You wake up, and it's to a hand around your neck and the ominous glint of a blade in the moonlight.
It's the first time you've woken up like this. You're maybe five, or six years old, and you're filled with fear first, and panic second.
But you still know better than to scream. You worry that the guards stationed outside your door would only come in and help the assailant finish the job.
So instead you slap the arm that's keeping you pinned to your bed, and it doesn't do much, except that the knife misses wherever it was meant to cut, slashing deep and bloody over your chest instead, pain slicing through your veins as your legs kick out, earning a grunt of pain when they connect with—something soft and human.
The situation starts to take shape in your head, and something else seeps in around the fear: fury. Indignation. Rage that anyone would do this to you- you're a prince.
You kick again before your attacker manages to shield himself, into that same spot, another more pronounced cry of pain. But you're maybe half your attacker's weight, and it's not enough to dislodge him, so the next time his blade flashes, it lodges into your shoulder, and it burns so much that you lose track of everything else. How hard your fists are beating into the arm around your neck. How furiously your legs are kicking at the shape above you until eventually it staggers back.
Like many times before this, you wonder why. Do you deserve to die?
But unlike the times before this, you've gotten more resourceful. The pain pounding in your head goes still, remembering the dagger under your pillow. You reach for it, clumsy, and your attacker has clearly underestimated you because you're able to draw it and bury it deep into—something. Something that drops hot blood over your chin and neck.
The assassin reels back in surprise, and you're screaming, launching forward and you know that you hurt him again, somewhere, some amount of times because there's blood spraying over your floors different from the droplets dripping from your own clothes. But you're only a child, and when the fog clears from your head you realize that the would-be assassin is gone.
It's just you, covered in blood and left without a scratch.
I was well-protected for my whole life... I didn't have to worry about things like that.
[She gives him a faint, self-conscious smile.] I suppose that, even compared to other royals, I was pretty sheltered. I couldn't have survived what you did.
I don't know. You endure a lot here, don't you? It takes a lot to see lives taken week after week and remain kind and open. It's all about strength of heart.
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week 3, tuesday, courtyard
It's the first time you've woken up like this. You're maybe five, or six years old, and you're filled with fear first, and panic second.
But you still know better than to scream. You worry that the guards stationed outside your door would only come in and help the assailant finish the job.
So instead you slap the arm that's keeping you pinned to your bed, and it doesn't do much, except that the knife misses wherever it was meant to cut, slashing deep and bloody over your chest instead, pain slicing through your veins as your legs kick out, earning a grunt of pain when they connect with—something soft and human.
The situation starts to take shape in your head, and something else seeps in around the fear: fury. Indignation. Rage that anyone would do this to you- you're a prince.
You kick again before your attacker manages to shield himself, into that same spot, another more pronounced cry of pain. But you're maybe half your attacker's weight, and it's not enough to dislodge him, so the next time his blade flashes, it lodges into your shoulder, and it burns so much that you lose track of everything else. How hard your fists are beating into the arm around your neck. How furiously your legs are kicking at the shape above you until eventually it staggers back.
Like many times before this, you wonder why. Do you deserve to die?
But unlike the times before this, you've gotten more resourceful. The pain pounding in your head goes still, remembering the dagger under your pillow. You reach for it, clumsy, and your attacker has clearly underestimated you because you're able to draw it and bury it deep into—something. Something that drops hot blood over your chin and neck.
The assassin reels back in surprise, and you're screaming, launching forward and you know that you hurt him again, somewhere, some amount of times because there's blood spraying over your floors different from the droplets dripping from your own clothes. But you're only a child, and when the fog clears from your head you realize that the would-be assassin is gone.
It's just you, covered in blood and left without a scratch.
He gives Estelle a concerned look. ]
Sorry. You alright?
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An... an assassin? But you were so little...
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Politics can be an ugly beast, can't it?
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It's horrible... I'm so sorry you had to go through that.
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He looks a little embarrassment, but allows it. ]
It's alright. I was a pretty annoying kid.
It's why I was a little surprised that you hadn't had assassins come after you. Though I'm glad you didn't.
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[She gives him a faint, self-conscious smile.] I suppose that, even compared to other royals, I was pretty sheltered. I couldn't have survived what you did.
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I don't know. You endure a lot here, don't you? It takes a lot to see lives taken week after week and remain kind and open. It's all about strength of heart.
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[She doesn't have a retort.]
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[She sounds surprised.]
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