A short, final chapter. Thank you to all those who read the story and who've followed it so far. Please take the time to leave a comment if you'd like! xx ~ PLH.
And victory has never tasted more bitter in his mouth, nor heavier in his arms.
"I loved you" he whispers, pushing away a limp strand of hair that falls over her cheek. "I would have died for you…" He trails off, voice shaking. And she has never been more beautiful than she is at this moment, her eyes shining with a million regrets, a million truths finally unveiled. That she can no longer hide. Finally cracking through that proud, immotile wall of hers. Lips that have already begun to pale, part as though she wants to respond. As though even now, she has a caustic reply ready for him. And maybe she would offer it if her voice wasn't drowned by the blood in her throat.
But what he doesn't know is that she's foreseen all this.
Because the dreams of a Seer do not discriminate between possible futures. And so she knew this would be their ending, from the moment he enters this fateful, this damned throne room they were born to share, born to war over, born to hate.
She's foreseen it all, from the wary way he beholds her, from the soldier, who's death adds one last tally to the number of lives she's taken; the death of a youth who's loss screams a final warning to her, foreboding her own death too soon, too sudden for this world in which she's never quite belonged. From Arthur's tears, which leave cold trails as they slide down over her skin.
He's always been a boy more than a man, a prince more than a king, she muses. And yet maybe these tears he's learned to shed are where his strength lies. Where her strength failed her. She blinks drowsily, allotting the strength in her body not to her fading life, but to her pride, to keep from revealing exactly how small she feels at this moment.
It's all so wrong but then it takes more than one moment to bring down what's taken years to build.
And finally, finally she lets go.
Lets go of the throne that stands tall and unyielding, built out of an iron that will last long after they have all faded away and been forgotten. Lets go of her iron pride that's brought her nothing more than wrath and loneliness. Let's go of her consuming will for vengeance but then also of her desperate need to hold on to this life.
And finally, finally one tear forms, a single tear that falls just as her body stills, just as her eyes lose that final flicker of light.
And it will be what he remembers best of this moment. His sorrow will numb out the intricate details of all that has happened on this day, but he will remember the tear. And he will hope it is a sign that she finally extricated herself from this world that dealt her too much, too soon. He will hope that somewhere, somehow, she has found tranquility.
Somewhere, Somehow…