It’s possible she really doesn’t grasp the scope of this, she can’t truly, her worldview has been limited so severely by her inexperience and age. Aja has no perspective on what he’s asking her to do, not really. And most likely she won’t really understand it until it happens.
He watches her, and she looks at him for some form of reassurance. It feels like forever before he speaks, and what he says just leaves her with a cold feeling in her abdomen. They’ll be safe, he coos. The words settle on her, an attempt to comfort that she obviously is still struggling to find relief in. And with the addition implying her own parents are something to be feared? It negates what little she’d gotten.
When he places a hand on her shoulder, she feels the weight of it heavy on her. Like the whole of her world was placed on her shoulders, a burden that was terrible and unwanted. The general makes her feel small, even smaller than she normally feels, and she looks up at him as he speaks. She hasn’t been able to find words to say while he does his best to keep her on the path. The shoulder squeeze reminds her again how large he is, and how easily he could make that hurt.
Fighting her own family would be too hard, there is nothing in this world that could make her take up her serrator against them. Aja knows that all the way down to her core. But she can’t refuse now, she’s gone past the point of no return. Her own choices suddenly feel like the bars of a cage, something to hold her in place. Even for the good of her own people, the thought is somewhat sickening.
Her Mama and Papa would never try to fight her, would they? She didn’t think so, but in the end did she ever really know them the same way Morando did? There is a lot she has never heard, never seen, and that they have actively hidden from her and her brother. They’re rulers of course, and it comes with the territory. They were not privy to every piece of information available. There was the worry that she never would have been. Being a pawn used by them to keep the peace. And did the rights of the many supersede the lives of the few?
Her thoughts are interrupted by him saying her name, drawing her out of the miserable spiral she’d been about to go down. There isn’t time to think about it. To worry if her choices were right or wrong, if she’d been led down the correct path. For the good of Akiridion… She had to make a choice.
“You can trust me.” She says, her voice still sounding uncertain. But she’s committed now. Aja can no longer let herself turn back. “I can do that, if it comes down to it.”
No, I can’t. She thinks, hoping it doesn’t show. Morando is not the only liar present.
“But it will not come to that.” A deep breath. “For the good of Akiridion, I will do everything in my power to keep it from being necessary.”
Morando lets out a low purr, seemingly satisfied with her answer. Her determination seems not to have waned though she hesitates, and he gets the feeling that at the very least she will make good on her promise to lower the shields. Really, that’s all he needs. The Taylon that he already has under his thumb will be more than sufficient to take the capital and crush any resistance he meets, and anything more that Aja does is a bonus.
He looks through the light, eyes piercing into hers, a question nagging at the back of his mind. How much further can he push her before he scares her off? It is a delicate dance that they are doing now, skirting around each other and their intentions. He had known her well enough as a child, doting on her with stories and trinkets from his conquests. She had trusted him well then - is that memory enough to hold their bond strong now?
“Princess,” he begins, sliding his hand down to her upper arm. She feels strong, powerful underneath his fingers. She’s grown so tremendously. How proud the king and queen must be. “We’ve had good conversations, have we not? Powerful conversations.” He had gotten her under his thumb so long ago though she did not know it. He remembers their talks - good talks, long talks. His poison is deep within her. His poison is what drew them together after his banishment. His poison is what courses through the both of them now, holding them in close proximity as the shield around them sparks with electricity. “Our conversations are what brought us here, where we are in this moment.” Her innocence, his big ideas, the look in her kind eyes as she watched him, enraptured.
“I know what Akiridion-5 will look like after we take down the monarchy and liberate our people,” he says, gaze falling to his hand on her arm. So small, and yet so big. “But what of you? When the people are free - when you are free - what will you do?” His hand slides lower, down to her elbow. The backs of his fingers brush against her lower arm. Is he trying to talk her out of it? To scare her away? To make her linger longer so that he can feel the curve of her arm under his hand? His eyes flicker back to her own. Does she have the faintest idea of the sort of thoughts that are running through his mind in this exact moment?
“How thrilling, to be free,” he muses, his grip tightening. “For the first time in your life, you can choose who and what you want to be.” His mouth turns upwards into a smile, that sinister grin that he cannot help but wear when they are being clever together. “But never forget this, Aja.” His other hand comes up and wraps around her other arm, pulling her just a bit closer - but not too close. It would be inappropriate, after all. “What you are doing is a tremendous thing - and it will make you a hero for all time.”
But should she stand with him and should they utter those ugly words with their stupid mouths, he will crush their cores with his own hands.
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