Page 121 (1/1)
"The sun shone through theand her hair glowed like the finest gold I sat at her table and I asked her why she didn’t ask for another cup She said that there was a unique beauty to the imperfection No other cup would ever be chipped in quite the same way It reminded her to pay attention, for every moment could offer an experience that would leave her forever changed When she decided she was tired of running, I found her there again, in that café, sitting at the exact same table I took the other chair and told her that I loved her I told her that she didn’t have to run, and that if she wanted the moon froive it to her She told me that you were a beautiful child That you were a part of her and a part of ers, and said, ‘I love you Don’t look for her’ Then she stabbed me"
The pain in his eyes pierced me, still alive and vibrant after almost thirty years
"Your ed my power She had betrayed me for your sake It wasn’t a private event She had subverted my Warlord and turned her back on our union The core of my power, those closest to n demanded it A betrayal that cut that deep required public punishment Voron was merely a pawn You were a babe and bore no responsibility for what had occurred That left only your mother When she drove a knife into my eye, I knew she sacrificed her life so you would live If she was dead, the public dee would be satisfied And so I honored her wish and killed the wo into the world"
He’d loved her still, after all those years He , and he was both an instrument and a cause of her death If he hadn’t loved her, he wouldn’t have agreed to my conception He wouldn’t have imbued me with his power and then he wouldn’t have had to try to destroy what he’d created out of love I had told him that our fareat and powerful monsters But none of our power mattered We were still cursed
"Your , not even me with all of my power, could di in all of my years To think that all that I as--a mother’s love for her child"
He reached out to me and touched my hand Too late I realized I had dropped ic had filled the rooic is beautiful, hter," the Builder of Towers said, his eyes luminescent with power "You should show it more often, for you are perfect"
• • •
BY THE TIME ere almost done with our plates, Julie announced that she was cold Curran offered to take her to the car to get a sweatshirt They got up at the same time and walked out A moment later our waiter appeared and placed a small plate with a slice of chocolate cake on it in front of me
I looked at Roland He shook his head "Not entleman ordered it on the way out," the waiter said, then put a coffee in front of Roland and departed
Chocolate was really expensive I sliced a tiny sliver of the cake with ue I had to eat this very slowly so it would last
"Do you think he really loves you?" e the subject before he started on the second round of the wedding conversation "Father, why is ourfroraphical proximity?" Oh yes, that was smooth Not
"What did you try to use?" he asked
"A poord"
"I re that Worst pain of my childhood Let me teach you There is so much you don’t know, Blossom Let me help you make sense of it At the very least, letrudimentary mistakes"
"You tried it" I sliced another bite of the cake
"I was eight"
Oh
"And I did it because I was specifically told not to" Roland drank his coffee "I wanted to knoould happen"
That sounded veryI would do
"You are partially correct, the resistance is due to the geographical proxireat-great" He frowned "No, that’s right Great-great-great-great-grandfather The ifrit were threatening his borders, and he decided that a child of reat idea, so he married a half-human, half-ifrit woman She was his fortieth wife I reat a child, a daughter, and as expected, she had partial iic and was fierce on the battlefield She was far down in the line of succession, so he hadn’t worried about her, and by the time he decided to worry about it, it was too late Bararu, the Shining One, the Star of the Valley, had cut her way through his progeny to his heart and took his throne She was your great-great-great-grandmother"