#Chapter 47: The Situation

ADAN Adan stood in the doorway of the throne room, waiting for his father’s permission to enter. The King spotted him and said, “Come in, my son,” in his distinctive baritone voice. Adan paced over to the King. He bowed before his father and remained on one knee with his head hung low. “You may rise,” the King said a few moments later. Adan stood. The King gestured to a chair and bade Adan to sit. “I was wondering,” the King continued, “when you would come to see me. I heard you’ve been in the country for months.” “I felt sure I would not be welcome here,” Adan replied. “After the grave sin I committed the last time that I was in your home, when I abdicated my birthright and left my King without a proper heir.” The King gave Adan a hard look. Adan did not avert his eyes. He waited out a very long minute of silence. Finally, the King said, “Say what you came here to say.” His father liked to get straight t