This actually intersects with a broader AU I've been tossing around, where Helen dies of illness alongside her brothers, forcing the gods to...improvise.
In that first hazy instant after waking, the king of Eddis imagined Death herself to be waiting at the end of his bed, so icily beautiful was the woman shrouded in gray who sat there; and in response he only smiled, crooked and content. He said, "You've come rather late, if you meant to collect me with the rest of my cousins. You might have spared me the coronation, at least; the crown made my head ache terribly."
"You're a fool," said Irene shortly, years of hard work as the first Thief of Attolia having eroded what was left of the Shadow Princess' patience, "and not a very good one, either. Now get up and get dressed; I've come to steal you."
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In that first hazy instant after waking, the king of Eddis imagined Death herself to be waiting at the end of his bed, so icily beautiful was the woman shrouded in gray who sat there; and in response he only smiled, crooked and content. He said, "You've come rather late, if you meant to collect me with the rest of my cousins. You might have spared me the coronation, at least; the crown made my head ache terribly."
"You're a fool," said Irene shortly, years of hard work as the first Thief of Attolia having eroded what was left of the Shadow Princess' patience, "and not a very good one, either. Now get up and get dressed; I've come to steal you."