A cold dread spread through her, deeper than any she had felt before. The strength that had sustained her through her solitary studies, the resolve forged in the fire of her past life's regrets, wavered.
She was a princess, yes, but also a girl who had once known the fear of a starving populace, the chaos of a kingdom under siege. She remembered the helpless faces, the desperate pleas, the cold indifference of those who held power.
And now, she held that knowledge alone.
The weight of it, the terrible certainty of what was to come, became too much. A single tear tracked a path down her cheek, cold against her skin.
Then another, and another, until her vision blurred. She slowly sank into the chair, her shoulders shaking.
The maps blurred before her, the carefully plotted battle lines unraveling into meaningless streaks. A sharp, broken sob escaped her, raw and uncontrollable.
