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Her lips parted in a soft gasp. He knew that was the moment she saw him approaching. He had managed to give all the sentries and soldiers the slip, but somehow he could never escape her notice. Not that he wanted to.
He swept his gaze around the dungeon to check for ambushes, then rushed straight for her cell. She had come right up to the bars to greet him.
'Mario, you can't keep coming here,' she whispered. 'It's too dangerous.'
'Peach... I had to.' He could not keep the pleading note out of his voice, could not hide his greatest weakness. The idea of abandoning her to this dark room, alone save for the servants who brought her food – the meals were luxurious, but that wasn't the point – was more than he could bear. 'I have to be sure you are OK. Or... as OK as you could be in such a terrible place.'
She favoured him with a smile like she always did, and Mario ran his eyes over her with hunger. It wasn't lust that fuelled his staring, but rather desperation and relief in equal measure. She was clad in a pink gown that kept her warm, and her cell was nothing to dread. A four-poster bed, small private washroom and closet full of clean clothes were just a few of the pleasures it sported. King Bowser might be a villain – he was, after all, keeping her locked up so he could freely terrorise her kingdom and force her people to surrender – but at least he cared for her wellbeing enough to ensure that she was comfortable.
'I'm fine, Mario,' she said softly. 'Bowser gives me everything I could want, except for freedom. He's only keeping me here to demoralise the Mushroom Army. Did you inform Toadsworth that I'm unharmed?'
Mario nodded. The was what she'd asked him to do when he visited last time. Two days ago, but it felt like far too long. 'The people understand you are safe. They are worried, but less than before.'
'Good,' said the Princess, with satisfaction. 'Then they won't be distracted by thoughts of me. They can focus on beating Bowser's troops back. Once they've driven him out of the kingdom, they can march on to his castle and rescue me – but only once everyone else is safe.'
'He threatened to kill you.'
'But he won't. We both know that Bowser feels too strongly about me to consider hurting me, even when it could benefit him. He'll keep me locked up, but he won't hurt me. That's his weakness.' She leaned towards him, white-gloved hands wrapping around the bars of her cell and her face alight with a determination that caught his breath; she had never given up.
'He is bluffing.'
'Exactly,' she said, with a smile so wicked that it could have belonged on Daisy's face.
Mario looked around. They were alone in the dungeon – there weren't even any other prisoners down here. The koopatrol sentries usually didn't enter the room unless they had reason to be suspicious, which meant they would all stay outside as long as he and Peach kept their voices down. Mario didn't care what they might do to him if they caught him, but he knew Peach was afraid. Did that make him a selfish person?
Her wrist was slender enough to fit through the bars, which she demonstrated by reaching out to him and lightly cupping his face. Her glove was pure silk against his skin. He wished that she had taken it off. He wanted to feel her, her skin with all its realness and tiny imperfections, not the brush of liquid-smooth fabric.
'Everything will be OK,' she whispered. But even with her standing right in front of him, completely unscathed, his fretful mind struggled to believe it. 'Please, go home and help the army. Or stay with Luigi and keep yourself safe; I'd actually prefer that. But whichever you choose, don't come back here again. I don't want the guards to catch you – or worse, Bowser himself. He cares about me enough to not harm me. He doesn't have the same fondness for you.'
His eyes followed her hand as it drew away. Before he could stop himself, he reached out and grabbed it, just seconds before her white fingers disappeared between the bars.
'I could get you out,' he said. Was it hope that laced his tone, or greed? 'Let me find a way.'
'No, Mario.' Hers was only gentle. 'You'll get hurt, and I'm perfectly safe and comfortable here. We'll spend time together once Bowser is defeated, OK?'
He was shaking his head before she'd even finished talking. 'I can break down the door. I can beat the guards. They are only koopatrols--'
She silenced him with mouthed 'no' and a squeeze of her fingers around his. He felt lost, like a child separated from his mother in the supermarket. That had happened to him and Luigi quite a few times (back when Mama had still been alive, God bless her soul). It seemed ridiculous, but right now he was experiencing that same horrible sensation of his heart dropping into his guts, the same dull fear, the same creeping panic.
No. She had said everything would be OK. He needed to trust her and let this play out the way she wanted.
'What if something goes wrong?' he murmured. 'Principessa, I don't want this to be the last time I see you.' The involuntary slip into Italian was rare for him, though common for his brother. When it happened to him, it often accompanied that sunken, lost feeling.
'Then let's make a special promise.' She wrapped her fingers around his, gripping with just the right amount of force to comfort him instead of panicking him further. 'Once this war is over and I'm free, we're going to sit on my balcony and have tea and cake. What kind of cake would you like, Mario?'
His head was spinning. This couldn't be the conversation they were having in such dire circumstances. 'How – I – maybe strawberry gateau?' He blurted out the name of the cake that he knew was her favourite, because he simply couldn't focus on anything other than her.
She smiled patiently. Happiness twinkled in the backs of her eyes, but it wasn't yet allowed to shine freely. 'Then I will make strawberry gateau, and we'll eat it together, the first day after this war. Does that sound good?'
'That sounds wonderful.' He was helpless. Everything about her was so strong and so admirable.
'Then that's my special promise. I never say I'll do things if I know I can't do them. I know that this war will come to an end and I'll be home safe and sound. All you have to do is believe me. Can you do that?'
He wanted to kiss her knuckles. He wanted to fall to the stone floor and sob. He wanted to tell her that he loved her in case this was his only chance.
He did none of those things. Peach was being strong, holding herself together in the face of such terrible uncertainty – because yes, there had to be a part of her that feared nothing would work out, no matter the calm, collected way she presented herself. He wouldn't lower the value of her efforts by letting himself falter, and more than anything, he would trust her.
'...I will be looking forward to it, Princess,' he said – and with more willpower than he thought he possessed, he drew his hand back from the iron bars and out of her gentle grasp. The twinkle behind Peach's eyes seemed to jump, becoming brighter for a split second, but he was certain it was just his imagination.
'Thank you, Mario. Now run. Go home, help everyone, tell them I'm OK. And more than anything else... be safe.'
He turned away before weakness could drag him back to her cell, and let her final words replay over and over in his head as he ran into the darkness between the engraved torches.