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“Hmm. I don’t have any gold streaks or patches in my eyes. I’ve got many years ahead of me, and I intend to enjoy them. Good food, wealth, and whatever else I want.”
Aurelius side-eyed him. “That’s all you want? To stuff your face and have a bunch of shiny shit? That’s your peak pleasure now?”
“That’s good at my age. What do you want out of life?”
Besides getting rid of the items, he wanted something pretty specific, and he wanted-no, he needed Jari to be there too. The problem was that it wasn’t for men like him, and he’d never get to have that thing with Jari. David didn’t deserve to know his little secret want, so he shrugged.
“You know, I was young once,” said David. “I had things I wanted and stuff I dreamed of doing, and for a while, it seemed like life would be perfect. When I met Eurig, his home life wasn’t…great. Truly, it made me sad.”
Aurelius forced in a bite of chicken. Boohoo. David was sad.
The King’s face took on a wistful expression as he seemed to forget about his food, and his pink eyes found the chandelier above. Aurelius felt sorry for Eurig because there had been a time when he’d been sane. He must have looked into those pink eyes and imagined that he’d found a person to be at his side for life too.
“Tourwin spent too much, and he liked parties more than his child,” David finally said. “Tourwin loved his son, but he kept spending. I’m sure you know all of that. Eurig made me feel things I hadn’t felt before. Later…He had three items. Do you know about John?”
“Yeah. Grandfather robbed his tomb.”
“John must have figured the key was in the lion’s mouth. It had to be there. Your crest shows it too, and he was the first to figure it out. The other two things were hidden on Ash Island, and John brought them back. Tourwin found them, and Eurig had them. I was leery of those items, especially after Eurig’s eyes started getting gold streaks. He told me a little voice whispered to him.”
“Mm.” If only Aurelius could reach him…
“Eurig said he was supposed to have children and open the way to it. He showed me the tale of King Aravitia in his library, and I said if this thing called Mammon had a hold of him in some way, he needed to get rid of those items and never use them again. Some silly fairytale shouldn’t be true, but I’d seen the evidence. He refused and said he’d be fine. He came to my home once, and we went on a long ride. A drunkard with a bottle was wandering out on the trails, and he tried to pull me frommy horse when I refused to give him a coin. Eurig…he killed him with his new powers. I know he intended to protect me, but it scared me. I told him he shouldn’t be bringing the crown around with him, and to make some stab themselves with a piece of glass in the neck…That was too much for me.”
“Oh, really?” Aurelius tilted his head. “Is that the worst thing you’ve ever seen or experienced? Lucky you.” He took another bite.
David’s eyes darkened as he glanced at Aurelius. “I gave him a choice. Me or the Golden Touch. He picked the Golden Touch. That was more important than me.”
A piece of carrot almost stuck in Aurelius’s throat. Eurig had always made it sound as if things had slowly crumbled. A couple will start arguing more often, resentment simmers, little things become big, they can never agree, and it becomes a small, two-person war.
Eurig had never mentioned an ultimatum.
“We’d planned so many things together,” said David. “We wanted to join our Kingdoms and build a new home for us. We also decided that after a time, we’d invade Wockston and take that too. Nova would regain its former size, and we’d rule it all together.”
Because nothing was enough. Aurelius drank some of his water because he was pretty sure he’d need another glass of wine or two before this meal was over.
“He gifted me the last item before that, and I still have it. I’ve used it, and I liked what it could do, but everything together scared me. If I could go back, I would have tried things differently to keep Eurig but ensure he remained sane to some point. Both of us could have had a lot together, including wealth. Later, I heard he married a beautiful woman. You have no idea how much I hated him when I heard that. He chose the Golden Touch over a life with me, and someone else got him.”
This was revenge combined with greed. Some would go to great lengths to get what they wanted. Revenge added another layer of desperation and fury to it.
“Mother didn’t have much choice,” Aurelius managed to get out. “She was forced to marry him when he showed interest, so she didn’t snatch him away from you. She also wanted us to have a normal life without seeing our parents fight, so she kept up the appearance of a happy marriage. Eurig removed my eye, and I’m sure she didn’t love him anymore after that.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that he had choices,” said David. “All of those promises. He told me that he’d never touch another, and he’d never love anyone else. He might as well have spit in my face.”
“You were both young,” said Aurelius. “Plenty say that.”
“You have no fucking idea how it felt to have every single dream I had with him thrown away. Do you know what the sad thing is? I still loved him. If he had shown up at my doorstep and asked me to take him back, I would have said yes. Later, I asked him for you. I said if he didn’t hand over his oldest son, I’d invade and take everything of his. He completely ignored me. I figured he put the key in your eye which meant you would have the Golden Touch too. Why else gouge it out?”
“To mark me since I had three identical brothers.”
“Why not a finger? You remove one eye, and you have a hiding spot. I remember how small that key was.”
Aurelius placed his fork down and grabbed his wine. “You could have had them cut it out of me and saved yourself the fucking trouble.”
“Ahh, but there’s the problem.” David raised a finger. “The key grants the main power. I don’t want to touch the key. That causes insanity, and if Corvo took it out and was too tempted-”
“You are insane,” said Aurelius. “You’re also a rather…reserved person, so perhaps you can hide it better.”
“You’re the one with a gold streak. Actually, make that two streaks now. I guess that rose upped you another notch.”
