Galyn's eyes burned with fury, shimmering at the corners. His cheeks were pink and his breath quick. He'd never struck her. He was the only male she'd ever loved who had not. But she wondered if he would now. If this desperate thing called war might push him to it finally.

'Fara, you will do as I command you and go. You will leave with the rest of the women and you will hide where they cannot find you! Then, when it is safe, you must return to your brother.'

She saw it for the first time then. Fear. Bright and terrible in his eyes. He wasn't frightened of the warriors hammering bloodied fists at the golden gates of his city, he was frightened for her.

'I will not return to Valdr, Galyn.' She shook her head. 'You cannot ask it of me, I will not.'

He scoffed. 'You truly think it matters now that you married me without your family's blessing? For I promise you it does not. He will want you safe. He will want you where he can protect you.'

She bit the inside of her cheek so hard she thought she would tear it open. 'If he sought to protect me then he would have sent his men to our aid!' She sounded like a petulant child and Gods she loathed it. To temper her tongue, she clawed at the silk folds of her gown instead, fisting the material tight. She watched Galyn's shoulders drop, his gaze too.

He shook his head gently. 'I do not blame his inaction. We asked him to take a side in a war he had no part in. I am not so sure I would not have done the same. If it were my kingdom I am not sure I would have risked my people against Leoth either. If it had been Zybar alone, then yes, perhaps.  But together...' His words were haunted.

'You would not have left your kin or your allies to die at the swords of these barbarians, Galyn, I know you would not. You would not stand by and watch Calate destroyed when you have soldiers and ships and a means to aid it.'

He said nothing. Did not deny it. Did not agree with it. When he trained his gaze on her again it was softer.

'Do you love me, Fara?' He asked.

Her heart squeezed in her chest, painful, tight.

'You know that I do.' She whispered. And it was true. She did. Galyn had been a means of escape, a wide-open door to freedom. Her savior. But the first time he took her body in gentle reverence, she knew he was more than this. She'd felt, almost immediately, an unending gratitude toward him, and right then she had told herself she would give him anything he desired.

And Galyn, she came to understand, desired to be loved above all else.

And so she had loved him.

'Then you will do this for me,' he said, firm.  'You will go. You will abandon this city before it is too late, and you will return to Calate. To where you will be safe.' He strode toward her so that he towered above her small frame and clutched her by the shoulders, rougher than he'd ever been with her. 'You will beg his forgiveness for what we have done - lay all of the blame for it at my feet alone - and you will win back his favour. Promise him your obedience. Promise him whatever he asks.' Tears rushed at her then, at Galyn's honour and sacrifice, at his innocence and ignorance, at the worthiness of the male before her. All of it. It overwhelmed her and she felt the words bubble atop her tongue. The hideous truth of all she had done. The sting of it burning her throat like sour wine.

If she told him all of it now would he still want to see her saved? Would he still long to see her walk from the rubble of this burning city? Knowing the gentleness of his heart she considered that he would. Even still. In the end, it was her own cowardice and lack of honour that stayed her tongue.

At her silence, Galyn gripped her harder, shaking lightly.

'Gods damn it, Fara, I am your wedded husband and king and I command you to go!' It was the first she had heard his voice raised. The first time she had seen true anger in his eyes. It did not lessen him any in her own.

She fixed him with a hard stare. 'Yes, you are my wedded husband and my king. And the vows I took before the Goddess demanded my eternal allegiance to you. They demanded I stand by your side, always. That I stand beneath Her light, always. This realm is my home, Galyn, as you are my home, and I will not scurry from either of you like a rat!'

Angrily, he tore from her and dragged his hands through his hair, desperate, his shoulders heaving. She saw him raise a hand to his face and when he turned, she almost gasped at the sight of the tears that streaked the golden skin of his flushed cheeks. Her heart cracked anew.

She saw something break in him then too. And when he spoke again his voice was a ragged, torn thing. 'Have you an idea of what they will do to you? Of all the ways in which they will hurt you? Torrik said as much, you know. In the demands they sent to father. Still, he went to the beach to try to reason with those dogs...'

