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As the queen speaks, I start to feel marginally sympathetic.
But only marginally.
“And though I have no real power to force this on you, as I’m about to be put in my place as dowager queen to wither and die like a bony artifact, I have one request. Take the throne, Jakob. Flora is not ready. Nor does she want it.”
That’s what she thinks.
37
The peeling paint on the familiar front door send a shiver down my spine.
I’m in England. As much as I don’t want to be, here I am after all these years.
The door opens, and familiar wide eyes stare back at me. “Josie?”
“Dad.”
He looks much the same, only thinner and more drawn. His cheeks are sunken, and his eyes are dim. “Come to gloat, have you?”
“Gloat?” When have I ever done anything of the sort?
“I’ve seen you standing there next to your so-called prince. It’s all over the television.”
Oh, gods. I do not want to talk about being on television, or all over the Internet, for that matter.
“Can I come in?”
My father shrugs and stands aside, holding open the door as if he’s resigned to meet some unpleasant fate rather than receiving his daughter after years of no contact.
I’m seated in a familiar but darker and dustier living room than what I remember from the last time I was here.
He asks what I’ve been up to, and I tell him. I tell him about the time I spent on the container ships, traveling the world. About how I went back to Gravenland and how I work in a grocery store. I tell him about the letters. He has less of a reaction to being confronted with this information than I would’ve expected. “Why, Dad? Why did you keep Jacob’s letters from me?”
“Because I knew him.”
“Knew Jakob? You barely knew me.”
This sets off a familiar temper, but there’s no power behind it. It’s only impotent anger now.
"I knew what he was,” he growls.
“What do you mean? What did you know about him?”
“I’ve lived a long life, and I’ve seen every Haart man who has sat on the throne. Cheaters and liars, all of them.”
That’s rich, I think to myself, considering this man before me has spent the better part of his life hurting everyone around him as he chased after endless schemes and scams.
“Those Haart men spread their seed like the species is about to go extinct. I knew the look of the boy soon as I laid eyes on him. I didn’t want you mixed up with the son of a whore.”
I sit there in utter shock, staring into a lukewarm cup of tea, unable to say a word. While I’m still processing his despicable words, my father stands and shuffles down the hallway to who knows where.
Moments later, he returns carrying a box and sets it on the sofa cushion next to me. He sits down on the other side of it and heaves a sigh.
“If you thought you knew that, why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Would you have believed me?” He has a point. Considering our history, no, I wouldn’t have believed him.
“It probably would’ve driven me closer to Jakob out of spite.”
