"Okay, ready?"

"I'm a little worried," Alexander responded, a hint of humor lighting his tone. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Don't be dramatic. The only one dying any time soon is gonna be me," I said. I found it easier to handle if I joked about it, made it seem less of a thing than it truly was. I took a deep breath and took my hands away from Alexander's face, revealing to him the surprise that was waiting in front of us.

It took a second for it all to sink in, but he laughed, stepping forward into the grass. His smile was brighter than anything I'd seen before.

"What do you think?" I asked, taking him by the hand and leading him to the cloth I had spread across the ground.

"It's beautiful," he said, joining me as I sat down. He took in a breath of the fresh night air and sighed in content.

"It's been such a long time since I've been here," I said, looking around the garden. It wasn't natural of course; it couldn't be. It looked real, but at the same time, it looked like something from a fairytale. The trunks of the trees were shades of blue and purple, while the river that cut through the room was a color so clear that you could see the fish that swam by.

This garden used to be one of my favorite places to go back before I had met the King. Back before when everything was peaceful and perfect and I wasn't spending every night worried it would be my last.

But maybe now I would get the chance to pretend like everything was alright again.

It was twilight in the garden, the 'sky' a light shade of blue, and the moon and stars glimmered from their positions against the wall.

Alexander frowned as he looked back at me, and my heart fell for a moment. "I feel like I've been here before."

"That's impossible. Only the nobility are allowed in here. Even in your past life, you never would have—"

"That's the knoll over there," he said, pointing across the bridge to where the floor slid up into a hill, the unreal moonlight dancing across the grass. "I've been there—oh! Wait, I remember!"

"There's no way you would have—"

"Do you remember after you ran away from us when we found out you were a Tenebrie? You played that song for me, the one from Great Comet. Well, when you were singing—I don't really know how to explain it. I envisioned that," he said, pointing over to the knoll.

I froze, the gears in my head turning. I had never heard of anything like that before, but at the same time, that's because I've never heard of another Peritum singing before. "What about a few days ago with the performance?"

"I don't know, there was like... just nothingness. I didn't want to tell you because I thought you were going to freak out or something, but I also saw a gray sky behind a forest when you played the song after the Great Comet one."

"Huh," I said, at a loss for words. "Is it possible that maybe I somehow... broadcasted my emotions? Like what Eliza does with her thoughts, but with my feelings through song?"

"I guess so," Alexander said with a shrug. He paused suddenly, his expression dropping into one of confusion. I was about to say something when he lifted his hand up to my mouth and dragged my lip down. "Oh my God," he said, and I still found it adorable how he always automatically jumped back into the Earth sayings whenever he was puzzled or surprised by something. "You have fangs!"

"What?" I demanded, quickly pushing his hand away from me and covering my mouth. "I have what? Oh, curse the fucking stars. Of course."

"I think it's cute."

"Do I look like a total vampire now? Fuck. I bet I do."

Alexander laughed, and it was an actual, deep laugh that came from the place that held the most vibrant and passionate feelings.

"It's not funny! Stop laughing at me!"

"You're so cute." I swatted him away, to which he immediately protested against by wrapping his arms around me, still giggling. "I'm not laughing at you, baby."

"Baby? Gross. Come up with something better," I started to say, but he cut me off as he moved in front of me and pushed his mouth against mine. I fell into the kiss, my heart skipping a beat at how easy it was to do. You always forget how much you need someone, how much you utterly depend on them for your happiness, until they're holding you close again after such a long silence. Alexander was my rain, and without him, I had suffered a long and terrible summer's drought.

He slid away from me, taking my hand in his and kissing my knuckles. "You're beautiful."

Warmth rushed into my face, but I like to think I played it off pretty well. "You want to eat?"

"You don't need to eat."

"W-What?"

"Because you're already a sn—"

I pushed him away. "If you think you're charming me, you're failing. Miserably. And that barely made sense anyway."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I just like to see you smile," he said, knowing exactly what that would do to me. He smiled up at me innocently.

"You're disgusting."

"How so?"

"So sentimental."

"Oh, you're such a baby. I guess that's why I think it fits very well."

"Well, I was so sure you could come up with something better, but it may just be too hard for you." It was so nice just to have somebody I could joke around with again. "Anyway, want to eat? I have wine," I sang the last word.

"You love that stuff, huh? That's not good."

"Yeah, well. I'm legally an adult, therefore I can have wine." I reached into the basket and pulled out the bottle and two glasses, pouring one for each of us. "I love humans and their need to always find something that'll get them fucked up. Truly, I do. That's not even sarcasm."

"That's true, humans are weird. Hey, I have something I've been meaning to talk to you about. You can't touch steel can you?"

The blood in my veins turned to ice. "W-what? Why would you think that?" I asked, trying to play it off, but one rise of the eyebrow and I knew he had me figured out. I sighed, looked somewhere else. "Okay fine. No, I cannot touch steel."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. It burns my skin though when I do, so I often try to stay away from it. Hey, wanna see?"

