"I'm sorry."

Her father's voice echoed within the empty spaces of her mind. Nothing else occupied her mind for days now. She simply sat up in bed, listening to him apologize over and over again and every single time Huo's voice never failed to follow.

She'd never say she didn't love him. Because she did, fully and unconditionally. But even the people you love—especially, the people you love can hurt you the most.

And that's why it hurt. All those years, she'd been starved for his attention and care, for his love. So even something so little as an apology broke her.

But she didn't cry. She didn't beg to talk to him one last time. She didn't wish he never died. Because it wouldn't have changed a thing. Instead she wished she'd apologized that day. She wished she'd given him a second chance sooner.

The door opened for what felt like forever. She didn't care if it were Huo or Death itself, what was the difference anyway?

"Princess," a light voice without a tone. Might as well had been a ghost. "My name is Naulo and from now on I will be your guide and help. Whatever it is you might need, I will provide."

"What might I need?" Zemlya said the words aloud before she realized she had. "Sorry, I just haven't talked to another person in a while."

"My master has asked that I have you prepared for your evening with him."

Hollow. That was how Zemlya felt. Nothing she ever did mattered. She'd been stripped of all her power and worth long ago. She never thought too deeply about her decisions, so when the woman named Naulo told her to shower and put on a pretty dress, she did as she was told. When the woman took Zemlya's hand and placed it on her arm, Zemlya didn't bother to protest.

Her arm was icy cold. Zemlya wondered if she really were a ghost.

"Are you—"

"I'm a cadit," Naulo said, her tone just as icy.

"I was going to ask." Zemlya let a smile grace her cheeks. "If you were alright? You're freezing."

Her arm stiffened under Zemlya's hand. "Once again, I am a cadit."

~~~

Silence.

What would you say to the man who killed your father? Some might say nothing at all. Killers don't deserve to be spoken to, anyway. Some might scream and shout and curse the day their killer was born, rightfully so. But Zemlya didn't know what to do. How to react. What to say. 

"Do you hate me?" He said.

Zemlya shifted on the plush leather sofa. Being in his presence was suffocating. She walked on egg shells around his words. Anything that didn't sound right, could kill her. But Zemlya didn't think she cared anymore. "Did you think I would?"

A brief silence. "I don't hate the man who killed my father."

"And why is that?"

"Because I hated my father more." His words were a cold knife. "He was an evil, disgusting man who enjoyed war and chaos. He loved the taste of blood. He used the people around him then discarded them like nothing."

That rage, that hatred, felt all too familiar. This was what grandma had warned her about, what bottled anger could do to a man. She wondered if she'd have ended up just like him and she hated that. "But you loved him, didn't you?"

"Perhaps." He mulled it over. "If I had, then I don't remember. When I think of my father, nothing pleasent ever comes to mind."

Zemlya tried to recall a time she'd spent with her father that wasn't an obligation to fake Dhulka's perfect royal family. Perhaps there was a time when she had enjoyed being in her father's company but she may have been too young to remember. But that didn't change how she felt about him, she loved her father.

"I don't hate you." Zemlya knew hatred, but now she knew what it could do to a man, and she wanted no part of it. She wouldn't hate Huo, even if every string of being did. "I just wonder, what you and my father last spoke of?"

"My father." He snorted. "I suppose they were like-minds. Which makes us more alike than I thought." 

No, Zemlya didn't want to believe they were in any way alike. He felt nothing for his father's murder because he despised his father even more. But she loved her father despite the person he was and for that she discovered forgiveness.

"I have a proposal for you Princess."

Zemlya held her breath. She'd be making a deal with the devil, nothing good could come of it. "What might you need from me?"

"I need you. I need your support. I need you by my side." If it weren't from the man who killed her father, she would've felt anything and everything but dread. "You see princess, I'm just like you. I see men for their content and character, not in the way they look or what they are capable of. Your people and my people, are but the same, humans. And with your help, we can make everyone realize that. Marry me, Princess Zemlya. Let us unite our people."

She froze. Her thoughts fractured. Her response came later than he liked. But she said exactly what he wanted to hear. "If it will return peace and make our people equal, then how could I ever say no."

~~~

Her heart beat in the hollow space beneath her skin. In the still air of the empty room, her heart was the loudest sound, and that suffocated her. Her thoughts ran in a circle. The walls closed in on her, the screams came alive, and a million hands grasped at her, begging for help. Then they were gone and she was alone again.

