Charlie knocked on Quill's door and peered in. "May I?"

She looked up from her book with a frown. "What do you want, Prince?"

"I just wanted to say something." He came in and closed the door behind him, but didn't go far from it. "I know there's a lot been said between us, and we've seen a lot together. More than I ever imagined the day my mother told me what your punishment was to be, actually. I hoped that we'd get on, but I realise that that was very naïve. There's so much I would have done differently if I had the time again, or more time, but…"

"Oh for goodness sake, get on with it. I'm tired."

"Right." He swallowed and looked down at her feet. "When you kill me, will you make sure Matteusz doesn't see it? I know you don't like me, but I think you're fond of him."

Quill closed her book and stared him down, but it didn't feel as good when he wasn't looking at her. "Charles, I am not going to kill you. I meant what I said, you know. You have to live with this. You're a freedom fighter now."

"Terrorist," he muttered softly.

She sighed. "Call it what you will. You did the right thing, and you have to live with that."

Dragging himself off the door, Charlie came in and sat on the clothes-strewn chair by her dressing table. "What difference does it make? Whether I live a day or a hundred years… I'm still going to end up alone. Matteusz doesn't understand it yet, I don't think."

"Human lifespans aren't so short." She sat up properly and, when Charlie finally looked up at her, the penny dropped. "Oh… the cabinet. Oh… Charles."

He smiled sadly, that brave and broken one he plastered on when he wanted Matteusz to know he wasn't okay but didn't want to admit it. "You don't believe in an afterlife, do you?"

"No. Quill souls die with us, I hope."

"I wish mine would." He looked up at the ceiling. "I… I think I'm just going to make him as happy as I can for as long as I can, and then… See what happens."

She ran a finger over the covers. "You came in to see me whilst I was hibernating."

He paused and then nodded. "I didn't know Quill were aware whilst you hibernated."

"I didn't know Rhodians cried."

He shrank back as if she'd hit him, which wasn't as satisfying as it should be. "I cry a lot."

"Did you think I would think less of you, if I knew?"

"No," he said softly. "The opposite. Is that strange? I was scared of you seeing me as I am. I wanted to be the hero, the one who could save Rhodia. But you've always been able to see through me, since the day we met." He looked up at her at last. "I'm a coward, and now I'm a murderer in action as well as thought."

Quill smiled. "Feels shit, doesn't it? But it will get less so."

"How do I do that?" he asked her. "How do I stop feeling like I'm dying all the time?"

"When I find a way, I'll tell you. But if you get there first…" She shook her head. "You go to that man of yours and you cling to him, and you remember that if you hadn't acted, you wouldn't have him. We both have something to live for now. So live for it."