"If only I could hold myself to that same level of honesty." Instead, she had to tell Cassana that the man who barely acknowledged her presence was her father. It wasn't the life that she had intended for her children, though she had wondered if she would ever have any. Now that she had a daughter, circumstances had colored her view of being queen.

It won't be long before he has to leave as well. There would be no further reason for them to meet again. There were no treaties to discus, no wars to fight. This had the air of finality and it crushed her soul. Cassana would never know how important this meeting was and that it would have to last for the rest of her life.

"I wish you could as well." She told him frankly. She wished she could content herself with the trappings of power and the life that she had always believed she wanted. She wished he had no wife nor she a husband. She wished they bore no obligations, save for their own desires, but all of this was as pointless as wishing to meet the gods. "What do you think of her?"