The Last Hope

37 - Throne

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TThe next day, Poppy and Freida were decidedly slower in their movements. As Freida pulled back the curtains, she winced and looked away, and Poppy had to leave the room as the scent of Mercy's breakfast, fresh croissants, and another assortment of fruits like last night, wafted past her.

So maybe the servants weren't allowed to the party with everyone else, but it didn't mean they hadn't partied on their own. Mercy felt immediately less guilty that she'd given all the food she'd saved for them to Sebastian, they wouldn't have been able to eat it in their current state.

Mercy teased them both relentlessly as they helped her tug all the pins she'd missed from the previous evening out of her hair. Poppy made a very unladylike gesture that had Mercy cackling. When Mercy tried to dismiss them for the third time to get some sleep, they finally agreed, and stumbled out of the room, knocking into the walls and each other. Mercy laughed to herself as she changed in the bathroom back into the armour Ariah had lent her - she had no other clothes. When she reemerged, she laid Katerina's beautiful dress across the freshly made bed and went straight to the library in search of Sebastian. But he wasn't there.

Mercy checked the second floor, padding up the spiral staircase tucked into the corner of the room. She checked the towering stacks at the back of the room, but he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he hadn't left his room yet? As she approached his door at the other end of the library, she heard the murmured voices floating past it.

"I know you must be very angry with me." The voice was feminine, almost choral, and Mercy recognised it immediately as Heleyna.

"I do not even know you - why would I be angry with you?"

"Sebastian, please-"

"Heleyna, I don't know what you thought to achieve by coming here, but if reconciliation is what you seek, you'd be better off reaching out to Cressida. She's more forgiving than I am."

"Sebastian- "
"I appreciate you taking us both in, and appreciate you swaying Alexandria to pardon Mercy, but that is where my civility with you ends." Pardon her? Why did they have to pardon her? Mercy's brow furrowed and she leaned closer to the door, Sebastian was still talking, "I was a boy when Cressida took my parents and my crown and none of you came to help. You abandoned me. Don't try to rebuild a relationship when you're the one who gave up on me."

"We thought you were dead."

Sebastian's tone was ever sharpening, "I may as well have been. But we both know you didn't come here to win back your grandson so-"

His voice cut off abruptly and Mercy froze leaning against the door. Then fell into the room as it was flung open. Strong arms caught her and sheepishly, she met a pair of peculiarly coloured eyes. "Reid, didn't anyone ever teach you it was rude to eavesdrop?" There was the tiniest of smiles flirting around the corner of his lips, but his face was serious. Drawn.

In comparison to last night in the library, he positively glowed. His skin was less sallow, his cheeks fuller, despite his sharp cheekbones. And some small semblance of fire had returned to his eyes, even if they were dulled by the solemnity of his expression. Mercy pushed out of his grasp, willing away the scent of honey, spice and petrichor. "I, um... I came to ask if you were ready to go?" The excuse sounded lame, even to her ears, but Sebastian shrugged and opened the door wider, allowing her to enter.