Click!
The sound of another lock disengaging echoed in the stunned silence.
How many doors would be open today, allowing unwelcome intrusions into private moments?
Aurelia's head snapped up, her breath catching in her throat.
"Who's there?" she managed to ask, her voice a shaky whisper. Her eyes widened in surprise, then a dawning realization.
It was Camilla.
The dismissed princess , her face etched with a distress that went beyond mere shock.
Aurelia quickly got to her feet, her own recent experience momentarily forgotten in the face of Camilla's evident turmoil.
"Camilla," she said, her tone softening as she approached. "You're still in the palace?" Aurelia offered a seat, trying to project a calmness she didn't quite feel.
"I heard of what happened… that would have been an unfortunate scene for you." Aurelia gestured to a nearby chair, her mind racing with possibilities.
Camilla sank onto it, her body slumping with a weariness that went bone-deep. Her blue eyes, usually so vibrant, were clouded with a mixture of pain and something Aurelia couldn't quite decipher.
"Tenebrarum is to marry Matrona the day after tomorrow," Camilla said, her voice flat, the words delivered with a heavy finality.
Aurelia's own eyes flew open. "I heard of that too," she replied, a knot of unease tightening in her stomach.
"You must have been… diverted. Everything you've worked for down…" She trailed off, the assumptions she'd made about Camilla's plight crashing down around her.
"Tiberius raped you," she stated, the accusation a harsh pronouncement, born of the rumors and Camilla's obvious distress. "I can't imagine your pain..."
"No!" The denial was sharp, immediate, and laced with a ferocity that took Aurelia aback.
Tears, however, began to stream from Camilla's eyes, betraying a deeper truth than her words initially conveyed.
"What are you saying? He'll pay for everything!" Aurelia said, her voice cracking.
"Don't you get it?" Camilla sobbed, her shoulders shaking desperately. "He covered up for me. He didn't rape...It was actually an amazing night." The confession hung in the air, raw and unbelievable.
"What?" The question flew out of Aurelia's lips before she could hold it back. The news had flown fast, twisted by rumor and speculation.
Everyone believed Tiberius had taken advantage of Camilla's drunkenness, that it was a violation. And this… this was the truth.
A passionate night…Aurelia sighed, the weight of this unexpected revelation settling heavily upon her.
The whispered truth, so contrary to the palace gossip, shifted her perspective entirely.
The world, it seemed, was far more complicated, and far more filled with hidden desires and desperate circumstances, than Aurelia had ever imagined.
The gilded cage of this palace was not just a prison of duty, but a labyrinth of secrets and suppressed emotions.
"I'll be leaving," Aurelia stated, her voice firming with resolve. She got up, her movements decisive as she picked up her bag. The lies, the manipulations, everything in this palace felt too much to keep track of, too much to bear.
She just wanted freedom.
"Wait!" Camilla's voice rose, sharp with a sudden, desperate urgency. She had clearly been holding something back, her own pain and fear finally breaking through.
"I need you to help me," she pleaded, her blue eyes wide and pleading, a stark contrast to the earlier distress.
"It has been a day… I haven't laid my eyes on Tiberius. I can't breathe." The raw admission of her longing was too disturbing.
"I'm sorry, but I won't stay," Aurelia replied, her tone unyielding as she edged closer to the door, her hand reaching for the handle.
Freedom was so close.
Camilla's expression hardened, a flicker of cunning replacing the desperation. "I know about your plan for escape tonight," she said, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous register.
"Just imagine… if I let Tenebrarum know about it." The threat was palpable, a venomous whisper that coiled around Aurelia.
Aurelia froze, her hand stilling on the door. She met Camilla's gaze, a cold fury beginning to build within her. "And just imagine," Aurelia countered, her voice dangerously calm, "if I tell Tenebrarum what you just said." She stepped back into the room, her posture shifting from flight to confrontation.
"'A passionate night, right? Your 'amazing night' with Tiberius. You're even trying to force me to your will, holding my freedom over my head to serve your own." The accusation hung heavy.
Camilla faltered, the calculation in her eyes replaced by a flicker of fear. She recoiled slightly.
"I… I'm sorry," she stammered.
"Please, just help me. Go to Tenebrarum. Perhaps… perhaps you can calm him. That's all I need. I need him to forget about the execution." The true desperation of her situation, the weight of impending doom, finally surfaced, a plea for help that was as much about her survival as it was about her heart.
Camilla took a hesitant step closer, her gaze unwavering, her voice laced with a vulnerability that sliced through Aurelia's defenses.
"I know we do not know each other, and it's stupid to ask this of you," she began, her voice a raw whisper, "but I love him… I really do." As she spoke, Camilla reached for a hood, an excellent work of tailors, a garment meant to obscure the cheap dress Aurelia wore.
Gently she placed it over Aurelia's shoulders, a gesture of unexpected care and a practical attempt to aid her escape.
The act, small as it was, felt profoundly significant. "Please, help me."
Her words hit Aurelia with the force of a physical blow. The simple act of placing the hood, the earnestness of Camilla's plea, the raw emotion in her eyes – it all felt like a tangible weight settling on her shoulders.
Aurelia looked into Camilla's eyes, searching, and what she saw now was undeniable.
It wasn't just desperation; it was love. Pure, unadulterated, all-consuming love.
A wave of introspection washed over Aurelia.
Her own thoughts began to churn, tinged with a deep, melancholic yearning. I
If I loved Tenebrarum so much, he shouldn't be alone. I should be there, with him, in the easiest and hardest parts of his life.
The fantasy, the longing, was a sharp ache in her chest.
Love, she understood now with an almost painful clarity, meant giving everything.
It meant risking everything, even your own freedom, even your own well-being, for what you cared most for, for the person you adored.
A profound sadness settled over Aurelia.
I wish I loved you more, she mused, the thought a silent lament.
I wish I had that depth of devotion, that unwavering certainty. Perhaps then, I wouldn't be so torn.
The weight of Camilla's love, so potent and pure, illuminated Aurelia's own fractured feelings, leaving her adrift in a sea of her own complicated emotions.
I'm not good enough...
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To be continued...