She had not known exactly what the letter contained but had easily guessed. From the way Sylvan had looked at her after reading it. It was her fault he was dead now. It was her fault they were all dead and dying now. As she saw it, the least she could do was stay and face what she had done.

What else could she do? If she thought her surrender would make Torrik command his men and his Leoth Mercenaries to board their ships and sail home then she would do it. But they would not be appeased so easily. Sylvan's brutalised and headless body had told her as much. They sought to crush this realm to dust and they would remain here until it was done.

'He will make you his whore first then give you to his men,' Galyn went on. 'Then, if there is anything left of you, he will let the Leothine have you.' She saw what it took from him to say it, to imagine it. And so she did not know what possessed her tongue to move so lightly.

'I hear the Leoth are given the first pick of the spoils, so I rather think it will be the reverse.'

The look that crossed Galyn's face was so full of pain that it forced her eyes to the floor, shame and guilt sickening her.

'Think you that I shall find peace in the after-realm knowing that you suffer either outcome?' It was a plea, his voice scraped raw. 'For I will not. I will suffer eternally knowing that it was I who let this happen to you... that I failed you. Gods, I am no warrior Fara. I cannot protect you from them... from this.'

She rushed the distance to him and threw her arms up, catching his face between her hands. 'There has not been a single moment in which you have failed me, Galyn of Azura.' Her voice was stern and altogether too harsh against the soft warmth of his lips. 'You shall not blame yourself for this, for any of it!' It was I. All of it was I.

It was once more on the tip of her tongue to speak it aloud. For if not now when would the chance arise again? At the gates of Hellaphania? In the company of the Goddess herself? It was only her cowardice that whispered how it would do him little good now to know what she had wrought upon him and his people.

Oh, but by the Gods, how she longed to let it loose. This unutterable truth that lived inside her amidst the crawling mass of sin that was her soul. No. She could not break his heart further by uttering it now. Neither was this truth weapon enough to save this realm.

'It is I who Torrik curses,' she said instead. 'It is I who could not look away from you that night, my sweet prince. Who stole you from your duty and your betrothal to Zybar.' She touched her palm to his cheek and Galyn turned into it. 'This is my doing and I shall not have you blame yourself. I gave you no choice...'

He curled a hand up around the wrist that held his cheek, gripping it tightly as he gazed into her eyes. 'It was my betrothal. And my duty to abide by it.' He spoke soft like a prayer. A smile touched his lips and it felt like the sun on her face to see it again. 'It was my choice and I chose you. I would always choose you, my heart. My beloved.' He pressed his lips first to the inside of her wrist, kissing the pulse that fluttered beneath the skin. When his mouth found hers it was like home. Soft and warm. But she felt the damp touch of his tears against her cheek and it urged forth her own. 'I want you to live, Fara. I need you to live... what if....' he glanced down between their bodies, to that barren space inside her. 'What if you carry our child within you even now? The thought of both of you being lost... Fara, I cannot bear it.' He gave her a look of such desperation that she felt her heart shatter apart completely. Tears slid from her eyes and he reached up to brush them away. 'There are boats leaving from the northern shore each hour. They will sail east through the Strait bound for Calate. Your brother may not desire to send his men to us, but I do not believe any Calatian would turn away an Azurian seeking Asylum. Least of all their princess. You must promise me you will be aboard one. My darling please... please promise me.'

It cost her more than strength to say the words. More than the weight of her guilt. Her sins. But she would always give him whatever it was he desired.

Even if what he desired now were lies.

'I promise.'

At her words, Galyn pulled her into his arms and held her tight to his chest as he pressed a kiss to her hair, tender, desperate still.

'How long do you think we have?' She asked against the hammering of his heart.

Outside, the sounds of war were still faint. The gates of the city still holding back the tide of warriors who bayed and barked like feral wolves. No, not wolves. Beasts. Beasts of Ethis. Dogs of Zybar.

All baying for blood. For the blood of Azura.