheek pressed to her chest, her heart kicking against Ranami’s ear. Slowly, Phalue’s heartbeat eased, the sounds and smells of the kitchen safe and familiar.

“You don’t have to keep going down there,” Ranami murmured.

“He’s still my father,” Phalue said, pulling back. “I owe him the courtesy of at least looking him in the eye. And I don’t want to be like him – just pretending the people I’ve locked up don’t exist. I want to face what I’ve done.” She pursed her lips. “Am I lending the Shardless Few legitimacy by meeting with them?”

Ranami took her hand and they left the kitchens, escaping into the cool hallway, dim morning light creeping in through the shutter slats. “You don’t need to do anything to lend the Shardless Few legitimacy, love. They’re already a presence in the Empire. They’re established on Khalute, and they’ve established themselves here. Perhaps if they were half a world away – but they’re not. They’re here on Nephilanu and they’ve already tried to kill you twice.”

“We can’t be sure the second attempt was them. Or even that it was an attempt.” Only a few days into her rule, a fight had broken out on the streets when Phalue had been in the city. Someone had tried to knife her in the ribs in the chaos.