"You refused my offer, so let me ask you instead. What do you desire of the crown?" His tone carried no charity in it anywhere; he addressed her exactly as he had addressed the primordial.
"I refused because I don't need any of what you offered," Iris spoke, composure clawed back into place. "Your record, though... The one that dissolved my family in a single paragraph and never mentioned a child."
The flatness came apart on the last words. "Damian Ravenclaw. I want you to write him in."
"It will be the first name entered into the record when I return to the capital," Alexios told her.
Iris held his gaze for a breath longer, then gave the king a short nod and pulled herself up onto the nearest intact cask. She was done talking. Whatever the two men decided next, she'd made her claim, and the exhaustion of the whole day was finally collecting its dues.
