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“… And obviously you are fine,” she mutters.
“Obviously.”
“So, you killed all of my men?”
I nod. “I killed those of them who came after me and my family.”
“How well did they fight?”
“Not well enough.”
“That’s what I was afraid of…”
My heart drops. And here I thought that she might be relieved that I wasn’t killed.
“You wish they won? You wish they killed me and my brother?”
“No,” Sophia whispers, bowing her head. “But if they’re not strong enough to take you on directly, then they’re going to have to keep going after those who can’t fight back.”
“Civilians…” I mumble, realizing what she means. There will be more bombs. The longer I hold onto their princess, the more destruction there will be, the more innocent lives lost.
“We need to do something, Leonid.”
“… Like get married?” The response comes out of me like a long-withheld breath. Hell, it’s almost like a roar.
But I wish I hadn’t said it. All my words do is expose my truest thoughts. My deepest concerns. I’ve been thinking about her too much, and now she knows it.
… But why didn’t she want to marry me?
A crackling fist of dark molten rock appears around my heart. Slowly, it starts to clench in around my stupid fucking organ, until my chest hurts worse than any pain in my leg ever could.
“Neither of us want that,” Sophia whispers, looking back up at me. The stony face has returned, hardening her jaw-dropping features. But, for some reason, I can see through it just enough this time to realize that she’s studying me. Watching for a reaction.
She doesn’t know what she wants either.
But she does know one thing that I don’t.
“Why did you write me that letter?” I ask. Pushing the wicker chair aside, I step forward.
There’s nothing standing between us now but the hot summer air.
“… I didn’t write it,” Sophia says, her face twitching ever so slightly.
“Then who did?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“Retsos.”
“Because he wants peace, right?” This is the part I’m already caught up on. It’s the next part that still remains a mystery.
“Because he’s a coward.”
“But you’re not a coward,” I remind her, stepping closer to my conflicted princess. “You wanted to fight. You still want to fight…”
“I want to fight the right way,” Sophia says. “No innocent casualties.”
“Of course,” I nod. “Because you’re a fighter. A true warrior. That’s why the Greeks rallied around you. But if that’s so, then why were you willing to throw it all away just to marry me?”
“… I wasn’t.”
