Hope Falls

"You must marry, you must have children if you are going to be Queen, Aesira. Your father would never force you but the people would, the nobles. Civil war is something your people enjoy, the reason you don't have grandparents and the reason your father is not... the King he has the potential to be all of the time." He took a breath. "If you long for freedom, take it. I doubt your father would have been King if he hadn't of felt he had a point to prove. You have a brother, you can pass the responsibility over if this is not something you want."

“We have a Queen with no children right now. Queen Isolde went centuries with neither an heir nor a husband and she was not made to do anything. I won’t set myself up for pure pain and misery just because everyone dictates me to do so.” Aesira shook her head firmly. “I won’t do it. What is the point? In finding love to have it be wrong? To be punished for it? Having children just to have them hurt when you have to leave them? It is just pain. All actions that result in hurt and misery all round… I won’t do it.”

"Pain, yes. Unbearable deep, incomprehensible pain but also incredible joy, and happiness. Talks about the future are done better when you have a calmer head." Magnus rested his chin on top of hers as he hugged her. "Right now the most important things to remember are that number one your mother is alive, number two it is a farewell, not a goodbye and number three your favourite King is here to distract you from it all, even if he is pretty sure you have bruised him."

(( Night night ))

“They will find a way to kill her…” Aesira replied miserably as she leaned into him, closing her eyes with a heavy sigh. “I don’t believe they’ll ever allow her back… and you will have to go home one day. And I will be left with it all…”

"They can try to find a way, but they won't manage it. Your mother is quick, clever. She is going to come home to you, and until she does you will have me. I can't stay here the whole of the five years, your right, but visits can be frequent and I have no plans on returning home just yet."

“I wish you could be. I don’t know how to be strong for Cass like I promised I would be, not on my own.”

"Strength is not all broad shoulders and a fake smile," Magnus whispered, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear gently to try and tidy it. "Strength, when you are both so heartbroken, is being there for each other. Crying together, finding things to laugh at together. Crawling back out, not alone."

“That doesn’t sound like being strong… Crying isn’t being strong.”

"Being vulnerable with your family is brave, working your way out of that vulnerability along side them is strong. Everyone cries at some point in their lives, Aesira, and believing anything differently is just ridiculous."

"Being vulnerable with your family is brave, working your way out of that vulnerability along side them is strong. Everyone cries at some point in their lives, Aesira, and believing anything differently is just ridiculous."

“I have never seen you cry…”

"Everyone cries at some point in their lives, other than me." He corrected with a playful chuckle. "You and Cassius will get through this, Aesira. You've got each other. Ira though - did they tell you about Eden?"

“They said she went too…”

"Only for eighteen months though, and you can start visiting her after six." He offered a tired smile. "Just do me a favour and make sure that you and Cassius involve Ira in everything, as much as you can. He doesn't have his sibling to feel sad with."

“Ira doesn’t like being involved when he’s angry… He’s been awful to Cass.”

"He'll need you both, too." Magnus reaffirmed quietly

Aesira nodded, letting out an exhausted sigh. “Do you know why my father hasn’t come to see me?”

"I imagine he is trying to gain his composure, he wouldn't want you to see how... broken... he looked in that room. He won't be long, I'll go and give him a kick up the arse."

“No… Don’t. Don’t. He’ll come to me when he’s ready… And I am angry at him too so… maybe I need the extra time as well.”

"Angry at him? He is just a pawn, Aesira. Everyone, everyone is just a pawn."

“I’m allowed to be angry at him. I’m angry at my mother too. Angry at them both… angry at everyone.”

"Oh to have the energy for anger." Magnus laughed flatly. "I don't often feel old, until you and those younger than you waste your energy on things like that."

“It’s not wasted. I’m allowed to be angry. You were just talking about expressing my feelings. I’m expressing them. I’m angry.”

"I don't mean it like that. Just - ignore me, I am tired. It has been an emotional week, hasn't it?"

“The sun has only just come up and yet I want to go back to bed… maybe for the next five years…”