He knew?!
No, impossible. I'd covered my tracks perfectly, and used a different method every time. There was no way he could know!
He must be bluffing. He had to be—
"I imagine you thought your methods were discreet and flawless, didn't you?"
Dris met his eldest son's trembling gaze and spoke without haste. His voice was so calm that no one could tell whether he was angry, but his words struck Ivel's heart like a judge's hammer, leaving him breathless and cold. "One year and seven days. Three hundred and seventy-two completely different poisoning strategies. That cunning showed me just how much deceit you learned from Theodore."
"But unfortunately, you never showed the decisiveness I expected of you!"
Ostan fell silent and gazed calmly at his eldest son.
Though the poison ravaging his body tormented him, his gaze still brought to mind a storm over the open sea.
Vast and boundless.
Ivel's expression shifted again and again. At last, he laughed, his voice turning shrill. "So you knew all along! Why did you let me continue? Why didn't you follow your ruthless ways and kill this wretched son who tried to murder his father?"
Ivel stared darkly at the man before him, his right hand stealing toward his waist. A vicious smile full of murderous intent spread across his face. "Just as you killed your own elder brother to inherit the title!"
"I killed Tali because he plotted treason and tried to murder His Majesty William, all so he could become that damned regent. I was not tempted by the ducal title."
"That is the greatest difference between us."
"And the reason I have not acted against you until now..."
Ostan's ice-blue eyes rested on the heir in whom he had once placed countless hopes, only to be disappointed