Mine didn't. Ruby's didn't. And neither had the hundred-some families of Millhaven Village.
I couldn't hold it in any longer. The words ripped out of me, raw and bleeding. "Is that what you told yourself when you slaughtered Millhaven Village, my lord? That they were just a bunch of lowborn nobodies?"
Homer flinched as if I'd driven a blade between his ribs. His hand shot to my throat and squeezed, his eyes splitting red with fury.
"Penelope, what nonsense are you spouting?!"
I struggled to break free, and the wound below tore open again. Blood soaked through the bedsheets in an instant.
Homer panicked at the sight. He gathered me into his arms, clumsy and desperate. "Penny, stop moving. Please."
I pried his hands off me and glared straight at him. "Homer, you've been lying to me for years. Was it worth it?"
"Hundreds of lives. And my two children. Don't you lose sleep at night?"
Homer's hand hung frozen in midair, trembling beyond his control.
"You know about all of it?"
When I said nothing, he rushed to explain. "Penny, I had no choice. People in Millhaven Village saw you with the Crown Prince. If the pregnancy got out, it would have torn the court apart."