"Doubtful. I don't find an easy place wherever I go. You don't become a monster and assume people will simply accept with you open arms." Besides, she was not much in control of herself as she is now. Who knows what the magic could have done to her then.

"She is quite pretty, isn't she? Not to my tastes, though," Belle says quietly. "So, what exactly does one say to a beautiful girl that gets her upset enough to break one's nose?"

Belle catches the expression on his face, and she has been through enough to know what war can do to someone. And then it hits her. She is a fool, of course. Downright foolish and naive, as usual. This is the prince that Philippe had told her about, and she has been too caught up in her own selfishness that she hadn't put it together until just now.

"But not so well for Capet?" A beat. "It might have done well for Aorlind in some areas, but I am sure the small people would not agree so much. I have been in the middle of it with my hands as dirty as the rest of them. Nobody is untouched by war."

And in the end, Aorlind had suffered from nearly losing their heir. They all had a price to pay.