Chapter 17 - TAVIAN’S RECORDED VOICE
Harriet had one audio recording.
Not secret surveillance.
Tavian dictated a statement for his estate file because handwriting had become difficult.
Date:
Three weeks before death.
He sounded weak.
Still unmistakably himself.
I listened once.
Not in front of Esmond.
Tavian said:
“I am keeping Rhydian as guardian nominee.”
Then a pause.
“Ulric is going to hate me.”
He laughed slightly.
Then coughed.
“I need the record to say this is not because Ulric failed me.”
My eyes burned.
“He did more than anybody during treatment.”
There.
Then:
“I am choosing based on Esmond, not me.”
That sentence destroyed Ulric’s emotional accounting.
Then:
“Rhydian has missed too much. I know that.”
My throat tightened.
“He will have to change his life.”
True.
Then:
“But when Esmond is afraid, he gets smaller around Ulric and louder around Rhydian.”
Tavian had noticed.
Then:
“Ulric loves him. Love is not the issue.”
Silence.
“Control is.”
That became the sentence everyone wanted to quote.
Harriet warned:
“Do not turn one line into diagnosis.”
Correct.
Tavian continued:
“Maybe Ulric gets help and proves me wrong. Courts exist because dead fathers aren’t prophets.”
I laughed through tears.
Even at the end, Tavian refused sainthood.
Then:
“If Rhydian screws this up, use the alternate.”
Thanks, brother.
No unconditional crown.
A recommendation.
May you like
A responsibility.
Not ownership.
