The next person to enter the room was Eve, with a tray of toast and orange juice balanced on her arms as she pushed passed the open doorway several minutes later, a sheepish smile drawn over her lips.

"I guessed you'd be hungry," she said, approaching Oris with the same hesitant steps one would take towards a skittish mere. "I'm glad you're awake."

As am I. Oris wasn't shy about the way her eyes roamed over the nun so many holy people were ready to sin to protect. At least now she understand their conviction, and why they had chosen her out of many other starving orphan. For the third time in her life, she was left stuck with the feeling that the journey of her life was already written in stone.

The first time was the moment Risa had lost her mind, the same moment Bren had gotten permission to court Oris, on the birthday they didn't know was shared with another girl; the girl who was about to rip them apart.

The second time had happened after barely two and half years of being Orse's puppet ruler. When Hermes had come for her head, the sister she had replaced was suddenly used to replace her in order for her to escape.

The third time, of course, was now. Discretely kidnapped from an inn to save a nun who could as well have been her older sister in another life, one that wouldn't lose her mind.

Eve was pretty.

Not pretty in the way you'd tell a little girl in pigtails as you patted her on the head and fed her candy. No, she had bright blue-grey eyes that took in everything with an enthusiasm that wasn't faked. Eyes that seemed to pierce into your soul and take subtle peeks at your true self.

Her brows, her nose, even her crooked smile, every feature on her face seemed perfectly sculpted as though the god in charge of creation had spent extra time to draw every detail. He didn't seem patient enough to let life do the work with a random splash she would grow into as she got older—or not. He didn't seem to want to take the chance that a beau such as her would be ruined by the hands of time. And so that was what Eve was, timeless.

Oris could imagine her thirty years from now, forty even, with the same features that were forcing her into the Hermes' palace now, unchanged and preserved for the rest of her life till she took her last breath.

She would always be pretty; her eyes would always glow when they landed on the latest object of her fancy.

Oris was sure of that because Eve's face was one that would stay with you forever, pretty in the sense that you would be unable to pull your eyes away. Angelic, even.

She could imagine that many had been converted to worshipers in the nun's presence. Eve seemed to embody the answer to all the questions Oris had regarding the gods.

Were they fair? No, they were not. Did they allow the creation of such an inspirational being just to let her be destroyed by a power-hungry hegemon? Probably not.

It couldn't be possible.

The moment Oris set her eyes on Eve she knew it was impossible.

The strands of blood-red hair that framed the work of art that formed the nun's every bright expression was proof enough. They were shades of red almost as deep as Oris' and similar enough that someone from afar might confuse the two of them from behind.

Red hair wasn't exactly rare but it was commonly believed that it was a sign of Orse's royal bloodline.

Of course it wasn't possible for all redheads to be born in the palace, sometimes the hair color skipped entire generations. That was why Oris hadn't needed to stain her hair with black dye just to blend in with the masses.

It was more accepted that most redheads outside the castle were unwanted runts who were too far down the line of succession to be anyone of import.

I can't believe you called me beautiful. Oris was left grappling for words as she resigned herself to her fate.

"Your family," she started, knowing her fate was sealed as she stared at the woman who could very well be a long lost cousin she never knew she had, "I see why they are trying so hard to save you."

Redness diffused through Eve's cheeks making her look more honest than she already was. It matched her hair nicely. "They shouldn't have, my brothers. . ." she trailed off then mover to set the tray on the table.

"I thought you'd be hungry," she repeated, for lack of anything else to say.

"Thank you," Oris said softly, really meaning it for one of the few times in her life.

Suddenly her heart ached for the beauty who had been betrayed by the society she had been trying her best to help. Remembering how fervently Eve had been praying and singing and crying yesterday now made her sick to her stomach. How is someone so pure going to survive the royal palace?

She wouldn't, was the answer. Oris knew that.

"I'm Eve," the nun smiled and walked forward, stretching out her hand to Oris.

"Oris," taking Eve's hands in one of hers, the defeated queen placed a soft kiss on the skin just above her knuckles instead of just touching her fingers to the other woman's as was customary.

"Oh." Eve's eyes widened and her blush deepened. "Thank you," she said softly, breathlessly. "Your name is beautiful."

"So are you," Oris said truthfully as she leaned back, her gaze still on their clasped hands. "You don't want to go to the palace, do you?"

"If it saves my friends and—"

"You know Hermes is a tyrant. You know that going would be a death sentence. But you would still do it."

"I can't subject you to the same fate I'm trying to run from."

"What if I'm willing?" Their gazes met and Oris' breath caught at the sight of the tears brimming in the blue-grey irises that nearly reflected the green in her own. At that moment she was sure that she had made to right decision. She hadn't been able to save her sister but she could save the girl in front of her right now. A girl more perfect and kinder than my sister ever was.

"You'd do that?" was Eve's quiet reply and Oris couldn't help the twitch of her lips into a small smile.

"Hermes doesn't deserve a beauty like you." He deserves a fated disaster like me.

"But you—"

"It's okay." Oris said with a forced air of indifference. "I'm an orphan anyway. You have a family here, people who actually care about you."

For a moment the room was silent safe for the occasional ruffle of the raised curtains as they swell with the breeze. Somehow this all was inevitable, Oris felt.

Would she have been able to escape this if she had escaped in the inn? She doubted it.

Would she have been able to avoid it if she had never been queen? Maybe. But that had also been inescapable.

All her life she had been escaping from one prison to another. From the castle as an infant to the country house on the outskirts of her village where she was hidden from everyone and anyone for most of her childhood, then to the castle again. This was the first time she had entered her next prison of her own free will.

There was a sort of novelty to it.

"Thank you, Oris. I will remember this forever. Thank you." Eve burst out into relieved laughter mid-sentence and pulled Oris into a tight hug that had their chins knocking into each other's shoulders. "I'll find a way to repay you, I swear on my life."

And for the first time in years, Oris believed it.

She placed her arms around the nun's waist and leaned into the hug. She'd only need to close her eyes to imagine that it was her uncaring sister that was hugging her like a lifeline but she didn't.

Risa was dead but royal bloodline or not Eve would be living and living well.

She'd make sure of that.

~