aktinxvoliia:
“You won’t, your highness.”
The words spilled from her mouth almost before she could stop them. Was she out of line, speaking so to royalty? Perhaps some might have thought so, and another time, Máire would have worried- but in this moment, she only saw a young man in need of reassurance, something she could offer, and so she offered a smile with hopefully comforting words.
“If I may, I think you’ve more support than you realize. Myself, yes, but also your family and our other friends- Soleil, Ignatius, your cousin, Prince Forrest? All of us have faith in you, milord, and it isn’t due simply to your station. We have seen what you are capable of, as well as your kindness and determination. Personally, I think you’re already well on your way.”
“I couldn’t be more grateful to you, and to the others who count themselves my friends and family. From what I’ve read and heard, it seems as though a prince must be wary of others. Yet, I have the luxury of people that I trust wholeheartedly.”
His grandfather had let these women into his court, into his heart, and sired many children. Whether it was through malice or incompetence that so many of them and their children perished, it really wasn’t something either of them could say. But the idea that someone so revered by his own father could fall so far worried Siegbert.
He did not want to let harm come to come to his people, or his friends and loved ones. The prince would certainly not wish any harm to befall the fair and tenderhearted Máire. Kind people like her did not deserve to suffer under a cruel or incompetent king.
“I am certainly trying. Knowing my family’s history makes me feel as though I am in a precarious position, that it would be easy to start in a downward turn but...”
Her words hung in the air, as well as in the space of his own mind.
“When you say ‘I won’t’ and that ‘I am well on my way’, I want to believe it.”