"No I don't want to see! What's wrong with you?" He sighed and moved closer until he was practically leaning against me. As much as I wanted to leave everything else in the world behind us, I knew that we couldn't. I knew that we'd have to face the ugly truth at one point or another, and Alexander was the only one brave enough to pose the question I still had no answer to. "What are we going to do from here?"

"Well, my mother's still in charge, and that won't be handed over to me until I have the full proper training of it."

"I thought you were already trained."

"You would think, wouldn't you? But there's always something more I don't know. Anyway, I'm going to see if I can beg her to let me stay with you guys and fight for just a little bit longer. I doubt she'll give me more than a year, but we'll have to make do. If not, than you can stay here if you want. Or you could go back with them, and if you really want this to end than that's fine. But maybe we could still... I don't know. Work something out."

"Like, long distance?"

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know. And I doubt you actually want to stay here, especially after how the Avion have treated you."

"You don't have to phrase it like that, you know."

I laughed, or at least tried to. "Right. Sorry."

"Maybe we can talk more about this tomorrow? I really just want to spend some time with you for once."

"It's not my fault."

"Oh, but isn't it?" he teased, reaching into the basket and pulling out the pasta I had gotten for us. We ate in silence, but it wasn't one of those long uncomfortable silences where neither of us knew what to say. Yeah, there was silence, but it was because we didn't have to force a conversation. Because we were comfortable, and we were happy. "You should perform something for me," he said suddenly, setting his fork down and taking a sip of his wine.

"Like background music?" I asked, puzzled.

"No, like an actual song. We could go inside, you could play something. We could just have more time together."

"Why do you want to hear me play something?"

"Because believe it or not, Thomas, I actually do like listening to you sing and shit. Who would guess?"

"Alright, you don't have to be mean to me," I said after I finished my last bite and cast the dishes off to the side. Alexander returned to sitting slightly behind me, where he slid his arms around my waist and kissed my neck. "You're so needy."

"Your face is so needy."

"That totally made sense."

"Shut up or you'll ruin the moment."

"Right. Sorry." I wasn't really that sorry. I closed my eyes, leaning against him, and my mind started to wander. Everything was nice and peaceful and perfect, because there was nothing but him and me and the bird song and the slow gurgling of the waterfall and—suddenly, a branch snapped.

I pushed myself away from Alexander and spun, a sword in my hand in one moment and fingerless gloves covering my palm from the steel the next. "Thomas?" Alex asked, standing, and I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him behind me. "What are you—" He fell silent as he realized who was standing there, watching us like prey.

"Somehow," King George said, leaning against a tree. "I knew I would find you here."

"What are you doing here?" I hissed, leveling my sword at him. I didn't dare break eye contact, but I had to know if there was anybody else in here, if we were surrounded by enemies.

"Well, I heard the news. I came to congratulate you, of course." His voice was like poison—perhaps sweet, but dangerous to come into contact with. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything important, so I apologize for that."

Alexander stepped forwards so he was standing at my side. He didn't say anything, just drew a long, flat bladed knife from his coat.

"Oh. You two are no fun. Have you told him yet? About our little arrangement? Or are you still keeping him in the dark?"

"Thomas?" I heard Alexander mumble. He didn't move or flinch. "Thomas, what is he talking about?"

"I'll tell you later," I lied, knowing that I could never tell him about the deal he had offered me during that horrible ball. "What do you want?"

"Well, I just didn't think that this little victory of yours would last forever." And he was gone, as if he had never been there in the first place.

"Shit!" I yelled. "We have to find him. Come on." Fortunately, Alexander didn't question me anymore. That could wait until later. Or never. I sheathed my sword, and I teleported out of the room and into the hallway.

I heard his laugh echoing through the corridors. "That way," I hissed, unfurling my wings and shooting down the hallway to my left.

"Thomas!" I heard Angelica shout. "Thomas, what's wrong?"

I didn't have the time to answer her as the laughing got louder, than disappeared all of a sudden. I spun, closing my eyes to try and locate his presence. I didn't stop to consider why he was so easy to find, only knowing that I had to get to him before it was too late.

He was leaning against the tree that had started it all. I didn't pay it much attention, barely noting how dull and normal it looked unadorned with crystals. The King was grinning at Eliza, who was standing with her back to me and her hand raised, a knife threateningly close to being thrown.

It took me two seconds to see the flames that were licking up the blade. Two seconds too late.

"Eliza!" I yelled, but it did no good.

The knife exploded forwards from her hand, hurtling towards King George. Hurtling towards the tree. And just at the last moment, the king disappeared, the knife just missing him and embedding itself in the wood.

"Shit!" I cursed, dashing forwards. I forced myself to stay calm as I reached out to find the energy of the fire. I could still fix this, and nobody would ever know. I located the source that streamed from the flames and pressed on it with my own energy, hoping that it could drench the fire.

If anything, the flames climbed up the tree faster.

