Adrian expected the words to shift the room... to command respect, to instill fear, to make Catherine reconsider everything she had just thrown in his face.
But the expression on her face made him pause.
She was smiling.
Not nervously. Not with shock or fear or any of the reactions he'd expected when he finally dropped the pretense and spoke to her as an equal... as a power... rather than a supplicant.
She looked... satisfied.
Like she'd been waiting for this exact moment.
Like he'd just confirmed something she'd suspected all along.
'What... why is she...'
He glanced to the side, almost involuntarily.
Victoria was staring at him.
Not with fear.
Not with anger.
Not even with pity anymore.
She looked at him the way someone looks at a sacrificial lamb that has finally realized what the knife is for.
The expression hit him harder than anything Catherine had said.
'What...?'
"You think this is funny?" The words came out sharper than he intended. "You think I won't..."
