She does. Laughing. Sobbing. Pressing her hands to his cheeks and leaning in, close and closer and closest, crushing her lips to his as the last of his breath escapes as a sigh, soft on her skin. She kisses him, desperately, longingly, as his hand falls away from hers and everything he was fades on that last whisper, eyelids fluttering closed as if he were drifting off to sleep. “Please…,” she breathes. She holds him tight. Knuckles white. Lips red. “Please stay…” Her Highness’s final command. But he’s not there to hear it.
