The White Knife

Mother. Matriarch. Let me sit by your side, upon your throne, and cast eyes across our vast kingdom. No, Bradley. Let your brother sit on the sofa. You can rest below it. No. This word— I remember it from my youth. It means denial, does it not? Answer me, mother! Has my place beside you been forsaken, traded for this mewling usurper? Say it isn’t so. Silence. I knew it. Though you speak not, it…