[ meets her in a blank flat stare, and that -- that is laughable. But there is a reason that no matter how she looks at him, he is unflinching, and it begins and ends with the cruel flat smile in the dark. The voice he cannot shake that gives him no peace whilst offering him something else instead. ]

No, his interest is not my grief, or any other longing such as that, that would be to say he cares, and believe me, there is nothing in those black eyes of his but void. [ And in enough time, they will all be devoured, but he shakes his head of it, of the cold that runs up his marked hand that glows and burns with a darkness he cannot always help. ] He chose me, I think, because of what I did, what I will do -- and that because of them, I will make an Empire rise and fall.

[ and it's too much weight, so he doesn't think about it, he thinks only about one thing. ] Or at least that is what he says, whatever the others keep saying. For all that I care, I would only have Lady Emily safe again. Regardless, I did not see to my own escape with his help. I did it alone, I saved myself. I found my own reason, my own way forward, and my grief made it possible.