Night had fallen over the Noctis Empire. The western wing was quiet, save for the occasional creak of the old palace wood settling. Elira lay beside Kael, the baby finally asleep, his small chest rising and falling with slow, even breaths.
Elira's eyes, however, refused to close. Thoughts of the day's events—being summoned to record papers, the indifferent courtiers, and the whisper of palace rules—spun endlessly in her mind. She had learned one truth already: here, to exist was to be invisible.
And yet… she felt it even before sleep came.
A dream began, soft and warm.
She was in a sunlit garden, far away from the shadowed corridors of the palace. Blossoms hung low, spilling pink petals onto the cobblestone path. A woman stood before her, regal and radiant, with eyes that held the kind of love she had never known in her past life.
Mother?
The Empress smiled, but it was careful—restrained.
"My dear children," the Empress said, her voice a gentle echo, "you must know… I love both of you. Both of you, equally, though the world may never see it."
Elira blinked, noticing the Empress's gaze linger slightly longer on her—the Second Princess, the one no one in the empire thought worthy of attention.
"Do not mistake my restraint for absence of love," the Empress continued. "I hide it, because the palace is cruel. Power favors those who are feared, and fear… can be dangerous to you."
The words were like a soft knife in Elira's chest.
Even in this dream, even as the Empress tried to reassure, she was reminding her daughter of her "place"—the Second Princess. The one meant to be powerless, the one to fade quietly.
"But know this," the Empress whispered, stepping closer. "I see you, Elira. I always have. There is… something in you that others do not understand. Perhaps one day, it will be the difference between surviving and being destroyed."
Elira wanted to ask, Why must you hide your love? Why must you leave me invisible? But no words came.
Instead, the Empress leaned down, brushing a hand across Elira's hair, and whispered one last thing before the dream faded:
"You are my favorite… but the world cannot know. Protect yourself, and protect each other. That is all I can give you."
Elira woke with a start, the memory of the dream lingering in the darkened room. Her tiny hand went to Kael's, who stirred slightly in his sleep.
A quiet understanding passed between them, though neither could speak it yet.
Even if the empire ignores us… even if the palace sees nothing in us… someone has always loved us.
And in that thought, Elira felt the first spark of determination.
She would survive.
She would protect Kael.
And perhaps… she would one day make the empire see what it had ignored for so long.
Outside the western wing, the palace slept unaware of the two children whose fates were already beginning to twist against the currents of history.