This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
kane 🏳️⚧️’s review published on Letterboxd:
This review may contain spoilers.
they are going to kill you, you think, as you stare at his mother across the table.
you will choke on the pearls he bought her before you choke on their pride.
they are going to kill you, a woman whispers, a woman who seems to be your shadow, lingering in the corners of your vision. is she you? will you be her? will you be the queen? will your head roll as hers once did, courtesy of your husband’s royal line?
they are going to kill you, your son’s eyes say as he pleads for you to come down stairs, he doesn’t even know he’s saying it. it’s an expression he learned from his father. he’s always making that face these days.
they are going to kill you, the cook whispers though the words he says are different.
they are going to kill you. it echoes through your head in all of their voices at the top of the stairs.
not if I beat them to it.
the echo stops as the pearls ricochet down from your neck. you are released from your shackles, you will not be told what to do like one of their servants, told to sit and stay like one of their dogs.
you are a soldier, but you won’t fall in line. you’ll protect your oath. you’ll protect your boys, no matter the cost. they’ll have to kill you to take them from you. they are yours, and you’ll give them a taste of a beautiful little ordinary if it’s the last thing you do.
you are no longer scared of your own shadow, of the ghost in the edges of your vision. you will not become her. you are not one of them. you belong to yourself.
Spencer.
