“You should never have come here,” he says, and, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” breathed against her skin in the darkness like an offering, like a prayer for release.

But she is not. Her thoughts remain the same, since she came to this city a proud girl, expecting a fight and finding instead - I love as she saw the way he looked at her, and smiled, and I love as his fingers splayed over the tight skin of her rounded belly, feeling their child shift inside, and I love even now, even as she watches him walk away, straight backed and shining in his armor, one last time.