"No." The word is short, and serious, and comes out cold like a puff of purest Darkness. I almost leave it at that, but I know he won't understand unless I explain it properly.

I'm learning something, at least, and that is how much I don't want... What has been forced upon me. And because of that, how much I don't want it to happen to anyone else.

"I will not resign my throne. It is mine, I'm in charge, and I will not- I will not let them-" I can't even say it, I need to explain and I don't know how.

I pause, take a deep breath. Then another. And a third- with the third comes a great deal of Darkness, seeping away from Right where it had settled, and it fortifies me.

"A good ruler has restraint. None of them have any. The only person in my entire empire I would willingly allow to ascend the throne in my place... Left my sovereignty of his own free will. There will be no Emperor other than I."