"They have completely trashed whatever semblance of a democracy they had," said Suki with contempt in her voice. "The Castes General has been dissolved. They say that a democratic body will only interfere with Danton's war decisions."
"But that's the whole point of the Castes General," Asteria exclaimed with exasperation.
Cyrus had given up on trying to call her princess in his thoughts. She would always be Asteria, the girl who stood, unwavering in the face of destruction of her kingdom.
And she had given up on talking to him, trying to go back to what they were.
It hurt. He didn't know if he would be able to keep this up for much longer. If he spent any longer in her presence without being able to touch her, he didn't know if he wouldn't be able to lose control and drag her away and press his lips to hers.
It seemed that one fire was replaced with another. His fire of revenge replaced with the fire of unrequited love.
"How many days until Mazarin?" asked Cyrus, not looking at Asteria for fear of seeing the hurt of his betrayal in her eyes.
"We'll have to stay here for a day to bury our dead. But then, my estimate would be five days until the capital."
Five more days of this agony. Then the string connecting them would be severed. And they would be reduced to what they had been all along - princess and mercenary.
He was too absorbed in his thoughts to notice how Asteria shot him stolen looks of longing, how Suki looked at Lucas like she was contemplating his death, and how Lucas was looking at Asteria like he couldn't wait to see her fail.
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S
"Princess. Princess, wake up," Suki said, clamping a hand over the princess's mouth when she opened her mouth to scream.
Suki supposed that if she woke to someone holding a knife in her hand leaning over her, she would scream too.
Once she was certain that the princess wouldn't scream, she removed her hand from the princess's mouth. The princess was glaring daggers sharper than the one in Suki's hand.
It was refreshing to be on the receiving end of unrequited hate, Suki thought with amusement. She usually hated people more or at least equally as they hated her.
"I don't know what kind of game you are trying to play," the princess hissed. "But Cyrus would never forgive you for killing me."
Suki gazed at the seemingly perfect princess with an amused shock. "Would it kill you to think about someone else? This isn't about Cyrus."
The princess's rage didn't abate. In fact, the hate in her gaze intensified, and if Suki didn't have a knife in her hand, she would feel frightened.