"Oh, Divinity," I heard Eliza murmur behind me. "Thomas, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"Stop apologizing and help me put it out!" I snapped, too panicked to worry or care about the barbed remark. "Why isn't it working?"

"Oh, Thomas, it'll take much more than you have if you want to put it out," I heard a voice behind me laugh, and as much as I wanted to turn around and hurt him in the most painful of ways, I kept all of myself focused on the fire.

"Thomas!" Alexander exclaimed. "Thomas, stop! You can't keep going."

"I don't have a choice!" I hissed back, keeping the fire as contained as I possibly could. But just when I let my guard slip for even a second, everything got so much worse.

A hand grabbed my arm and tore me away from the flames. I spun, preparing myself for an attack, and softened when I saw Alexander staring back up at me with pleading eyes. "Look," he said, lifting my arm up for me to see. A pitch black expanse of scales consumed the area that should have been skin.

I couldn't do it. A lord should always be willing to die to save his people, but even if I do die, I won't save them. "Get out of here," I hissed. "Don't worry about anybody else, okay? Just go. I'll take care of everyone."

Alexander wanted to argue with me. I could see it in his eyes. But the popping and crackling of the fire got worse, so he gave in, grabbed my arm, and pulled me close to him. "Be careful," he pleaded, kissing my cheek quickly before disappearing all together.

I inhaled the thick smoke and spun, racing through the hallways as fast as I could, trying not to let myself watch as my home slowly fell to ashes.

~•~

"Thomas!" I heard someone shouting my name, and it took me longer than it should have to recognize that voice that had been the center of my dreams and hopes for so long. "Thomas! Has anyone seen him?"

I coughed, smoke still filling my lungs and the center of every one of my thoughts, and meekly called out to him. "Alexander, I'm here," I tried.

I felt a hand grasping mine, and then suddenly, I caved in. He caught me and set me down on the ground carefully. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just need a second."

"What's wrong?"

My arms trembled. "I can't breathe. I can't see." I paused, gasping for breath. Even that quick synopsis had me reeling. "And it hurts."

"Keep talking," said another voice, one I placed as Angelica's. "Just stay awake okay?"

"Don't touch me!" I spat. "I don't need your help!"

"What did you do?" asked Philip, so suddenly close to me that it made me flinch away from his voice.

"I had to hold it together long enough to let everyone get out," I mumbled as a renewed sense of energy washed over me. I didn't feel that much stronger, but it would have to do for now. At least I could see, and now everything was blindingly bright. And the pain ebbed away into a dull throbbing, something I could put up with for a bit longer.

"You're an utter moron, Thomas. Why couldn't you have asked someone else to do all of that for you? You know what would have happened to you if you had kept going!" Angelica hissed. "You have a blatant disregard for your own life, and it's going to get you killed one day."

"Because I'm the lord, Angelica," I returned curtly. "And there is more that is important than just me. I'll die anyway."

A silence fell, and I listened to the crackling of the fire from behind me as I fought to gather my strength together. I looked around, not satisfied until I saw all of the faces of the people I cared about. My family was sitting a couple hundred yards or so away, but I could pick out their faces easily.

"Where's Eliza?" I asked.

"I'm here," came her voice. I turned, finding her standing next to Peggy. She stepped forwards. "Thomas, I'm so sorry—"

"What in Divinity's name were you thinking?" The words ripped themselves from my throat, a vile curse I couldn't take back even if I wanted to.

"Thomas, I didn't mean to—"

"Oh! Well that just makes everything better! Thanks a lot, Eliza."

"Thomas," Alexander said carefully, placing a hand on my back as if that could placate me.

Nothing can placate me, I thought ardently. My home was going down in smoke, and all I could do was watch, and the person who caused it was standing right there, and they wanted me to calm down and shut my mouth?

I pulled away from Alexander, using my wings to help me rise to my feet. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"To my Mother."

She was waiting for me, her face shadowed by the fire behind her back. I swallowed as I watched the fire licking up everything I had known with such vigor, such ease. I wanted to cry, to scream, to hurt something as each step brought me closer to the heat.

"Mother, I—" I began when I reached her.

"Go."

I stiffened, the single syllable sending chills down my spine.

"I will give you a year. Go, fight. Make that bastard pay for what he's done." I had never heard her speak with so much anger, so much ferocity.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious. But when you come back, you will marry the suitor of my choosing, understand? And you will claim the throne without argument. Are we agreed?"

I surged forward, wrapping my arms around her. I stayed like that, longer than I should have, and she smiled sadly at me when I at last pulled away. "I'll get our people to safety. Please be careful, Thomas. The last thing we need is you doing something to get yourself killed."

"I won't let you down."

She nodded, turned, and left me alone. I collapsed to the ground, staring at the flames as they destroyed everything I had. It was beautiful, in such a sickening way.

A hand on my back. I caved into Alexander's body, and he held me, and I let myself be vulnerable, even if it was just for a few short-lived moments.