Tom Sr. visibly swallowed, sweat had begun to bead across his forehead, a dark curl falling free of its styling and into his face. The man threw his head back to get the curl away from his eyes before he spoke. "I'm not the monster here, boy. Your repulsive mother used something on me, some kind of spell. I hardly remember the time I married her, let alone conceiving you. In a moment of rare lucidity she told me what she had done, some sort of concoction she'd been slipping into my spirits for months as I drank them. I left as quickly as I could, lest she poison me again."