Page 15 of Cursed Heirs

“And how will that work when he takes the throne? His wife must be Dark Fae and he must produce a pure Dark Fae heir.”

“That’s not your concern.”

“I see, you’re actually going to alter centuries of tradition for him?”

Yes, I was.

Of course, I was.

My son’s happiness was paramount.

Years ago, I would have held tighter to tradition and insisted.

But since losing so much during theCataclysm, things had changed. My outlook on things had changed.

“How I run my Kingdom is not your concern.”

“But your son is.”

“Again, I ask, to what end?”

“I need Dark Fae royal blood.”

“Take mine.”

“As easy as that would be, it has to be someone straddling the line between light and dark.”

“Then use Lenora.”

He did a double take. “You’d offer up your own wife as a sacrifice?”

“For my son, yes.”

“Just like that?”

“She’s no longer my wife. The bond has been severed.”

“Still, that’s cold.”

“Did you expect anything less from a being like me?”

“I guess your love for you son had me believing there was more there than just darkness. Clearly not.”

“You won’t harm Orpheus.”

“I will need to harm him for what I have planned, but I don’t need to kill him. Of course, I do enjoy it immensely, though. For me to forgo something so pleasurable, I’ll need a very good reason.”

“So the torture failed you.”

“Yes. I’ve been testing your mind while you’ve been under and it can’t be penetrated even through the agony and weakening the toxin has subjected you to.”

“Why not offer a deal in the first place when you know my son is my Achilles Heel?”

“Because I don’t want him dead. He’ll make a supreme commander in my coming army once I takeExemplarand the rest of the sycophants who follow them.Butwhat I need from you transcends that, I’m afraid, and I will go that route if I don’t get what I desire.”

“Why do you need me to open my mind to you?”

“I need to know where you hid the Orb of Vorlav.”

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