Death

"Where were you last night?"

Luxa sniffled slightly, staring up into Henry's eyes. "With Solovet and Vikus. They wanted me to sleep in their room. Or Vikus did. Solovet never went to bed."

He just nodded as she came further into his bedroom. "I got stuck in here, with guards outside my room. Guards. Like they'd be any help. They never help with anything."

Walking over to his bed, she waited for him to scoot over before clambering up there as well. When she was up so early in the day usually, she'd go crawl in bed with her parents. In fact, when she awoke to find Vikus still sleeping, that had been the first place she had taken off running for. Then one of the guards saw her running and snatched her up, reminding her that it wasn't safe any longer.

It would never be safe again.

"Henry?"

He just shifted on the bed to accommodate her more. "What?"

"Do you really think…that they're…"

"Of course. I saw their bodies."

That was a lie. Luxa knew it had to be a lie. Or at least it should have been. Henry had been with her and Nerissa when the siege broke out. And she had heard the adults talking. There was a mass body count. All the bodies were going to be burned and the funeral festivities joined as one. No one would have shown him the bodies. Why would they have?

But still, Henry didn't lie to her. He just didn't. He was the only one that always told her the truth. Always. He was the only one that didn't spare her feelings or treat her like she was only seven. He was very good to her in that way, she thought.

Besides, it was beyond Luxa in her young age that her cousin might ever lie to her to make himself sound better. Older. More experienced. Hardened. She wouldn't realize for a few more years that he was actually the best liar she had ever encountered.

"York went home," she told him softly then. He had come to join the fight, when he heard of the siege, along with many others from the Fount. After all, if Regalia was taken, there was no hope for the Fount. Not to mention he couldn't stand to be away from a fight for too long. "To tell Susannah. She probably already knows."

Henry only grunted and Luxa knew to shut up. He didn't like her other family. He didn't think she should associate with any of them. Not even Solovet and Vikus. He told her that her royal family was the only family that matter. Her father, his father, his mother, his sister, and him. Everyone else was only a complication and should be dealt with when she finally came into power.

"Can I sleep here tonight?" Luxa asked him then, glancing up at his face. "I do not like sleeping with Vikus."

"Why?"

"He tries to hold me and talk to me. Like I am a baby. I am not a baby."

"He just loves you."

"It's disgusting."

"He is your grandfather."

"And? You do not have one. You do not know what it is like."

That was true. His mother's family were all dead and, obviously, the only one his father had was his brother.

Now he didn't even have them.

He was all alone.

"Where is Nerissa?" Luxa asked him then. She wouldn't shut up. "I looked into her room, but-"

"She is in the hospital. They had to sedate her." Henry sat up some then. "She is weak, Luxa."

"I know. She-"

"No, Luxa. Now…after yesterday, she is weaker. She has always been weaker than I, but now…" He snorted. "It is wrong that she is the one that is older. I should be the King before she is the Queen."

"She will never be a queen," Luxa told him then with a frown. "Because I will never die. And I'm not going to abda..abda…"

"Abdicate," he told her with a frown. "And you will die, Luxa. Everyone will die eventually."

"But-"

"Not for a long time though," he said then with a sigh as she cuddled against him. "Because I will not let you. Alright?"

She sniffled. "Our parents are dead, Henry."

"That was different. They…they were foolish. We won't be."

"What do you mean?"

"When you come into power, we will not be like them," he assured her then. "Jealous of one another. Any of us. Me, you, or Nerissa. My mother wished to be yours and your mother wished to keep mine out of her business. It won't be that way, will it?"

"Of course not. I love you and Nerissa." Luxa moved to sit up too then. "My power will be yours. We will all live here, in the royal wing, with our families."

"Our families?" He only shook his head. "You are going to marry, Luxa? I am not. You should not either. We will only have to divide the power more, you see? It shall only be you and I, yes? Together?"

"And Nerissa, Henry," she told him with a frown. "You are forgetting Nerissa."

He smiled down at her. "I would never forget my sister, Luxa. But she is not well. She never shall be. You and I though, we will be most powerful."

"Of course."

"Especially after we do away with your wretched grandmother."

Luxa, even at seven, wasn't too fond of the woman either. Not like she was of Henry and Nerissa. "Okay."

"You shall make whoever I tell you to the head of the military, yes? Because I will know more males than you shall."

She sat up taller then. "Perhaps I do not want a stupid boy to head my military."

He thumped her head. "Be quiet."

"Ow! Henry-"

"Besides," he said, looking off. "I will know the women better than you as well."

Whatever that meant. Sighing, Luxa moved to lay back down, rubbing where he had flicked her. She had long grown out of telling on him when he was mean to her. It only caused him to call her a baby and threaten not to talk to her. She couldn't have that. Henry was the only person she really had to talk to. And he was so much older than her. Five whole years! She couldn't afford not to have him talk to her.

