I loved him, which is why I gave him a clean death.

You see, they like to tell you stories in which loves wins out; but only a certain type of love can win. The love between a man and a woman where she loses more than he does to end the war and win unite the kingdoms; after all, he gets to be king.

But there are other forms of love; love for my mother who has ruled twenty years, love for my soldiers who will be butchered or sidelined when they take power, love for the people who fight to protect their families and honour. Am I meant to spit on that because I love f*****g this man? I don’t know if I will in ten years. I don’t know how many mistresses he’ll keep or how he’ll change; its easy for him to swear loyalty now knowing that he will lose nothing later.

So I did it; the thing that makes Aphrodite hate me and the people worship me. I asked him to lure his family into the great cathedral so that we could tell them we loved each other together. I lured mine in to, but I also had archers put inside the cathedral. Once our families entered we did declare our love. I looked him in the eyes as I told him I loved him; I do. I always will. That was the symbol for the archers; we had them suspended from the ceiling, painted to blend in. They dropped down and shot arrows at everyone not dressed in our royal colours. I held him and my mother as they bled out.