Penelope POV
"You actually did it, then."
Cooper stood in the centre of my drawing-room, his heavy wool coat still dusted with grey soot from the North Road.
"I did what I had to do," I said.
I did not offer him a seat. In Westview, every chair was a throne now, and I had earned the right to look down on anyone who entered my territory, even my own flesh and blood. The corpses from Silvermoon Salon were already cold in the ground, but the scent of copper and burnt hair still seemed to cling to the curtains.
"Father watched the trade reports from the capital," Cooper said. He took two slow steps toward the fireplace, his boots clicking hard against the parquet floor. "The merchants are falling in line. The ones who hesitated are begging for mercy."
"They begged for their lives first,"