Besides, after what happened the day before, she no longer had anyone to tell on him to…

"Henry," she whispered then. "Are you sure that you saw my mother? Maybe she hid somewhere and it was someone else. Judith is very good with a sword. She-"

"Are you saying that my mother was not? Or my father?"

"N-No, I only-"

"They are dead, Luxa. Dead. And you have to accept that."

Whining slightly, she cuddled into his side. "But maybe-"

"There are no maybes, Luxa." He shifted slightly, away from her. "Not in death. Even your grandmother saw them. Do you think that she would lie about something like that?"

"Well, no, but-"

"They are dead."

"I just wish-"

"Wish what? That they hadn't died? Well, too bad, Luxa. You have to move on."

Move on. After a day. She only closed her eyes tightly.

"I'm all you have now," he told her then, after taking a moment to compose himself. "Death took everyone else away. You need me, Luxa. Never forget it."

"I'll always need you," she assured him. "I love you."

He snorted, his usual response when she acted too much like a girl, but said nothing.

"Everyone will die," he told her after a few moment. "I will die too eventually. And that's what's important, okay?"

"You mean living is."

"No. How you die is. My father, your father? They died brave. They died the most valiant deaths one could intake. They died protecting what was theirs. They are real men." He grinned slightly then, pulling his knees up to his chest before resting his head on them. "That's how I shall die. Heroic, brave, fearless. I am a real man too."

Luxa only took a second to think before saying, "I'd rather just not die."

"That is not an option, Luxa," he told her with a frown. "You are going to die. Every woman, man, and child is slowly dying. Your light can only burn for so long. There is no such thing as a fire that burns forever, is there?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then see? You cannot fear your death, Luxa. You have to make your death fear you."

"I do not-"

"Death is inevitable. Everyone shall die. It's the price of life. It is the way that you die that will define you." He shook his head. "Do you remember your mother's brother? Hamnet?"

"Yes," she said slowly. What did Hamnet have to do with anything?

"He lived a valiant life, huh? Everyone bowed to him. He was a fearsome, gruesome warrior. He would kill anything and everything that his mother told him." Henry looked down at Luxa then. He was not so certain what all she knew of her uncle's departure, but he had been old enough to remember it all. "But then he ran off, like a crawler or nibbler. And he no doubt died out there, a coward. Now no one remembers what kind of a man he was in his life, they all remember what sort of a coward he was in his death. Do you understand?"

Slowly, Luxa nodded. "Yes."

"Good," he sighed, closing his eyes then. "Good."

"Can I sleep here then? Tonight?" she finally asked him again. It had been her original question, after all. "I don't wanna be alone. And I don't think Vikus will let me be. I don't want to sleep with him."

"Sleep in the war room then, with Solovet."

"Henry-"

"Yes, Luxa. We will worry about it later though, alright? We need to get up." He blinked then, a thought crossing over his mind in that moment. "Today will be your first day as the ruler. You are in charge now. Until they put a council together to try and control you."

"Yuck."

"I know." He shoved her then, gently, forcing her out of his bed. Then he stood too. "Come on. We have to find something to eat. We did not get any dinner last night."

They had been too busy for that and all the adults in their life…well, the main ones weren't there to make sure they were fed, but Solovet and Vikus were also too busy to worry about it. Luxa wasn't so certain she'd have been able to eat last night anyhow. She remembered, vaguely, York mentioning going to the mess hall and finding it deserted, but he had been going off to go find some alcohol.

At the thought of having food in that moment though made Luxa's stomach growl. She usually giggled at something like that, but she wasn't so certain she could ever giggle again.

Sniffling instead, Luxa waited for Henry to change clothes before following him out of his tiny room. That's all she had done since the day before, sniffled. She hadn't cried, not really. Solovet told her that she was the Queen. Queens did not cry, she said. They got even.

"After we eat, can we find Nerissa?" Luxa asked him. He only nodded his head as he led her out of his room. There were guard all around and one insisted on walking with them down to the dining hall.

"And after we find Nerissa, we will find Solovet."

"Why? And we don't have to find her. She'll be in the war room like always," Luxa told him. "What do you want with her though?"

"It is like I said, Luxa, before," he began as she followed him down the hall. "They have not put a council together yet. Until they have, you are in power. You are technically the only one that commands anyone. Silly, isn't it?"

She nodded. "But what does that have to do with Solovet?"

He made a face down at her. "We are going to dismiss her from her duties, you see? Your first and last act before the council is put together. Come on. We must hurry."

Luxa didn't really think that was possible, taking her grandmother from power. And she wasn't so certain if she really wanted to. But still, she'd go along with what Henry told her, if only because he was her favorite person in the world.

He was the last person in her world, really. The last one that mattered. And she'd do anything to please him. Anything. And he would do anything to protect her. Anything.

…Wouldn't he?