Page 70 of Tale of the Heart Queen

“I won’t lie and claim I was always a good king. I made mistakes. I did so many things wrong, but my greatest regret will always be how I failed my only son.”

“How did you fail him?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I wish I knew. As a small boy, there was always something dark about him. A deep remorselessness. I put it down to the immaturity of youth, but as he grew, it never really went away. When I realized it was a problem, it was too late to do anything about it. He was already his own person.

“But when you spoke to me, I understood you turned out . . . differently,” he says, tipping his head as he studies me. “And when I realized that, it eased so many worries.”

“I’m no saint,” I say. “I’ve done many things I’m not proud of.”

“Perhaps, but you’ve never carried that same darkness, Nadir. You don’t delight in the suffering of others the way he always has.”

I huff out a wry snort. “That might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

Garnet throws his head back and laughs. It’s a warm sound, and my chest constricts, thinking about how different our lives might have been had he remained with us longer.

“Is what they say true?” I ask, needing to know. “Did my father force you to descend?”

The smile vanishes from Garnet’s face again.

“It wasn’t my choice,” he says. “I didn’t want to leave you or your mother. When you were born, I saw the way he looked at you. The way he—” My grandfather’s eyes flick to me with pity.

“Hated me,” I say. “It’s okay. I know.”

Garnet sighs and waves his hand as a goblet appears in his grip. He takes a long sip and sits back.

“He blamed your mother for entrapping him, but that is not the kind of woman she is. He built up this fantasy in his head where he was the only one who’d been wronged. She loved you from the moment she fell pregnant, but I know she wished she could go back and undo everything, too.”

I nod because I know that’s exactly what happened. My father played stupid games with his lover and lost. He used my mother and then blamed her for it when things veered off course.

Garnet sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Though the Withering had ravaged me almost completely, I held on, terrified of what he might do without me around. I fought against the descension as hard as I could, though I knew he was doing everything to undermine me.”

“So what happened?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “One night, he came to my room, lifted me into my wheelchair, and took me to the throne room. I don’t know what became of my guards and nurses, but I have my suspicions. I was too weak to question what he was doing, but I had enough presence of mind to ask the Torch what was happening. If it knew anything, it didn’t answer.”

He closes his eyes as the memory haunts him. I want to reach out to him, but I’m not sure he’d welcome it. I think of the way my father always reacted to any kind of affection with disdain. Lor is the only one I’ve ever felt comfortable touching without limits or fear of judgment.

“And that’s when I knew my end had come.”

“How?”

“I’ve had many years to contemplate what happened that day,” my grandfather says. “I believe he manipulated the Torch. Somehow, he found a loophole in the Artefacts’ conditions.”

“How is that possible?” But just as I say it, I suspect I already know the answer.

“He used magic I’ve never seen before,” Garnet says. “There was another voice. Someone else inside the Torch?”

“Someone else?”

My grandfather nods, his expression pinched with confusion. “It was a voice I’d never heard before. It was instructing him on what to do. I don’t really understand it all, but the voice explained how Rion needed to contain the magic from breaking free so he could claim the crown.”

As I stare at his face, I think about how my father hurt us all so much. He didn’t care about anyone but himself.

“Was the magic black and made of shadows?” I ask.

He looks at me and blinks. “How did you know that?”

“Because he’s still using it,” I say.