Noble Blood

Exodus

"Look at you." he said, observing his sister. She was much changed. Her hair was shiny and black, her skin colourless, all emotion removed from those pretty golden eyes. Her body was covered in a white chiffon gown, waves of crimson pooling at the waist.

"What of me?" she asked. She took a sip of tea from the fine china, watching him with her emotionless eyes.

"You're so sad." he said. She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She turned her face away from his. She saw the little bastard, all sixteen months and fair haired and happy, running around the bright green grassy hills, embellished with little red and yellow flowers. His clothes were fine, fit for a Prince, she thought, subconsciously placing a hand on her horridly flat stomach, it was covered in the red crimson of her gown. It didn't look that dissimilar from the crimson she sported on her thighs not that long ago. But of course, the little bastard was anything but a Prince.

"I am not." she looked back at him. He wasn't that older than her, matching dark hair flowing past their shoulders.

"Then why are you crying?" he asked. As quick as a flash, her hand flew from the teacup and to her cheek. But,  unlike the last time she'd touched her cheeks, it was bone dry.

"I am not crying." she said, her voice deceptively strong, holding no emotion, just like the other Queen that resided in King Francis' court. But this one took great pleasure in the actual Queen's pain, something the actual Queen just couldn't understand.

"Not there." he placed a trifecta of fingertips on her cheekbone, and let them trickle down her face and collarbone, resting over her heart. "Right there." he said, his voice soft.

"You're wrong." she said, removing his hand from her bare skin. She held it on the small table they sat behind.

"Am I?" his own golden eyes implored hers.

"How did you know?" she asked, after a long silence.

He chuckled humourlessly. "Those big sad eyes." he revealed. "They reveal a lot, to everybody who cares to notice."

"Not many of them." those big, pretty, sad eyes closed.

"You have me. And I wont leave you again." he added. "There's a saying about pain, my sister."

"And what is that?"

"The only way out of it is through it." he held his sister's hand tighter. "So feel that fear, feel that pain," he sat closer. "Hold it close to you, hold it tight until it burns." even closer. "Let it all in, then let it all go."