What could he say to that? There were no words that could make something like that hurt less.
“...I'm sorry,” Lephas murmured.
“So am I. Because of me, your men–”” Lori swallowed and fixed him with glassy eyes.
“It's what we do. We all knew the risks when we set out.”
“No, it's my fault.” Lori shook her head, looking away. Lephas knew from her voice that she was growing emotional again. “If I hadn't be so stupid... I ran away from home like a petulant child and now I'm paying the price for it. My father has clearly cut me out of his life, to the point that he now considers me one of his 'loose ends' that need tying up. He'll never stop looking for me. Those men are going to keep coming after me, until—"
“Over my dead body.”
“Quite literally, I fear.” Lori laughed bitterly.
“Hey, I've never lost a prisoner yet. I'm not about to start now.” Lephas joked.
“What about men? Have you lost any of your men before?” Lori pinned him with a hollow stare.
“Unfortunately, yes. Princess, you think this is the first time I've seen friends of mine killed? Captured? You have no idea who your father really is.”
“I'm starting to understand.”
“I've seen your father's men burn entire villages to the ground, ripping children from their mothers, raping women... Losing men? That's part of war I’m far too familiar with, Lori. It's the rest of it that makes me sick.” He looked at her, his face grim.
The faerie looked like she was going to throw up. She shivered.
“Where will they take Haros?” the commander asked. Worry for his friend weighed heavily on his conscience.
“To my father's dungeon. They won't kill him, at least not right away. I'm sure they'll want to question him first. They'll... Torture him to get what they want.” Lori replied quietly, keeping her eyes downcast.
“Shit. I hope he's alright.” Lephas frowned, shaking his head.
“Me too.”
“So, why were you running away in the first place?” he asked.
“My father and I haven't seen eye to eye for some time. He kept my sisters and I locked in the castle grounds, like prisoners. He pretends like it's for our safety, but his paranoia... It's frightening.” She sniffed, wiping a tear from her cheek. So, the rumours of Lazuli's madness were true. Zelrus would be keen to know about this.
“He decided Sivelle – my eldest sister - and I were to be married off. He didn't ask either of us. The first we knew was when we were summoned to the throne room like servants.”
“I take it you weren't keen on that idea?” Lephas asked with a small smile. He handed her a bite-sized cube of blood berry.
“You can say that again. I told him I'd had enough. I refused to marry some stranger I'd never met, especially as he hadn't even had the decency to talk to us about it first. He tried to have me chained up until the wedding day, but my sister persuaded him against it.”
Lephas nodded, listening intently.
“He settled on having me locked in my bedroom. I was in there for about a week before I managed to escape. He was so hell-bent on getting an heir, he was marrying us off like cattle. I wouldn't have put it past him to stand at the foot of the bed to make sure we consummated–” She shook herself.
Lephas had often heard rumours that there was unrest in the faerie capital, now he was certain of it. If Lazuli was locking his own daughters up, the daughters he fought so hard to protect, what else was he doing?
“So, you ran. That's understandable.” He passed another cube of fruit to her.
“Is it? I feel like a fool now. I ran away because Daddy wanted to marry me off. Isn't that just part and parcel of being a royal?”
“Not for demons it isn't.” Lephas shook his head.
“No?” The commander was pleased to see some of the sorrow had left her face, replaced by curiosity.
“No one really knows how royal blooded demons came to be. It's generally thought that because they tend to be bigger and stronger than most of us that they were natural leaders and it just sort of developed over time.”
