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“Naia, this is the Ancient crown. The real one. It’s invisible most of the time, but…” He stared at her. “Only the king can wear it. I don’t understand.”
Naia froze. “What do you mean? What is it you don’t understand?”
“Let me see you.” He extended his hand to her forehead. Naia wanted to step back, but she was still somewhat afraid of him. When he touched her, she felt something around her head. “You have it, too,” he said.
Naia closed her eyes. Did he not remember? Or was he pretending?
His crown then disappeared from his head, and she felt it disappearing from hers.
He looked at her. “And you’re not surprised. What happened?”
A horrible feeling was settling in the pit of her stomach. “You don’t remember what happened when youtalkedto your father?”
“No. I went to my bedroom.” He paused, looking down at his clothes. “To change, I guess. But then I fell asleep. I woke up and sensed you weren’t in the city anymore. I was terrified that something had happened to you, and came here. Now… did something happen?”
Naia could swear that she could hear her heart. “Is it true you don’t remember? Or are you saying it so I don’t get angry?”
“Angry…” It was as if it took a while for him to understand the word. “Naia, I can’t lie.”
“Well, you’re immune to iron.”
“What does it…” He snorted. “Right, you think I’m here pretending to be confused and lying. Meanwhile, you’re not telling me whatever happened.”
It was better to go straight to the point. “You killed your father.”
He chuckled. “That’s impossible. Do you know how many guards he has? How many mindmelders…” He paused, and his face blanched. “Wait.” He swallowed and stared at her, his eyes wide. “I did sleep too much.” After a deep breath, he said, “Seems like I did the impossible, didn’t it?”
Naia was partly relieved he was not suffering from memory loss or anything worse, partly horrified that he could talk about it so casually. “So you do remember?”
“I do.” He scoffed. “Isn’t it hilarious? The mighty King Spring, defeated by his own worthless son.”
“It’s not funny.”
River stared at her, and his eyes had that odd coldness from before. “What? You’re upset? Upset, Naia? I’m thinking you would have preferred if my beloved father had made me rip out your heart. Is that it? Or do you miss his magic prison? What is it?”
Naia got up. “Don’t you have any remorse? Any feelings?”
“Oh. That’s what it’s about. Would it have helped it?” He pretended to hold a heart with his hand, then mock cried. “Oooooh, father, it hurts me so much, but I have to do this…” He smirked. “Is it what you wanted? I can still cry if you absolutely want me to.”
She closed her eyes. “You… it’s like you aren’t yourself. I feel that I don’t know you.”
“Aren’t both things true? How much do you know me? How much have you seen me with my family? And then, no. I wasn’t myself. I was the son my father wanted me to be: ruthless, powerful, unafraid to use his magic to its full extent. I guess I did find a way into his heart, after all these years…” He laughed, and that laugh gave her shivers.
Indeed she had no idea who River was and didn’t want to keep arguing. She just needed time to get her thoughts straight, time to swallow it all, time to bury her hurt. “Right. So… You need to get back, right? You’re the king. I… need to do things here.”
He stared at her, concern on his face. “You don’t want me?” Somehow, he managed to sound hurt.
“It’s not that.” It was, in a way, but it was also so much more. And she did want him, but she wanted the real River, not this cold-hearted stranger speaking to her. “We just… The world is falling apart, isn’t it?”
“That’s when we should be holding each other.” He closed his eyes, then took a deep breath, as if trying to calm himself down. As if to show her he wasn’t going to hurt her, he pulled out the daggers from his belt and put them on the table, then sat by her. “I can sense your disapproval about the way I dealt with my father. All I can say is that it was the only way I could do it. Ancient law is very strict, very precise. Had I killed him in any other way, I’d be imprisoned and trialed for murder. Now, we have other problems. Aluria and the Ancient City have other problems. I can’t, Naia, I can’t fight inner and outer battles at the same time. I can’t. I had to find a solution, and I did.”
He had a point, and yet… “You never told me what your solution was. You told me to trust you, and what I saw was a bloody spectacle, and I could not recognize you.”
River shrugged. “I hadn’t planned any of that. It just… came to me. I looked at myself in the mirror and said: I’ll be the son my father wants. At that moment, that was what that son would do. Would I want to see my father dead? No. In my worst hours, I never imagined him dead, I imagined him regretting all his harsh words, regretting exiling me. In my worst, angry moments, I dreamed of humiliating him. I never thought I would kill him. And yet it happened. I’m not sorry.” His eyes were cold.
“You also killed the mindmelders.”
“That was my only option. They were my father’s shield. And to be fair, their lives were horrible. I did them a favor.”
