POV. Kai.
The morning dragged on like an old man who has seen too much. Behind the thick, heavy curtains, the light was dim, as if I was also afraid to enter my room.
I suppose even the sun knows when it is not welcome. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his tunic undressed, his boots undressed. I felt like a broken statue that no one dared to throw out of the palace out of pity.
And yet, the door opened.
Sibylla. Oh my God. Queen.
Queen Sibylla entered without having to announce herself, as does everything that is inevitable. He sat down next to me, with that calm that was so characteristic of him. The calm that a storm has just before landfall.
"We will exile him discreetly," he said. Not a greeting, not a breath. And you'll announce the engagement to the princess before the fall festival.
The blow was so sharp that I thought I had dreamed it. I swallowed, but my throat was dry as the earth before the rain.
"Mother...
"We'll put an end to the rumors," his tone was marble. Say goodbye to him.
I was silent. The kind of silence that doesn't weigh, but burns. She looked at me from the side, barely.
"You knew it was going to happen," he said more quietly.
"And that makes it easier?"
—It makes it inevitable.
I didn't answer him. It was not necessary. The lump in my throat spoke for me. She got up, arranged a flower from the vase as if it mattered, and left.
That night, the walls of the castle seemed to hear.
I moved like a shadow among columns and carpets. The corridor in the north wing smelled of alchemy: dust, ink and a slight touch of burnt metal.
I knocked on the half-open door of the lab. Archie didn't say anything and I went in anyway.
He was still packing, with his back turned. It was like a painting in motion: books, jars wrapped in cloths, and a wooden box where he kept the things he used when he believed the world could be his too.
"You shouldn't be here," he said, without facing me. If someone sees you...
"I wanted to see you one last time.
Archie stopped moving, but didn't turn. His voice came like a badly thrown dagger: clumsy, but accurate.
"At the trial you didn't seem to want to see me.
I felt that phrase as a spit in my soul.
"I didn't deny you because I didn't love you," I whispered. I denied you... Because it was the only way to save you.
Then he turned. His face had that strange mixture of anger and sadness that only a brilliant man can sustain with such dignity.
"And you think I don't know?" he snapped. I would have done exactly the same. It is clear that the truth could have killed us. But that doesn't make it any less painful.
He advanced towards the trunk. He placed a jar with great care.
"I accepted a broken heart instead of the gallows, Kai. You know how ridiculous it sounds?
"I'll be the future king," my voice trembled, and I hated that he noticed. I have all the power in the kingdom... And it's not enough to make me happy.
"I wouldn't make him happy either," he whispered, pushing my hand away when I tried to touch him. I left the formula for the antidote to the plague written. It was a pleasure to work with you.
He turned again. Ready to disappear. He was going to leave.
And I couldn't allow it.
"Archie...
I took his arm, stopped him. His body tensed, but he didn't let go.
And I kissed him.
Not a shy kiss. Not an elegant one. A desperate kiss, with rage and tenderness, as if we both wanted to devour each other and disappear... With a farewell flavor. To conviction.
And he... He gave me back my soul with his.
Our bodies were searched for as castaways do in the middle of a shipwreck. Fast. Urgent. Painful.
He pushed me towards the table, and his hands took off my shirt in a hurry. His breath trembled, as if he still didn't believe it was happening. I answered him with the same thing: the kisses we refused, the caresses stolen between books and corridors... everything came out with violence and love.
Nothing mattered anymore.
That night there was no power.
There was no trial.
There was no mother or commitment.
Only him. Just me.
Two convicted.
Loving each other like someone who drowns in his last breath.
The night enveloped us in its secret.
And as I held him in my arms, I knew that wasn't happiness.
It was something more dangerous that I would never, in life, experience again.
It was love.