Sanity fled her grasp. She had lost everything, but she couldn't lose herself. Zemlya made for the door. Locked shut. She pounded a fist against the door. "Hello! Is there anyone there? Please!"

But no matter how much she pleaded no response came. Her thoughts began to churn, going through the same cycle once again. But this time her heart beat louder. It shouted down at her. It tore her apart. It poisoned her. It made her hate being alive.

Then she heard another. And that silenced her own. She fell against the door, getting as close to the sound and it's source as she possibly could. Her thoughts balanced. Relief flushed through her. She wasn't alone anymore.

"It's you again, isn't it?" She said. If he'd heard her, he either didn't care to respond or wasn't allowed to. "Tap twice if it is. Once if you aren't."

A silence, then two taps against the door.

"You don't have to tell me your name or speak at all. And I know this will sound weird but, I only want to listen to your heart." She laughed, but didn't quite know what for. Relief? The insanity slowly draining her mind? The sheer desperation of her situation? "I guess I should tell you a little about myself, if you'll let me hear your heart for free. My name is Zemlya and it's a pleasure to meet you. I enjoy learning new things and storytelling."

She hesitated a moment. "Do you like stories?"

Two soft taps.

"Would you like to hear a story?"

One tap. Two.

"Alright, brace yourself." She felt the pieces of her mind fall back into place. But a fear tangled and twisted round her thoughts. She brushed it aside and began her tale. "When I was little I had an unhealthy obsession with snails. The only snails allowed in Dhulka were the ones grown to go onto our dinner plates. Almost everyday I'd sneak into the kitchen and steal a bunch. I always liked to think of myself as a snail-hero, savior of the snails. But there was one rather big problem, I'm allergic to their slime. Every time I held a snail, my skin would swell up, turn red and itch horribly. Then, one day I got sick of the itches. I found a roll of sticky tape and wrapped the entirety of my arms with it. The snail's climbed up and down my arm freely and at the end of the day my arms weren't itchy at all but I definitely couldn't feel them either."

She heard what sounded like muffled laughter. "I made you laugh, didn't I?"

One tap.

The laughter bubbled up her throat. "Aww, now you're just messing with me, I know what I heard."

One tap. Two taps. Three.

"Hey that's not fair, what does that mean?" A lightness replaced the dense emptiness of her chest. "Did you enjoy it?"

Two taps.

"I'm glad you did. And yes, I know that I am strange."

Laughter felt foreign in her throat. Despair had become all too familiar, she had forgotten the feeling of fun. She wondered if the person behind the door felt the same.

"You know what's stranger, I should hate and you should hate me because we were born on opposite sides of the world. But I don't and if that isn't right, I don't what is."

She felt her eyelids grow heavy and the peaceful paralysis of sleep climb her frame. "Thank you, for making me feel a little less alone."

~~~

Huo relished in the night time silence. His mind turned with ideas and aspirations. The future seemed awfully bright in his mind. Equality and peace, love and unity. He'd always had such visions but he always felt alone in them, until he met the princess. She was just what he needed. A partner. A twin soul. A lover who shared the same ideals.

Footsteps approached and threw him back into the present.

"Brother, welcome," Huo beamed. Lua bowed and took a seat before him. "How was your day?"

Lua thought it through a moment. "Alright." Huo's younger brother seemed to carry a permanent frown wherever he went, since the brothers were reunited a month ago. Huo had started to wonder if he'd begun to regret his decision to take his side. But tonight Lua wore a small smile.

"Huo," Lua said. "What now? Where do we go from here?"

"Once we've penetrated every inch of Dhulka, we can then bring the two worlds together. The surface and beneath, will be one once again."

"The people of Dhulka will not comply as easily as you think they would."

"Of course, I understand. But I won't be the one who will convince them, my bride will."

Lua's smile fell. "Bride?"

"The princess, of course. I suppose I have you to thank for that, if not for you I'd have gotten rid of her long ago."

Lua was as stiff as stone and unfeeling once again. "I observed the royal family when I was here, she seemed somewhat like an outcast not only in her family but in the kingdom as well. I pitited her, which was why I asked you to spare her. I'm glad she is of use to you."

Lua stood to leave when Huo said, "why don't you smile as often as you used to?"

Lua bristled, and stopped short in his steps. "I'm happy brother." Lua smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm just tired. The lower folds don't get much sunlight."

A/n: hmm, yeah well. I do hope you r enjoying the story so far. Comment your thoughts and opinions. Do you think Lua has betrayed Dhulka? How do you think the people will respond to Zemlya marrying Huo?