Both Isabelle and Aleksei lay in the same bed, side by side.
The two cousins lay there, one without saying a word, the other trying to unblock the situation.
Aleksei lay there, on the mattress, soft and white.
Although he felt the cold from the outside, the prince had nothing on.
He was inside his bed, not saying anything, not interrupting the thousand thoughts that ran through his head.
His brown eyes rested on the white ceiling of the room, no longer a feeling, an emotion, he was there, simply there, with his numerous and beautiful black curls surrounding his pale face and spreading on the pillow.
He was used to the sensation of cold, of winter, of snow.
When he was little, inside the castle walls he always used to play in the snow, in the company of the young pages, who obviously constantly made sure that the little prince did not get injured in the game.
It was much rarer instead that his game was destined together with his brothers.
Aleksei had two older brothers, who were five and ten years older than him respectively, he only joined them at the age of ten, where a child was separated from play to join adult society.
Isabelle lay by his side, wearing a fine white nightgown over her body but at the same time comfortable enough to keep the princess's slim body warm.
Her eyes were fixed on the betrothed.
The light and soft fingers of the girl caressed the cold chest of his cousin, they teased it softly.
Isabelle was sad, angry, in part.
She tried in every way to receive a child from Aleksei, but it never managed to blossom into a successful conception.
Aleksei had stopped taking an interest in her and no longer gave her attention and importance and with this it was weeks that the two did not met intimately.
It was all the prince's fault, why was he so selfish? Why, in those days, he refused to give her a child? It would also have been in his interest, yet he refused, he always refused.
Aleksei, however, was not even stupid on his side, and he had the knowledge, that Isabelle did not have any feelings for him, but she only had an interest in an heir to the throne.
He knew well that she wanted power, more than anything else and she knew that, as the law of the monarchy, she could not have been a queen, not when there was a king to take her place.
Thus, if no king was available, she would have been the one to become the absolute queen of all England.
-Not even tonight you intend to do anything?- asked Isabelle disappointed, curling up her body, neatly under the covers -I understand...-.
Aleksei remained silent and motionless, he did not know what to say.
As a king's son, he had been taught etiquette, composure, the art of war and battle from an early age, as well as other essential subjects such as mathematics, literature, history and geography, he had also been taught how behave with ladies, how to please them and be a good husband.
He had grown up exclusively with male siblings and for this reason the first contacts with the other sex were only given to the young man at the age of fifteen.
His father was in old age.
In any case, he still wouldn't have lived too long to rule and this only meant that when he died immediately Prince Dimitri, Aleksei's older brother, would succeed him.
But just in case, if his brother died with no heir to pull the dynasty, their name would die with him.
The prince's return to Russia was essential to guarantee his family a direct succession in case of eventuality, it would have been enough for him to marry another noble, any other, other than his cousin. -If you continue to behave in this detached way we will never be able to conceive a baby- the voice of his cousin suddenly interrupted the numerous thoughts in the prince's head.
Aleksei did not want to have children, not because he did not like them but mostly out of fear, he did not want to die like the former Prince Consort Gilbert, stabbed in the heart, nor did he feel able to leave a child in the care of Isabelle is in the middle of a war.
The reason why the princess instead wanted a child at all costs was just the opposite, because, if the war had to evolve in disadvantageous ways, none of her direct lineage could have taken her place.
Charlotte was his daughter, yes, but she was too weak to rule someday, she could never fight a war because of his sensitivity to the sun.
Aleksei shook his head and with this he moved most of his curly and thick black hair from his pillow.
-I don't want to have a child nor to have sex with you...I don't want to die...- the prince commented with a whisper from his cold lips, continuing without any emotion to observe the ceiling.
Isabelle smiled shortly, she knew very well, she knew she was using her cousin, she knew very well he would die just like the others, but all this had to be hidden.
-Aleksei, my love, you know very well everything that is mine is yours too, this castle, this bed, the power, why should I want to kill you?-.
The prince looked away from her, he knew she was lying, he could hear it from the tone of her voice.
-All I want is to return to Russia, to court, to my parents- the prince got up from the bed, moving the blankets from his body -please let me go...-.
But Isabelle could not let such a precious prey escape from her hands, and so she prepared to nimbly block the pale and cold wrist of her cousin.
Aleksei turned, he felt fear when he saw that his cousin had soon removed a dagger with a gold handle and a silver blade from under the mattress of the bed.
He knew his cousin was crazy, she had always known it, all Hannovers were crazy, but he had always ignored this detail.
What he wanted right now was just to be able to run away.
-I was waiting for this moment Aleksei, the moment in which you would have betrayed me, me, my trust, and for this you will have to pay...-.
The prince just wanted to escape as the blade got closer and closer to his wrist.
There were two options: either Isabelle wanted to cut off one of his hands or cut off one of his conductive veins and let him bleed to death in any way.
Aleksei's death was to be expected, however, as the cold blade slowly began to cut the prince's skin, he turned hard against her, turning one of her wrists and turning the knife against her at this point, just right to a few inches from her eyes.
The prince clenched his teeth in pain and as he did this, his red and fresh blood dripped from his wounds on the white mattress.
-How does it feel, Isabelle? How does it feel for the first time to be on the other side of the knife? -.
The princess felt more and more pressure on her arms, on the dagger, which was slowly approaching her face.
She cared too much about her beauty, her life, that she couldn't afford to lose it all like this.
-You can go! Run away! Farther than you can from me!- she screamed, Aleksei let the dagger fall hard on the mattress.
Her life mattered more, more than her stupid and naive betrothed.
She would have ruined his life, for Aleksei, for his family, she would have made their life a nightmare, she already knew it that she would never forgive him.
-Remember...- she added just before her cousin left the room in the darkness of the night -... I prefer to attach the heads of the enemies to the pikes rather than to their miserable neck...-.