If Delilah's who I think she is, the uprising isn't the first time she's tried to take the throne.

It isn't an easy story.

[ Isn't a story he can tell without giving something of himself away. ]

And as you've said yourself, I'm not at my strongest.

[ Is tired, if truth be told, and suddenly wants very much to return to the room he'd come from. Only it matters that they knows. Only the longer he lets this sit silent, the greater that chance that Delilah will escape again. He can't... He can't keep this quiet. Has to try.

By the fucking Void. ]

After [ 'jessamine's death,' 'the empress fell' ] I killed your empress, I received word that someone was planning another upheaval. A quieter coup amid the chaos. It took time to work out the details, but...

She tried to take possession of [ 'the empress' 'your daughter' ] Emily. Something about her paintings, some magic she possessed. I don't know if it was connected to her Mark or to something else, but she came close to succeeding.

She ended up sealed within her own painting, the ritual turned awry. Should have been trapped there. Should never have been able to return.

I don't know what happened.

You can't trust her to stay sealed away.