When Demando touched Serenity's cheek when she slept, he thought if he had her than maybe all this would be worth it. If he had her then the emptiness in his chest will be filled with light instead of sorrow. Then, his brother's death and the pain from that loss would be healed. Where she slept so innocently, he thought if he kissed her awake he would be more noble, more the Prince and less the title and the responsibilities. When he watched her blue eyes opening, naive and searching, he thought, if he could capture that and remake himself in that white, white light, then he would no longer be so weary, so stained and so lost.

Demando dreamed a lot of things in the darkness of that room. He dreamed of the could-be and the would-be if things had been different. He wondered what his world would be like with her as the bright flower, illuminating the constant darkness. He wondered how his brother would have grown to be if there had been more happiness in their lives. Would his subjects have been different? Would life have been so different?

Then he bowed his head before rising and making a dent on the bed. He kissed her red, red lips. She did not wake. He inhaled her scent but eventually he had to exhale out the pieces of her that was in himself but was not him. He put his white hand on her white throat thought she was of a purer coloring than himself. And in that moment he was filled with a sudden jealous darkness, a hated love and obsession...

She would be his.

She -is- his.

In the darkness, while she lay as still as death, Demando remembered all the things he no longer had and gave to have her. And for just a very brief moment, before he could dismiss the thought, wondered if she was worth it...