He let go of Magnus and all but collapsed into a tight embrace in his daughter’s arms. It took several moments before he turned from her to look at Magnus again.
“You didn’t know,” he said, doubt still coating his words.
Magnus shook his head. “No. But I know you want me to pay for all the suffering you’ve endured since. I deserve punishment for what I’ve done, what I did. I accept it.”
Calum let out a dry, wheezing sound, either a cough or a laugh. “You were just a boy.”
“That’s no excuse.”
“No, it’s not an excuse. But it’s a reason. You were a seven-year-old child terrified of your father. I saw in your eyes—that fear. I thought your life might be different with him than what I experienced in his employ as a guard, that he would value you and treat you like gold. But he doesn’t, does he? Not even now.”
This man had great skills of observation. “My father does what he does because he is king and he knows best.”
“Bah. Your father does what he does because he’s a stinking bastard pig. To say the very least.” He gazed into Kara’s eyes, and a deep peace fell over his features. “I’m free.”
She nodded. “Yes. Finally.”
Calum turned again to Magnus. “We have family in Terrea. That’s where we’d go next, I think. I need to recover far away from this frozen kingdom.” He hesitated. “You ran away that night we met for a reason. Do you still want to run?”
Magnus swallowed the lump in his throat. “Sometimes, I do. As long as my father is alive, I’ll admit that desire to flee still exists.”
“Then run away again,” Kara said, reaching to take his hand in hers, her gaze tentatively hopeful. “With us.”
The suggestion made him smile. To run away, at seventeen, and start a new life far away from here. Another family, another kingdom, another future.
“I’m afraid I can’t,” he said, pulling away from her touch and taking a few steps backward. “You see, my sister’s sixteenth birthday is drawing close. There’s a royal banquet planned, one I must attend.”
“Your grace . . .” Kara began.
Magnus shook his head, resolute. “I’m heir to the throne, and my future holds nothing but power and greatness. Why would I ever want to walk away from that to begin a new life elsewhere?” He let his words settle, waiting for the urge to overcome him, for him to do exactly what they suggested and say farewell to Limeros forever.
The urge was certainly there but not nearly strong enough for him to act on it.
“Good luck to you,” he said, nodding. “Both of you.”
Then, holding Kara’s gaze for a moment longer, he turned and made his way back to his father, his mother, his sister, and the only home he’d ever known.
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