You can do it my love

The silence in the room was thick with tension as Stella and I stared at each other.

The red dagger in her hand caught the moonlight streaming through the tall windows, its poisoned blade gleaming like a deadly jewel. But I wasn't afraid. If anything, I was impressed.

"You are very privileged," I said softly, my voice calm despite the weapon pointed at my heart, "to even point a dagger at me and not get attacked in return."

Her green eyes flickered with something that might have been surprise, but her grip on the weapon remained steady.

Professional. Deadly.

I took a small step closer, ignoring the way she tensed at my movement. "You can do it, my love," I whispered, letting all the emotion I felt for her color my words. "My whole life belongs to you."

For a moment, something cracked in her composed expression.

I saw her blink rapidly, saw the way her breath caught slightly in her throat.

She was feeling it too—this pull between us, this undeniable connection that grew stronger every time we were in the same room.

But then her mask slipped back into place, and her voice was steady when she spoke. "I'll do it," she said, though I caught the slight tremor beneath her words. "After all, this blade is dipped with snake venom, and the antidote is only known to my kingdom's people. Don't move."

Despite the threat, I couldn't help but smile. "You are really good at hiding your feelings and faking an act," I said, admiration clear in my voice. "By the way, I'm here not to bite you, if that's what you're afraid of."

The comment earned me a flash of irritation in those beautiful green eyes, but she didn't lower the weapon. Good.

I preferred her fighting spirit to fearful submission any day.

"I'm only here to explain my position," I continued, settling into a more comfortable stance.

If we were going to have this conversation with a poisoned blade between us, so be it. "You accused me of being a conqueror, which I am—yes, I don't deny that I have big ambitions."

I paused, watching her face carefully as I chose my next words.

This was my chance to make her understand, to show her that everything she thought she knew about me was only part of the story.

"But if you take the list of kingdoms I have conquered before, you can find that I have ruled them better than they were ruled before, and developed them beyond what they ever were under their previous rulers."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but I could see I had her attention.

She was listening, really listening, not just waiting for me to finish so she could dismiss me.

"Yes, I did tax them," I admitted. "But it was less than what their own kings did. Those kings were exploiting their people, bleeding them dry to fund their own luxuries while their subjects starved. I taxed them half of what their own rulers demanded, but I gave them the best development their kingdoms had ever seen."

I took another small step forward, and this time she didn't tense.

It was a Progress.

"I'm not a conqueror in the way you think, Stella. I am more like what Robin Hood is called in the old stories. I try to do good, just in ways that others might not understand. I take from corrupt rulers who abuse their power, and I give their people the leadership they deserve."

For a long moment, she stared at me, and I could see the war playing out behind her eyes.

Everything she had believed about me was being challenged, and she was struggling to reconcile the monster of her imagination with the man standing before her.

Finally, she breathed out slowly, a sound that was part sigh and part surrender.