My Queen signed the abdication that same day.

We buried our son together during a rare spring rain.

«That man was so kind to me. So much that I lowered my guard and paid the price for my mistake,» Theodora said while clinging to my arm. Her frail body couldn't resist too much effort, and every day was worse.

I would help her walk and ask her to stop working every time I noticed the blood dripping on the maps.

«I wish I could help you,» I whispered, still looking at my son's grave. «If only I didn't let him drink. If only I was the one dying...»

«You can go back to Kyre and forget about all of this,» she stated, straightening her back and biting her lower lip.

«He was wrong, Thea. About being allowed to cry when alone. You don't have to hide or feel shame. It's your right to cry, when and for what you want.»

«Oh, Xander,» she said, clenching my arm with skeletal fingers. «I'm just looking forward to dying. I don't want to stay in this world without our child. I don't want a kingdom, I don't want a palace. I need nothing.»

I circled her waist with an arm and shielded her with the other, hiding her crying face from the world's sight she feared so much.

«It was my fault for believing the wrong person. I should have figured, yet I thought that... I don't know what I thought.»

«Anyone would have been fooled, Thea.»

«You weren't. You noticed immediately that something was off.»

«Or maybe, I was just jealous, and it was by chance. We don't know what could have happened, there's no meaning in thinking about it anymore.»

«Bring with you the crown jewels,» she muttered, already back to work. «It's better you have them than Asteria. Also, I'll give you a copy of the abdication. It might come in handy.»

«I'm not going anywhere, Thea. This is my home, and I'll stay here.»

«Don't be stupid. They won't spare you. You have a claim on the throne.»

«I will stay with you until the end. I owe you this.»

«You don't owe me, Xander. You would be happy in Kyre if it wasn't for me.»

«I would probably be dead by the hands of my uncle too,» I said.

She chuckled, a light and desperate sound that broke my heart in half.

She didn't spare energies, always working on maps and strategies. We didn't have much to lose, which made the conquest even harder.

My Queen died a few days later, the last day before the abdication would become permanent.

The sixth day after the banquet, she didn't get up from the bed.

She touched on the bed until she found my hand and squeezed hard.

«I don't think I've ever told you that I love you,» she whispered.

«Spare your energies, Thea. I don't need to hear your feelings; I already know.»

«I'm so lucky that you understand me, then.» She smiled. «You're the only thing left in this world. Have a good life, please. Find a wife, make lots of children. Think about me from time to time, but don't let that memory make you sad.»

«Don't talk like that.»

«I will soon reach our son. We'll look over you from the other side, you don't have to worry.»

She was a fighter. And all my world.

When the convulsions started, I hadn't even started telling my part. She coughed blood and cried red for a whole hour, contorting in my arms and shouting in pain.

I couldn't help her. There was nothing that I could do.

«If only I was less useless.» While white tears soaked my cheeks and fell on her face, she clenched her teeth and stopped shaking just for a moment.

«Don't think of the past. Forget me if it's easier.»

«I will do as you told me,» I lied, in the end. «I will have a family and sometimes think of you. You don't need to worry, for I won't disappoint you.»

«I should have accepted to travel with you. We could have explored the sea around Polis together.»

«We did explore the harbour,» I chuckled. «It was funny, pretending to be an ordinary couple in search of entertainment.»

I liked her voice while she sang folk songs and her eyes when she analysed a new show. She was so lively, in contrast with her dying self.

«During the years by your side, I was happy for real,» I revealed.

«I'm glad.»

When she closed her eyes, I cleaned her face from the blood. I leaned her on the bed and crossed her hands on her stomach.

I lit a candle and left it on the bed table, not to let her feel afraid of darkness.

«I will come back soon,» I whispered and got out of the room.

All the officers and almost every general died at the banquet. The rest of the court wasn't competent enough to handle such a situation.

Polis was gone, and there wasn't anything we could do about that. Asteria's army was already slamming on the gate, and the walls would soon collapse.

Soldiers were tired and without motivation. Even more, when the news that the Queen was dead reached town.

Sounds of war were so insistent just out of the Palace, that it was clear to everyone that there was no point in continuing the battle. Our army surrendered, and our soldiers threw their weapons on the floor.

A few brave men fought till the end, but the rest of them were smart and knew when it was over.

I reached the prison and passed through the gate guarded by a single soldier. The rest of the army was busy with the war.

Ambassador Zolokis was in the last cell. He was still alive and intact because he could have been an asset to use to reach peace. My Queen was waiting for the seventh day to surrender and deliver the city to the enemy.

The treaty would have been invalid since she wouldn't have been a Queen anymore.

After her death, all of that didn't matter anymore.

«She might be too merciful to hurt you, but I am not,» I said while approaching the bars.

«What can you do? Kill me? Please, go ahead,» he snickered. «I knew I wouldn't get out of here alive when I accepted the mission.»

«Asteria is a great country. You didn't need Polis to make it greater. You already conquered half of Ethiro. What need was there to transform a dinner in your honour into a massacre?»

«There is no limit for greatness, royal Consort. If you're here, I guess you're not even the royal Consort anymore. How should I call you now? Sir Kyre?»

«You don't need to call me.»

«Oh, but I wanted to thank the man that helped me so much! Thanks to you, I didn't have to die on the spot after stabbing the crown prince. You killed him for me...»

If only I knew how to do it, I would have let him bleed out slowly and painfully. Yet, with my crappy skills, I could just wound him and hope it would do enough damage.

I observed the Ambassador's face while he shouted in pain and then understood that I wouldn't move until his death. He had the time to grasp that the end was near, and I could look at his eyes for those few minutes.

It had been too quick. My Queen had known about her death for days, and she didn't even flinch at that thought. The man that was responsible for it hardly had time to feel all that desperation.

«You were right about one thing. You won't get out of here alive,» I sighed. «But all the rest was wrong. There is a limit to everything. Human life is short and meaningless. Greatness is just a waste of time.»

I returned to my Queen and poured oil all over the bed. I lied next to her and landed a last kiss on her forehead.

She was still so beautiful, even if motionless.

«It will be over soon,» I whispered, even though she couldn't hear me anymore. «You won't need to worry about me. Not you, nor our son. We'll be together for eternity.»

I didn't even have any more tears to share.

The door slammed open, and a group of foreign soldiers barged in, shouting things I didn't care to understand.

I already had the candle in my hand. So, I didn't even blink when one of them ran to me with his sword in the air.

The blade neared to my eyes every fraction of seconds.

I let the candle fall on the bed and ignite the oil, and then I closed my eyes.

My death came quickly, and there wasn't pain. I guess that my head was cut clean because, in only a moment, I didn't sense anything.

The last feeling of my life was the comfort given by my wife's cold body in my arms. After that, nothing.

My last breath was short and interrupted at the half, and I suppose I should have felt relieved for such a quick death.

Darkness filled everything until the moment I opened my eyes to the world.