The heavy doors to Aurelia's room slammed shut behind Gwen as she rushed out, skirts swishing and slippers thudding against the stone floor.
The echoes of her departure faded quickly, but the sting of Calista's venomous words clung to the air like a curse ... lingering, suffocating, unrelenting.
Silence fell again.
Aurelia stood frozen, her fingers trembling and clutching the fabric of her skirt until her knuckles turned white. Her breath came in shallow gasps as she stared at her reflection in the tall, cracked mirror.
The girl looking back at her was a ghost wrapped in flesh. The same face that haunted Emberhold's west wing .....where even fire refused to reach.
One half of her mouth twitched into a sneer of self-loathing. The left side of her face, gnarled and cruel in the soft daylight, bore the story of a curse no one dared speak aloud. Her amber eyes shimmered, one of them set wider than the other, too bright in contrast to the shadowed wreckage of her face.
A choked breath escaped her lips before she could stop it.
The teacup on her vanity shattered as she swiped her hand across the table in a burst of rage and grief.
Porcelain shards scattered like glass tears across the stone floor. Her shoulders shook. A sob followed, raw and ugly, tearing from her throat.
She collapsed to her knees beside them, uncaring of the sting as a shard sliced her palm. She pressed her forehead to the ground.
"Why me?" she whispered, so softly that even the shadows barely heard her. "Why this?, Why is it always me who has to suffer?"
The curse. The rejection. The cruelty. The silence.
She had once believed Neris Winterbourne would see past her curse. That the letters they exchanged when they were younger, the shared childhood laughter during summer solstice banquets, had meant something. She had clung to his memory as a light in the darkness. As a promise.
A promise now shattered.
A gentle knock sounded on the door, followed by Gwen's soft voice. "My lady? May I come in?"
Aurelia didn't respond. Her voice wouldn't obey her.
The door creaked open anyway, hesitant and slow. Gwen stepped inside and gasped at the sight of the mess: porcelain strewn across the floor, droplets of blood trailing from Aurelia's hand, and the princess herself ... folded onto the ground like a broken wing.
"Oh, Aurelia," Gwen breathed, rushing to her side.
Aurelia turned her face away, burying it in the folds of her skirt. Even now, after all these years, instinct told her to hide.
But Gwen never recoiled. Never turned away in disgust. Her hands were gentle and firm as she wrapped a cloth around the bleeding palm.
"It's true," Aurelia whispered hoarsely. "He doesn't want me anymore."
Gwen hesitated before pulling her gently into a soft embrace. "You don't know that yet."
"Yes, I do," she choked out. "Calista knew about the letter. Said House Winterbourne sent envoys. Asked to end the engagement."
"Calista is a snake," Gwen muttered, dabbing gently at Aurelia's hand. "And snakes love the sound of their own hiss."
"She may be cruel," Aurelia said bitterly, "but she doesn't lie when it makes her look foolish. If she's gloating, it's real."
Gwen's grip tightened. "She's cruel. That doesn't mean your father will accept it. Maybe Neris is being forced by others."
Aurelia shook her head slowly. "I loved him," she murmured, her voice cracking. "Since I was a girl, I loved him for so long.
He was the only one who saw me before... this. He told me I was brave. That I had fire in my soul."
Tears streamed silently down her cheeks.
"I'm not brave anymore."
Gwen pulled back, holding her by the shoulders. "You are. You're the strongest person I know. You survived a curse that would've broken anyone else. You endured isolation, ridicule, and yet you're still kind. Still hopeful. That is strength."
Aurelia gave a bitter laugh. "Kindness won't break a curse. Or win back someone who doesn't want me."
"Maybe not," Gwen said softly, brushing a lock of tangled black hair from Aurelia's face, "but strength might. And if you don't have the strength today, I will lend you mine."
Aurelia closed her eyes and let Gwen hold her.
The morning sun streamed faintly through the arched window, casting light upon the dust particles in the air. It made her feel less buried. Just a little.
"He was my dream, Gwen. All these years, through the pain... it was him. His letters. His kindness. That memory of the way he smiled when he gave me that snow-globe on my tenth birthday..."
Gwen smiled gently. "Yes, You still have it."
Aurelia nodded. "I sleep with it under my pillow. Like a fool."
"Not a fool," Gwen whispered. "A girl who loved with all her heart. And maybe that love isn't over. Maybe your story with him isn't done yet."
They sat together in silence for a few minutes, until Aurelia gathered the strength to rise again.
Gwen helped her clean the shattered cup, sweeping the shards into a wooden tray. She fetched a basin of water and wiped Aurelia's face with a damp cloth, humming an old lullaby her mother once sang to her. The small gesture filled the room with something resembling peace.
"I need to speak to Father," Aurelia said suddenly.
Gwen turned sharply. "Are you sure?"
"He has to tell me. To my face. If he accepted the cancellation, I want to hear it from him."
"Then I'll go with you."
Aurelia gave her a faint smile. "I know. You always do."
But deep down, she knew she might face that moment alone.
Then, wordlessly, Gwen retrieved a cloak from the wardrobe ... a simple one, thick and black, with silver embroidery at the edges. It didn't hide Aurelia's face, but it made her feel shielded all the same.
As Gwen fastened it at her shoulders,Aurelia turned to the mirror again.
Aurelia glanced back at her reflection. The same twisted face stared back. Her eyes were still red. Her mouth still crooked. Her skin still scarred from the curse.
But something had changed.
Beneath the ugliness, behind the eyes that had only known loneliness, was the flicker of a girl who wanted to live again. Who wanted to fight.
If she could not be loved, then at least she would be heard.
And one day, she would break this curse.
But for herself.
Aurelia Flameborne stepped out of her tower room, her head held high, grasping Gwen's hand for courage.