I gathered that much, but I needed to hear the rest. Listening to all the cruel, gory details proved agonizingly painful as Maren recounted what she’d gone through in my uncle’s palace, the place where I had sent her to keep her safe.
That was my biggest regret: allowing anyone to convince me that Maren would be better off away from me rather than with me, where she belonged.
“You know, at first I thought I got away somehow,” Maren said. “But they intentionally let me go. Dorelea had said to me earlier that evening, ‘You’ll see him again even sooner than you think.’And at the time, I thought she was just comforting me because I missed you. But that was their plan all along. After Jahanam put his pearls on me, they allowed me to escape. They knew I’d run straight to you, which is exactly what I did.” She released a shaky breath of regret, running a hand down her face. “I was so stupid.”
“There was nothing you could’ve done differently, Maren. Running to me was and always will be the best thing you can do,” I assured her.
“They want you gone. I don’t know how, but I think they want your throne,” she said, biting her lip in concentration.
She was probably right. There simply wasn’t that much else to take from me at this point.
“It’s not easy to end a siren ruling dynasty,” I said and added with a humorless laugh, “though I’m well on my way to doing just that without much effort at all. Sooner or later, I’ll die without leaving an heir of my blood. A war for succession will be imminent then. It looks like Arnon didn’t want to wait however long it’ll take me to finally perish or to fight the war for the now proverbial Crown of Olathana. He decided to speed things up a little.”
“Were they planning to find a way to kill you, you think?” Maren asked quietly.
It occurred to me that if they succeeded at that, Maren would be the only one who’d mourn my death.
“Very likely, my darling,” I replied. “For a bloodline to end, there has to be no blood of the ruling line left. Even if that meansdraining my body of blood completely and turning me into a walking, talking corpse.”
“Like those hideous mermaids?” She shuddered.
“Just like them, yes. Though I wholeheartedly believe that I’d make a considerably better looking corpse than them. A more charming one too.”
She exhaled a laugh, shaking her head, and I silently congratulated myself on making her laugh again despite the horrific night she’d had.
“I’m not familiar with Olathana’s equivalent of Code of Laws, but even if Arnon didn’t succeed at killing you, didn’t he still commit a crime? Attempted murder? Treason? Assault, at the very least?” Maren’s voice turned cold and unforgiving. Sharp like the blade of a weapon.
My fierce, vengeful butterfly was after some blood too. I wouldn’t want to be in Arnon’s shoes if she happened to be armed the next time they met. He wouldn’t find a nice and trusting Maren anymore. Not that I would ever allow him to come anywhere near her ever again.
“By the law of our land, treason is a greater crime than murder. But I can see how Arnon came to feel entitled to my throne.” It pained me to make any excuses for Arnon after what he’d done to Maren, but his crimes against me at least had some reason and foundation. “He’s been ruling Olathana for decades, with no crown, no added magic, and no honor or reverence that comes with the royal title. He’s been tasked with all the responsibilities of a monarch with hardly any privileges in return. He always said it was an honor to serve the kingdom, making me believe that was all the reward he needed. I failed to recognize how he might want more.”
“It’s Dorelea too,” Maren added. “She talked about you with so much disdain.”
“Rightfully so,” I sighed.
It was hard to condemn these people for their desire to harm me when I had caused grave harm to their family. At some point in the recent past, Arnon could’ve possibly convinced me to step down on my own had he talked to me openly and in earnest. As rotten a man as I’d turned out, despite my mother’s best efforts to raise me right, even I could see that having a cursed, childless king confined to a glass palace was not in the best interests of the kingdom.
A king like Arnon, with a living, breathing heir, would be an improvement. What did I have to lose by giving up the title and even the rest of my life along with it? A few more centuries of uselessly staring out at the horizon and slowly losing my mind to solitude?
Not anymore, however. Now, I had a great reason to stay alive, at least for as long as Maren lived. I was her only protector in this world, and she had given me not only the reason for living but also the motivation to rule better than I’d ever done before.
“Tell me Kye, what have you done to make them hate you so much?” Maren asked.
I flexed my jaw, clenching my teeth against the memories I never wished to revisit. Yet they haunted me daily, nevertheless.
“I’ve done many bad things, darling. Some of them you already know. But... But I’m also responsible for the death of Delmar, Dorelea’s nephew and my best friend,” I croaked, forcing the words out through my tightening throat.
“Responsible how? You didn’t kill him, did you?” Her voice dipped.
I never cared about anyone’s opinion of me as much as I cared about hers. But there was no salvaging it the more she learned about my rotten past.
“My hand might not have been the one that drew the sword through his chest,” I said, “but it certainly could’ve been. Delmarwas one of those who went to Sarnala on the night of the full moon.”
She paused, her forehead wrinkling in concentration.
“I...overheard some of your conversation with Arnon when he came to the palace that one time,” she said. “He mentioned you sent Delmar to Sarnala. Is that true?”
“It was my idea, yes,” I admitted it loud and clear, possibly for the first time ever.
