[The answer that comes out isn't the one she expected to give, and her brow creases gradually as it spills out.]

They were afraid of their king, and their king was angry at his loss. He blamed magic for the death of his wife, when he knew well enough that he bargained with her life for a son. Death pays for life, he knew the price and still he gambled, and he lost, because he couldn't claim me, because I wasn't born a boy.

[Her throat tightens, but more comes.]

He destroyed thousands of lives out of grief and rage and fear, because he though he could cheat nature--