Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
“And Huntley is family—because he’s my husband.”
With one hand on his knee, he stared. “I should have sent men after you. I knew you would return, but I didn’t expect it would be in this condition. Did he force you? I imagine he did—to make me suffer.”
“No, he’s not that kind of man. Our marriage started off as an alliance, but now I love him with all my heart.”
He looked away.
“I can convince him to release you. You just need to serve some time, apologize and mean it, and pledge yourself to our cause. You know King Rutherford, so I know you have great insight into how we can either convince him to join us or remove him from power.”
“If you hate me, you would hate him a million times worse. If you try to take away his crown, he’ll grip it tighter and tighter, just like a snake around its kill. Don’t waste your time. It’ll just make you look weak.”
“Well…that’s helpful. And I’m sure you can be helpful in other ways.”
He stared at the fire.
“This is your chance for redemption, Father.”
He wouldn’t look at me.
“I want to hate you, but a part of me believes you aren’t that man anymore. I want to believe that you fell in love with Mom and had us…and that’s the moment you changed. That you aren’t the same man who did those terrible things. Tell me that’s true.”
He kept his gaze averted.
“Please…” I needed to believe that to sleep at night, to release this burden from my heart.
“I loved your mother, when I thought I would never love anyone. She gave me a beautiful daughter and a proud son. Yes, those events changed me, softened me. So did the luxury, the wine, and the power. I’m not the same man who conquered Delacroix, but I’m not the man you want me to be either.” He looked at me again. “A clan of yetis destroyed our home. Killed my brother. My mother too. The Teeth took our weakness as an opportunity and invaded. So, we climbed to the top of the cliffs.”
“You climbed?”
“With ropes and spikes,” he said. “We made it to the top, and I begged for asylum. Queen Rolfe has no memory of this, because I spoke to her husband, the king. I told him of the harsh winters. Told him about the Teeth that feasted on our blood. Told him that our afterlives were at risk with Necrosis. He barely looked at me before he took away our equipment and sent us back down there.”
My heart tightened.
“I’m not sorry that I returned with a vengeance. I’m not sorry that I killed King Rolfe, not when he couldn’t care less about the death of my family. I’m not sorry that I did exactly what he would have done if our positions were reversed. I will do anything to survive—and I won’t apologize for it. Your husband can pretend to be the hero all he wants, but that’s only half the story. My actions were a reaction—not a provocation.”
No one was right. No one was wrong. I could see that now.
“I took it too far with his mother. I admit that. And I took it out on her sons when I kicked them over the side of the cliff. But he damned my family—so I damned his. Maybe I should have been the better man and exiled them into the woods instead. But my anger got the best of me.”
My eyes dropped to the floor.
“I think your plan is foolish, because you’ll never gain unanimous cooperation from all the Kingdoms, let alone all the barbarians down below, even if it’s against a common enemy. You’ll get yourself killed, along with everyone else you love. And even if by some small chance you actually succeeded, Necrosis is too strong. I’ve fought them before—and you have no idea what that’s like.”
I hesitated, because when he put it like that, I felt hopeless. “I know it’s going to be hard, and it would be easier just to not bother, but this world is never going to change unless we end Necrosis. I want a better world for my children. Worrying about your children’s well-being is hard enough, but worrying about their afterlives too…that’s unbearable.”
His eyes shifted back to the fire.
“Apologize…and join us.”
He stayed quiet for a while. “Even if I did, it wouldn’t make a difference.”
“It would make a difference, because I know my husband, and he would do anything for me.”
The silence stretched for a long time, his eyes focused on the fire that blanketed his cell with warm light. He rubbed his hand down his coarse beard before he gave a sigh. “I’ll consider it.”
“Thank you.” My father was more stubborn than I was, so any reflection at all was huge. “Can I get you anything? I’m sure I can grab something from the kitchen, along with a bottle of wine.”