Prologue
“How could you do this?"
On the boundary between grass and ice, evergreen and snowfall, stood two figures. Heated stares, intertwined by shared agony but distanced by loyalties. The princess wailed, lips quivering, hands clutched to her chest as if she could dig deeper and tore out the cause of her suffering.
Dark blue eyes held hers, desperate to look away, to shield himself from the scathing sear of her pleading gaze. It set his soul ablaze, a river of fire coursing through his veins, threatening to tear him down from within.
The wind blew between them, a sharp whistle, nipping at their skins; the Heavens were punishing them both. For they had deviated from their paths, dared to steal moments in the shadows, the blanket of the night, behind closed doors, away from prying eyes. Damned, they were, for their ambition. Their greed. As was the fate of all man.
“You wouldn’t understand.”
His voice, firm and unyielding, cut through her like a knife. She stumbled back, bare feet numbed by the cold. A storm was approaching – heavy, dark clouds rolling in, rain thundering as it sprinted towards them with a bloodlust. The gods wanted retribution, and they would get what they wanted -- they always did.
She screamed, barely audible over the roar of the wind, “Make me understand. You lied to me! You used me. You promised me your heart and the world, only to destroy mine. Everything I’ve ever known has been demolished, taken from me, and damn you, you will make me understand!”
The gates were closing, tall slabs of stone were being pushed and pulled with haste, a desperation to sever all ties with finality. But the Heavens had made up their minds; war was coming, and it will ravish them all.
“We will never see eye to eye, not when our kingdoms are on the line. And none of it matters because it’s already been done. You will never forgive me. That I’ve already accepted. But we will both live to see another day and that thought alone will prevent me from looking back.”
The princess shook her head, bare feet padding closer, like her will could hold the stone walls open, could keep him from leaving, could change everything.
It was too late.
“Goodbye, my love.”
And then he was gone.
She would have to bear the storm, face the wrath of the Heavens, and carry the remains of her kingdom.
Alone.
As was the fate of all women.
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