Page 142 of A Kingdom's Heart
“You shouldn’t have done this for me,” he said “You were never meant to. I would have faced every blade before letting this happen.” he said quietly, his voice raw.
I looked at him, my chest rising and falling with effort. “I did, William.”
He pressed a hand against the wound, desperate to stop the bleeding. “No,” he whispered fiercely. “Now look at you. You’re bleeding out, you’re banished. There’s a kill order on your name. You’ve lost everything.”
A faint smile touched my lips, even as my body trembled from
the pain. “But I didn’t lose you,” I said softly. “They would have killed you if I hadn’t.”
He shook his head, his jaw tightening as tears welled in his eyes. “You should’ve let me die. At least then you’d still be safe.”
“Safe?” I whispered, a weak laugh slipping through the pain. “There’s no safety without you.”
He swallowed hard, his voice barely holding together. “God, I don’t deserve you.”
My eyes met his, glassy, fading, but still filled with him. “Neither do I,” I whispered. “That’s why we fit perfectly together.”
For a moment, he said nothing. Then he leaned forward, resting his forehead against mine, his breath trembling against my lips.
“If you die here, Iris…” His voice cracked as if that was something he refused to imagine. “Then God will have to take me with you.”
My fingers trembled as I wiped his tears away. “I’m still here,” I whispered. “And I’m not leaving this world while you’re in it.”
He let out a shaky breath, his forehead still pressed against mine, as if afraid that letting go would make me vanish.
For a moment, everything was silent. No guards. No courtiers. No crown. Just him and me, breathing in the wreckage of what we’d become.
Outside, the wind whispered through the pines, carrying with it
the scent of the kingdom I could never return to. It didn’t sting the way I thought it would. Not when his arms were around me.
“You’re safe now,” he murmured, though his voice trembled. “Even if you don’t have your old life anymore, we’ll build something of our own.”
And as the night closed around us, I believed him. I always would. For the first time, exile didn’t feel like an ending. It felt like the beginning ofus.
CHAPTER SIXTY
WILLIAM
I worked quietly, my hands moving the way she told me to. The cut was deep, and every time I pressed the cloth to her skin, I saw her flinch, even though she tried to hide it. I hated it. I hated that she had done this for me.
She guided me through each step with a weak voice, telling me how tight to wrap the bandages, how to fold the cloth so it wouldn’t reopen the wound. I listened, but my mind wasn’t really here. All I could think about was how I wished she hadn’t done it.
She was a princess. She belonged in a palace, surrounded by gold and silk, not in a forgotten cottage with blood on her hands. Not like this.
It would have been better if she had let me die. At least then, she would still have her title, her crown, her safety. But now she had nothing. Because of me. Because she chose me.
I tightened the last bandage, my chest aching with guilt. I would protect her. No matter what came next, I’d make sure no one ever touched her again. If I had to fight every soldier in the kingdom, I would. I’d kill for her. I’d die for her.
“That’s enough,” she whispered, breaking through my thoughts. “I think that’s good.”
I nodded, my hands still on her. For a moment, I couldn’t move.
Then I leaned forward and pulled her into my arms.
She gasped softly, but her arms came up around me. I held her close, afraid that if I let go, she would vanish.
“I love you,” I whispered against her hair. My voice trembled. “I love you so, so much.”
