“Why didn’t she talk to you?” Maren asked from under her blanket.
“Oh, she had tried to talk to me plenty of times before. Reasoning, pleading, threatening... She’d tried it all, hoping to make me the king Olathana deserved. And there I was, showing up at my birthday ball with my dead friend in my arms. The friend who died because of me.”
“But you weren’t even there when he was attacked,” she protested.
“My sweet, gentle butterfly,” I murmured. “Oh, how many times I’ve said the same thing to myself over the years. I wasn’t there. I didn’t go. I had two beautiful women ready to spend the night in my bed, and I chose them over my friends. But none ofthat absolves me of the responsibility for their deaths. I was the prince. I put the idea into their heads. I could’ve stopped them. Fuck, I could’ve ordered them detained and put in chains if they didn’t listen. At the very least, I could’ve gone with them and possibly actually saved someone’s life. I was the best swordsman among them. If not, dying alongside them would’ve been a far preferred option. Instead, I planted the seed in their heads and left them to it because I was in love with two court ladies for all of ten hours and couldn’t wait to get them into my bed. Then, when my friends died because of me, do you know what I did after I came back to Lyrei and delivered Delmar’s body to his devastated family?”
“What did you do?”
“What would a ruler do in case of such a tragedy?” I countered with a question. “A true future ruler of a kingdom would’ve accepted the responsibility, comforted the grieving families, mended the broken relationship with the neighboring kingdom that had been attacked. I did none of those things. I refused to do anything at all and dealt with it the way I’d always dealt with everything back then. I got drunk and fucked the night away. And in the morning...”
“You woke up cursed,” she ended the sentence for me.
I felt the weight of her gaze pressing on me, and I had no choice but to finally face her.
“Yes,” I exhaled, meeting her eyes.
“You said it was your mother’s love that cursed you,” she remembered the words I told thebrackthe day I first met her.
“Right. My behavior that night pushed the queen’s patience to its limit. She’d given me way too many chances before that. I don’t blame her for what she ended up doing out of frustration and desperation.”
“She cursed you!” Maren exclaimed indignantly. “Was there really no other way?”
“I’m afraid Mother had exhausted all other ways, my dear. I really was that horrible of a person. Still am, possibly.” I frowned, hoping it wasn’t true. But what good had I accomplished in the century that passed to disprove that? “In Mother’s defense, she was misled. She didn’t realize the full extent of the curse or its consequences. She simply tried to teach me a lesson, one that would actually get through to me. Like I said, I don’t blame her. Her royal hag, Odine, told me that Mother obtained access to the divine power of Goddess Nanami, the Mother of the Ocean. She used it, hoping to teach me humility and patience, as well as to give me some time for reflection and contemplation, for me to rethink my life choices. The curse’s purpose was to isolate me from all my usual vices. No more fucking or fighting or gulping wine by the bottle. I had to be more careful about everything I did. The curse forces me to think carefully before acting. Carelessness results in graphic, horrific, irreversible consequences.” I heaved a long, heavy breath. “The gods know I’ve been doing nothing but reflecting, contemplating, and rethinking ever since. Sadly, Mother never got the chance to explain how it all was supposed to end. Frankly, I don’t think she knew herself in what form the curse would be delivered, otherwise she would’ve taken precautions to protect herself and the kingdom. Fuck, I wouldn’t even mind if she locked me in a cage somewhere. In fact I would’ve preferred that to everything that happened. Now, I’m beginning to think there is no end. There is no way to break this, and maybe I don’t deserve to end it anyway. The curse is my punishment, for as long as I shall live.”
I searched Maren’s face, trying to read her feelings in her expression. For her, I wished to be a far better man than I was. But I couldn’t keep shifting the blame for my actions onto others, least of all on my late, long-suffering mother.
“The queen only wished the best for me,” I said. “And isn’t that what all parents want for their children? How many of them end up making mistakes despite their best intentions or maybe because of them? At the end of the day, I deserve everything that has ever happened to me. Every single fucking thing, no matter how cruel or brutal. The only thing that puzzles me is how in the world have I deserved you?” I marveled. “What good deed in my sinful life earned me this favor from the gods? For them to send you to me?”
I gladly accepted all the suffering, guilt, and loneliness, if it all led me to meeting Maren.
She frowned, clearly not sharing my gratitude to fate for bringing us together.
“I was kidnapped and trafficked, Kye,” she reminded, “Leslo abducted me. I wouldn’t exactly call it a divine blessing.”
“Oh, I can easily kill Leslo for you if that’s what you want, my darling. But I can never be mad at him for bringing you to me.”
She sighed heavily, not rushing to accept my generous offer of thebrack’smurder.
“What are we going to do after you get your silk?” she asked instead.
“We’ll go back home,” I said more cheerfully than I felt.
The home was now in ruins. My ancestral palace, where hundreds of generations of Olathana’s monarchs lived, ruled, and died, was no longer there. Jahanam might’ve been the one who crashed it, but I had made it possible for him. I’d broken the crown. I’d weakened the wards.
Despite my mother’s best efforts, my birth prophecy had been fulfilled completely. Whether or not I believed in it didn’t matter anymore. It had all come true. I broke the crown. The ancient ruling bloodline was ending with me. And last night, I quite literally razed the royal palace to the ground too.
Now I should probably wallow in self-loathing, crushed under another mountain of guilt. But I had Maren. I was responsible for her life and wellbeing. And I didn’t just want to keep her alive and well. I wanted her to be happy, too, which gave me a purpose. My life gained a new meaning. My future no longer seemed pointless or bleak.
“We’ll build a new palace,” I said to my little savior. “One that isn’t made of glass. Once I have the silk, I won’t be turning everything I touch to glass anymore. Odine will have to come to Lyrei with us. Our combined magic should be enough to ward our new home properly. We can have a more ordinary life, my dear. Who would’ve thought that the arrogant, spoiled, cursed King of Olathana would look forward to having an ordinary life?” I laughed.
“How about Arnon and Dorelea?” she worried. “What are you planning to do with them?”
Execute them, most likely.
I might be able to forgive their personal betrayal had they not put Maren’s life in danger. After what they did to her, there was no forgiveness left in my heart.
They will have to be executed for treason. As much as I disliked the idea, Lord Tal had to be executed as well. Sparing their son’s life would only complicate things in the future by leaving the doors open to revenge and all that.
