Shoto waited a few heartbeats; his blood thrummed through his body, tingling in his fingertips and toes. When Midoriya didn't say anything, he turned to look at the boy lying on the side of his scar—and found him crying.

Shoto blinked. "Are you allergic?"

Midoriya shook his head. "I'm crying," he said, his voice cracking, "for you. Did you really mean that?"

Shoto thought of the lonely nights and bitter days spent in the palace. The King was not a kind man. He couldn't afford to be; he needed to produce an heir for the kingdom. He didn't love his wife, who was deemed unstable. She wasn't the first insane queen, and though Shoto hoped she would be the last, he knew with great sadness that there would be more deranged queens, more unloved wives.

In Shoto's training as the heir of Chusei, he hardly ever saw his older siblings, three disgraced royals. Sometimes, he struggled to remember their faces at all. He only saw his own.

"It's the truth."

"What about your fiancée?"

Yaoyorozu was Shoto's sin. "I respect her. For that, I cannot marry her."

No king ever treated his queen with the love and respect she deserved. Shoto swore he wouldn't be like that, but only the Four Cardinals knew what would happen when he ascended to the throne.

Midoriya ripped out a fistful of bright green grass. "You would insult her."

Shoto sat up, then moved back so the other boy wasn't in his blind spot. "Then I'll make it about me. I don't want to marry someone whose job is to protect me. In a way, she's no different from one of my swordcatchers."

"She's beautiful," Midoriya said.

Shoto murmured assent.

Midoriya hastily added, "You're beautiful, too—handsome, I mean."

Shoto didn't believe him.

Midoriya sat up so he was sitting cross-legged in front of Shoto, the river at his back. "In a different way, of course, but you're..." He waved his hands, which were covered in nicks and bite marks like the ones Tamaki got after handling Dawn Adventus, the beaked pegasus. "You're like no one else."

"Of course I'm not," Shoto said, stating it as it was a fact. "I am the only eligible royal to inherit the kingdom."

Midoriya smiled. "I think you'd make a great king."

"You barely know me."

"I know you're honest." Midoriya stared intently at him, gauging his worth the way Tamaki appraised the horses. Shoto didn't mind. He wanted to be found worthy. "It is highborn villains' dishonesty and corruption that has cast our land into an eternal, cursed winter."

Shoto's right hand clenched into a tight fist. Frost formed over his knuckles; flames burst from his left side, startling Midoriya, who scrambled backward into the river. "My father has committed many awful atrocities," Shoto growled, "and my siblings and I can testify to that—but he isn't the villain. He hates the cold."

Midoriya spluttered and crawled out of the river. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend. And I'm not accusing your family of anything. I meant the Four Cardinals."

Shoto offered a hand in peace as both boys stood up. Midoriya bent over slightly, so he had to tip his head back to look up at Shoto. "I don't think I'd like them, either."

Midoriya was about to reply when Tamaki rode toward them on Dawn Adventus, whose golden-amber wings caught the dying rays of the sun like a flame. "There's trouble in the palace, Your Highness," the young man reported in a timid voice. "A rogue with a crimson scarf has ransacked the courtyard crying death to the Cardinals. Some of the guests stand with him, and your father is livid."

Shoto raised his right eyebrow at Midoriya. "Is this a coup? Are you here to assassinate me?"

"N-no! I would never! Besides, it was your idea to go riding."

"Fair point." Shoto wasted no more time. He swung onto Silver Lancea, and Midoriya was equally swift with Ruby Cuperni; Shoto couldn't believe this was the first time the villager was riding a horse. Tamaki led the way, the winged horse gliding over the grassland while the unicorns galloped at breakneck speed, their horns piercing any resistance.

The castle was in utter disarray. Guests grabbed furniture and threw it at servants, but some of the servants had joined the fray, like Yoarashi, who whipped up a storm in the narrow corridor. Other townspeople cowered behind ceremonial armour like frightened mice. The rogue leading the attack was engaged in a swordfight with Shoto's father, who roared with rage at such treason.

"Your Highness!" Yaoyorozu cried out, running to defend him from wayward guests. Behind her was a pretty girl with shoulder-length brown hair and a dark pink evening gown made from a material Shoto wasn't aware had been in the castle. She had her arms wrapped around the Sage, who was crying. "How can they be so awful, Tamaki? They're set on killing people!"

Tamaki bent down to kiss Nejire's forehead, his long fingers tangling in her thick, silvery hair. "They won't hurt you, Nejire." He looked at Shoto. "I'll take her to the fortress."

Shoto nodded. "Godspeed."

Tamaki helped Nejire onto his steed and then they flew away. The girl in the velvety dress exclaimed, "Her Grace is escaping but you aren't, Your Highness?"

Shoto grabbed a sword from the wall; it wasn't only ceremonial. "I am the Prince of Chusei and heir to the throne. I won't stand for this treason."

"Neither will I," Midoriya agreed, selecting a bow and testing it out.

Yaoyorozu stretched out an arm to bar them from the fighting. "I will protect you."

"I don't want you to."

Yaoyorozu turned to look at him incredulously, leaving her back open for a not-so-ceremonial suit of armour to lunge from behind and drive his sword through her chest.

The false knight lifted his visor – the velvet-clad girl squeaked, "Ida?" – and he bellowed, "Finish this, Midoriya!"

Midoriya had climbed the pile of thrown furniture, balancing precariously on the side of a table, and drew his bow. He aimed it at Shoto, who regretted picking a sword and not a shield.

Shoto closed his eyes, remembering lying in the cold grass and confiding in this stranger who would soon kill him. He could feel the wind from the arrow, like the wind from riding on Silver Lancea. There was no pain.