Dear Stranger,
I know it's foolish of me to write this, especially since you'll most likely never read it. But still, I can't help myself. It's been three days since I last saw your eyes.
I wish I could see you one more time, just once.
I don't know what you felt during our brief meeting yesterday, but to me, you were the dearest part of the entire evening.
My parents want to marry me off to Luceris Vauclain. He's an arrogant fool. Well perhaps not exactly a fool. He's too clever, in fact. Sometimes I think he plays all sides at once. He smiles kindly, treats me gently, treats everyone well—even my one-year-old nephew. I suppose I'm being unfair. Perhaps only because my parents chose him for me, even though they once promised I could choose my own husband. I don't know what changed their minds.
That night, Luceris approached me and asked me to dance. And I… I did something—what my family calls foolish. I ran off to the garden. I wanted a moment alone. I never expected to run into you. And now that I think of it, you never told me why you were there.
Daisy would say it was fate. I would say you were waiting for someone. But I suppose I'll never know. Honestly, I didn't expect to find anyone there at all. That part of the garden is known only to a few.
Still, I'm glad I met you—even if not truly, because you wore a mask. Not that it should have surprised me. The ball was mysterious, just the way my parents like it. Do you know why? Because they first met at such a ball. My father fell in love with my mother's eyes. Neither of them knew who the other was—but still, fate brought them together. Father always says it was her eyes that did it.
I never understood how someone could love eyes enough to remember them… until I saw yours. Your eyes—like a storm above the sea—will likely haunt me for a very long time. And to think, I used to believe no one had more beautiful eyes than I did.
You know, when I first looked at you, I forgot all my sorrows. If I ever see you again, I will never admit this to you. That's why part of me hopes you were a figment of my imagination. Thinking about it now—you must have been. No eyes like that could possibly be real.
Truly, I hope no one ever finds this letter. Because— yes, Daisy, I'm thinking of you—they would laugh at me until Solisin's dawn.
I wonder what your name is. Is it as noble as you seem? Or is it a name you hide—perhaps that's why you wouldn't tell me. Honestly, if you'd asked mine first, I would have told you.
Perhaps it's better that neither of us knows the other's name. But since I know you'll never read this, I'll tell you mine.
With unhidden curiosity,
Princess and future Queen
Eleonora of House Blackwhite