“Before we do the announcement. There's one more thing I'd like to do.” Zarri says after dinner.

“Of course, Treasure. What is it?” Devona smiles.

“You lied to me! BOTH OF YOU LIED TO ME!! ALL MY DAMNED LIFE!!” She turns hysterical in an instance. Oh no. “HER I CAN UNDERSTAND!! BUT YOU!!” She throws me a glare that I never wanted to be stabbed with... Not from her...

“FATHER WAS NOTHING LIKE THE TWO OF YOU MADE HIM SOUND!!” She gulps in air and...

“WHAT'S WORSE!! YOU MADE EMERALD LIE TO ME TOO!!! HOW COULD YOU!!!” She glares at Devona. Crile holds his arm around her and glares at me too. Yeah yeah, I deserve it...

“How did you…” Devona stands there, completely frozen with horror.

“SHE SHOWED ME!! RIGHT BEFORE SHE DIED!!” Tears run down the women's faces. The pain... Seeing her like this...

“I CHASED A GHOST THAT NEVER EXISTED!! ALL MY LIFE I THOUGHT I WAS INFERIOR TO HIM!! EVERYONE ONLY EVER TALKED ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOOK LIKE HIM, SO I!!! I KEPT TRYING TO PROVE MYSELF AND FOR WHAT!!!” Oh, Cuteness, noo... I realize the mistake that was made a lifetime ago. By the looks of things, so has Devona.

“ALL SO I COULD FIND OUT JUST WHAT AN IDIOT MY GREAT FATHER WAS!!! THAT HE DIED FILLED WITH REGRET!!!” Zarri's shrieks cut into my heart and soul. Devona curls up on the floor in front of her daughter.

“Oh forgive the fool!! Forgive me, child, as I have sinned before you!!” She's hysterical now too just in a different way... “I wanted you to know what great of a person Wykren was and even a better King!! I wanted you to see him like I did!! I...” Devona chokes on her tears...

“I failed to realize that you needed to know him as a person, as a human and not the great leader that I made him out to be!!!”

“A woman is on the floor crying her guts out, aren’t you supposed to do something?”

“I never laid a hand on a woman that belonged to another man and I'm not about to start now.”

“Coward.” Crile hisses at me.

“Bite me.” I glare back. Zarri kneels next to her weeping mother.

“It's ok, mom. I know.” She speaks in a calm voice now, through the tears. That was fast. Guess they don’t call them mood swings for nothing…

“I understand why you did it... But you.” She glares up at me again.

“Gorgeous, I'm sorry I have angered you. But it was not my call to make.” That’s the best defense I have... Pathetic. True, but pathetic.

“Even so. I'm upset.” She says and hugs her mother. I reach into a pocket and pull the letter out.

“Since we're on the topic. I think you need to see this too.” I hand her the envelope. Devona pulls herself away from her daughter. Zarri takes the letter.

“It may be a bit difficult to understand, the words were smudged here and there, I tried my best to, well. I guessed. Over the years...”

“This is the letter that Father read by the grave of my grandparents.” Zarri says, opening it.

“Yes.” I confirm.

“Emerald never saw it, so I...”

“Neither did we. That was the one thing he never shared with anyone.” Devona admits. “Although he always kept it with him.” She says with a smile.

“We only found it later. Well, I never wanted to touch anything of his... There are some other things that you'll need to see later.” Devona confesses. She probably means the drawings. Zarri reads the letter that Wykren's parents' left him. She smiles and sobs silently as she reads it. She gets up, together with Devona.

“I had forgiven Father awhile back, rather, I was never truly angry with him, just sad… I always felt like there was something missing...” Zarri wipes her face a little.

“I don't know how much of a relief this will be for you, but;” She looks at me and hugs me; “it wasn't your fault, Ira. You need to know that.” Something shatters inside of me. My knees give out and I slump down. Zarri's face drops down into my eyesight as well.

“Thank you...” Is all I manage to whisper. She hugs me again. I feel my face get wet with tears of my own. I feel my shackles breaking one by one...

“You've done enough, Ira. You can leave here now...” That snaps me out of it and I stand up slowly again.

“As much as I appreciate the gesture, Mistress, soon to be Queen, but there is no other place on this Earth that I'd rather be miserably happy at, as I am here.” I take her hands into mine and gently kiss her knuckles. Zarri blushes. I feel rejuvenated.

“Well, um, if you say so.” Her eyes dart around cutely. Meanwhile that son of mine is burning a hole through my skull with his glare. I take the last chance I have and brush the last of the tears of Zarri's lashes with the back of my index.

“Smile for me, Gorgeous.” I tell her and she blushes again, burrowing her face into my chest, mumbling something.

“I'm home, Dad.” She says. My arms wrap themselves around her.

“Welcome back.” I answer and let go before Crile really puts a knife in me. Zarri goes back to him.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Shall we call it a night, then? I do believe you need rest most of all.” Devona suggests, pointing to Zarri’s belly.

“Sure.” Zarri nods. “Goodnight you two.”

“Goodnight.” Crile nods.

“Rest well.” I answer.

“Night, Treasure.” Devona hugs her girl one more time and the kids leave the room.

“I can't believe it... That Cat, broke her promise.” Devona sits down by her nightstand with the mirror.

