[Verse I] Of course she chose my father. Mizora always did learn fast. She knows which blade will cut the deepest, Which old wound still outlives the past. She knows I wouldn't trade a stranger For the freedom I've been promised soon. So why should blood make this one harder? Why should love change what I ought to do? One life. One soul. One signature. I've signed my name before. And if the cost of saving him Is mine— What am I waiting for? [Pre-Chorus] I have stood between the helpless And the thing that meant them harm. I have never asked what saving them Would take from heart or arm. If somebody has to pay the price, I've always known the line: Let it be me. So why does it sound different When the price is all that's mine? [Chorus] If I can save him, shouldn't I? If I can pay, then let me pay. What use is freedom in my hands If I buy it with his final day? He is my father. He is needed. There are lives bound up with his. If I walk free and leave him there, What kind of freedom Would that be? But if one life can purchase mine, Then mine can always be for sale. She only needs another hostage. She only needs to know I will not let them fail. [Verse II] He cast me out when I was seventeen. There. I've allowed the thought. I came before him changed and damned, And judgment was the only thing he brought. I could not tell him what had happened. Could not show him what I'd stopped. He saw a devil at his son's shoulder And never asked what it had cost. He chose the law. He chose the city. He chose the man he thought he knew. And gods, I hate the little voice that asks: Did he choose you? No. That's not fair. He didn't know. And if I make his ignorance a sentence, What does that make me now? [Chorus] If I can save him, shouldn't I? He cannot choose with what I know. I will not make a father's failure Reason enough to let him go. I don't save only those who've earned it. That's never been the oath I swore. If kindness must be earned before it's given, What is kindness for? But seven years I've worn her bargain. Six months stood between these chains and done. And now she asks me for forever Because she knows Exactly whom I'd choose above myself. [Verse III] Forever. Such a little word from devils. They make eternity sound neat. A clause. A seal. A father's heartbeat. My whole existence at her feet. And what comes after? Another prisoner? Another child behind a door? Another life that she can threaten Because she knows what mine is for? How many times can I say, take me, Before the choice becomes a chain? How many noble sacrifices Before she needn't ask again? Perhaps this isn't choosing Father. Perhaps it's teaching her the rule: Find someone Wyll Rayvengard loves, And Wyll Rayvengard Belongs to you. [Pre-Chorus] But knowing that does not unmake him. Does not make his danger less. A trap may still contain a person I have every power to protect. And if I break the pact and lose him, I will have to live and know: For once the Blade could pay the price— And chose To let another go. [Bridge] Would he want this? Gods, what a useless question. Would he look upon his son And call eternal bondage duty? Would he tell me, Wyll, well done? Would he finally understand What I surrendered once before? Would he see the boy he banished Standing here— And ask for more? No. I don't believe he would. But he is not here to answer. I am. And isn't that what choice has always meant? The one who can must choose. So why am I allowed to spend myself But never allowed to refuse? When did sacrifice become the proof That everything I love is true? When did being good require That I belong to anyone Who needs me to? [Final Chorus] If I can save him, shouldn't I? Don't give me slogans. Answer me. His life is real. His death is real. So is the man I might be free to be. I love my father. I love my city. I know the oath I've made my name. And if I leave him to his fate, No clever word like freedom Makes the consequence less grave. But if I sign, then this is forever. No distant end. No final day. And every soul she puts before me Becomes another chain I forge and wear myself. I have called it honor. I have called it duty. I have called it simply doing what is right. But if the Blade protects the helpless— Does that include The man who holds the blade? [Outro] My father's life. My freedom. Her contract. My name. She knows exactly what I'll choose. ... Doesn't she?
