Before she knew what happened, The Shadow King lifted her into his arms. Clara could do nothing more then gasp and cough as suddenly the world sped up around her and she was in her chambers. He set her down gently in her bed, scanned her body. His steel grey eyes began to glow that brilliant yellow she'd seen before and they settled on her wheezing chest. Warmth began to glow inside her as if something gripped her lungs and eased them into a calm as his hand began to glow not yellow, but purple. Her eyes fluttered closed as she was able to take it greedy gulps of air. Before long she could breath normal, and she lay there, stunned.
Her chest had never felt this free, she'd never noticed how tight it was until now. She wondered if this would last.
She looked over at him, a little dubious. His magic was real, that much she knew but he used it to help her, not fling some creature out of a tower. She sat up, her head cocked. "Why?" She asked, her voice raw from disuse.
“You’re both right, and wrong about me... as far as what I am. My... Ancestor, four hundred years ago, was Maelthra, first of his name. I’m his descendant. And his spirit is latched onto mine and mixed in like bread dough to yeast, giving me his powers. Because in the end, I wanted the same thing he wanted. To not be something he detested.” He said and she stayed quiet and just listened.
“A man, King of Nothing.” He said and he wasn't looking at her anymore, more like through her, to some far off place. The gloss in his grey eyes was not lost on her either.
“I never amounted to anything before all that I am now. You have every right to hate me Clara. Maybe I was better off as King of nothing.” He said and she swallowed. He didn't say her name in a condensing tone just then, it was as if they were merely two people in a room. Not a Conqueror and a Conquered Princess. He began to walk away and she was going to let him, this was a trick, a way to get her to stop being so combative, which wasn't at all possible, but still, it made sense to try, but Clara didn't believe that, she wanted to but he could have let the illness take her and it would be the truth, but no, he saved her from it.
"Wait." She called before he had time to turn the knob. "Are you telling me that you share a body--a soul with you're ancestor?" She said but it wasn't that she required an answer. "That this isn't who you really are?" She asked rhetorically. "If that is true, then I don't know you, not truly, only one aspect of you, perhaps..." She couldn't believe she was about to say this. "Perhaps there is more to you then I saw, an perhaps I owe you, now, a chance to talk." She said and sighed."You wanted to get to know me?" She asked. "Then I will give you that chance, as a thank you." She said and gestured to her chest. "Alright?"