“Technically, she kept her promise for as long as she was alive. There was no clause that prevented her from saying anything in death. In a way, you both got what you wanted out of that miserable deal.” It makes me nauseous...

“I can't believe I was the entire reason for her suffering all this time... One lousy decision…” Devona blames herself.

“Nobody could have known…” I answer quietly.

“Oh please!” She gets up again. “You were against it from the start! Admit it!”

“I was. But like I said. It wasn't my call to make.”

“Right! And what do you call all those times you shouted at me for being an idiot!”

“That, was. An attempt to right the wrong. If it makes you feel any better, I failed there too. I should have insisted you tell her the truth more. I just didn’t connect the dots...”

“Neither did I...” She sits back down... “How am I supposed to live with myself now?” She sobs quietly again. “I am the reason for all her pain... The choices she made in life... The ones she didn’t make... How am I supposed to make it all THAT better now?”

“You don't.” I tell her. She looks at me horrified. “But you can make sure that it never happens again.” I tell her and walk over to the door. “Goodnight, Priestess.” I walk out. I run into Crile on my way back to my place.

“Hold up.” He tells me. “We need to talk.” He walks over to me.

“Boy, I'm not doing any more talking tonight without another drink.” I offer him my arm. He takes it and I pull us into the shadows. We emerge again in our old kitchen. The moonlight makes a nice assassin-like shadow. Per my design, of course.

“This place is still of a dump as ever.”

“Watch it. I cleaned here three days ago.” I take out a bottle and two mugs. “Well. What is it?”

“You.” Crile says, taking a drink. “I hate you. Always did.”

“You mean to tell me I just wasted my best bottle on that?”

“I mean to tell you, that until now I never realized what made me so mad. I realized tonight. Breeze always relied more on you than me. I always felt threatened by how much she liked you. You always made her feel weak. Something she never dared to be with me, no matter how much I tried to tell her that she can.” Crile takes another drink and so do I. He continues and I let him.

“We grew up together. In her eyes I'm her equal. But you. You've always been big and strong. That's why she'd only cry in your arms. That's the only time she ever showed her frail side. To you and you alone. That was the only time she ever felt safe...” He squeezes the mug.

“Something I clearly failed at, the other thing aside... I waited fifty years for her to return to me and something tells me that if it wasn’t for the string of events that transpired, eventually, she would have chosen your arms to come back to instead of mine, and I hate you for it.” He almost cracks the wooden mug.

“Well. Did.” He looks at me again. Something tells me it ain’t easy for him to say all of this. I play dumb.

“Did?” I take another sip.

“I realized that it was never because of my lack of anything that she felt that way. It was just because you are who you are and I am me. So, I got rid of that stupid notion. I can't compete with a father figure like you. But I can make sure she feels safe in my arms alone from now on. I was simply too dumb to realize that she never saw you as anything more than a father…”

“Well good for you.” I salute him.

“But now I'm pissed with you for another reason.”

“You're like the gift that keeps on giving.” I mock him.

“I can’t believe that the two of you, moronoids, were the reason that Breeze was such a reckless idiot all her life! You lied to her! For that - I'm not forgiving either one of you.”

“Tell me about it...” I drink it all in a single gulp and pour another round for us. “Is that all or is there more?”

“Why the rush?” Crile mocks me.

“Don't you have a woman to get back to?”

“Don't you?” He mocks me again.

“Never did.” I stare into the dark liquid. “You think watching your loved one die in front of you is hard?” I grip the mug tighter and smash it into the wall.

“Try living next to her as if you are dead to her when she's right there within your reach and yet!!” I stare at the kid. “You only lived a few weeks like that…” I pull myself together again. “If you have nothing more to say - get out. I'm not as patient as I look. There's only so many emotions all in one night that I can handle.” I glare at the kid. He sets his mug down.

“Sorry.” He offers me a hand. “Don't do anything stupid, Dad. Least not till the kid is born. Please.”

“Smartass.” I shake his hand. “Get outta here.” Crile smiles in the feint light and disappears the same way we came in. Well. Guess with all of that in the open, I can finally rest in peace. I take a breath in and let the Mana flow. I don't stop it. I don't control it. I simply let go…

“Sorry, Gorgeous, Kiddo...” I feel the cold of the Shadow Realm burst out all around me. A fitting death for an Assassin... I close my eyes and smile. It won't be long. My feet begin to sink into the darkness.

“Ira?” Huh? Oh. How cruel. My own mind playing tricks on me in my final moments...

“Ira, it's me.” There it is again. That voice... “Open the door, please...” My eyes snap open. I turn my head over my shoulder.

“Ira?” The handle rattles again. I stop the flow and pull myself out from the shadows. I was halfway under. I walk over and get the latch off. I open the door.

“What are you doing here?”

“What was that blood chilling cold just now?”

“I asked first.” I glare at her in the darkness.

“I. I've come to...” She takes a breath in. “Is it too late? Or can I give you my answer now?” She steps inside. I step back.

“What answer is that?” I turn and stand sideways next to the open door.

“This.” Devona puts her hands on my chest and presses her lips to mine. I close my eyes and grab her hand.

“Do. Not. Test. Me. Woman.” I growl. I am not in the state of mind to hold back...

“I'm not.” She whispers. “I mean it.” I look at her. My hand moves away from hers to her face. It slides along her neck and into her hair. I pull her to me and kiss her.