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“Do you think you’ll find better?”
“I don’t know.” He hated that. Not knowing. This entire moment was full of not knowing.
“You do think there’s better. Is it love, do you think, that makes the difference?”
“Perhaps.”
“So you acknowledge that... That if it is real... It might be wonderful?”
“A great many things could be classified that way. It would not change the way things are.” He gripped the railing. Hard. “I hope you find someone who loves you, Mouse.”
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. Startled.
“Why?”
He moved toward her, suddenly compelled by her pale silhouette. “Because you’ve seen enough hardship, I think. Enough hardship to last you a lifetime.”
The air seemed to disappear entirely.
“I certainly think so,” she said, sounding breathless. “But why don’t you want better for yourself?”
“Better for me is simply not being my father.” It felt like the stone of the building behind him was sitting on his shoulders. For Livia assumed this was a simple task, and he feared it was not. To hate his father would make it simple. The reality... The reality was much more complicated. “And I’ll take that. Unhappily. It does not grieve me if the future set before me is only as lofty as that.”
“And me?”
He reached out, and did something he thought he might regret. He touched her face, and found it soft. Let his hand move down to her chin. She took a sharp, indrawn breath, but she didn’t move away.
“You are the most singular creature I have ever known. Even when you’re being a harpy. In fact, perhaps especially then, because nobody dares challenge me the way that you do. You have fought diligently for our country tonight. You... You among all people deserve love, if such a thing exists.”
“Even the façade of it?”
“People seem quite happy.”
“Some of them do, yes.”
“But you can never leave me,” he said. “Whatever man catches your eye, you must stay with me.”
“I don’t think I could.” She turned away from him.
“Why not?”
“I cannot be yours while professing to be someone else’s, surely you must know that.”
“Well, if he is from Monte Blanco, I don’t think you will see a problem with it. I’m the King. So everything is mine first.”
“Thank you for reminding me,” she said, nearly laughing. “That even when you’re being kind, you’re still you. And still arrogant underneath it all.”
“And you are still a feral little creature. Even underneath all that sophistication you put on.”
“A compliment.”
“And I take your insult such as well.”
“Matteo...”
“Yes?”
But she turned away. And so he reached out, and gripped her chin again, leaning down as he turned her face up, bringing their mouths within a whisper of each other. And then, everything stopped. Time was suspended.
