Aisha arrived without any ceremony.
No announcement, no commotion. There was only her presence.
Before anyone even spoke her name, I noticed. A familiar yet wrong feeling settled in my chest. She stood at the edge of the courtyard. Her posture was relaxed, her expression open. As if she belonged there. As if she had always been there.
Brown hair. Calm green eyes. An unnerving resemblance.
Then Claude turned.
The change was subtle. Almost paused, almost expressionless, but it was there. Recognition. Relief. Something unguarded.
"Aisha," he said. For the first time since I had met him, his voice softened.
She smiled naturally and warmly.
"You disappeared," she replied, as if it were a joke exchanged hundreds of times.
And so I knew that she was the one.
Claude's childhood friend. Someone who had always been by his side. Someone I thought didn't matter. Yet, in the end, someone who did.
I watched them greet each other. Close, but not intimate. Familiar, but not improper. A relationship so long-standing that no one questioned it.
The courtiers around us noticed nothing unusual.
I saw the beginning of the end.
All foresight had led to this point. Fire, smoke, the silence after screams. And Aisha was always gone. Or running. I could not yet tell which.
She glanced at me. A curious, evaluating look.
Not hostile.
Not yet.
I smiled politely, like a princess as expected by everyone.
Inside, I was already calculating my moves.
The trigger had arrived.
This time, I was close enough to stop her. Or close enough to burn the entire kingdom.
Several days passed after the wedding, yet nothing happened.
That should have reassured me.
It didn't.
Claude and I spoke only when necessary. Walked together only when protocol demanded. Our conversations were cautious, measured. Both of us seemed aware that a single misstep could turn manners into something sharp and dangerous.
One evening, in a quiet corridor lined with tall windows, he broke the silence.
"You've been keeping your distance lately," he said.
"So have you," I replied.
His gaze brushed past me. Cold. Unreadable.
"That's not the same thing."
I said nothing. Neither did he. We kept walking. Close enough to feel his presence, but not close enough to mistake it for warmth.
That distance followed us everywhere.
That afternoon, an invitation sealed with pale sky-blue wax arrived.
It was a tea gathering. Hosted by Aisha.
I attended.
The garden was perfect. Too perfect. Aisha greeted me with practiced warmth. Her smile was natural, her voice gentle.
"I'm glad you came. I wanted us to understand each other better," she said.
"So am I," I replied sincerely.
We exchanged polite conversation. Harmless topics. Small, personal memories of Claude that she shared. I listened. Even the way his name flowed naturally from her lips.
Then the atmosphere shifted.
A servant dropped a teacup. One voice rose. Another fell.
A bracelet had disappeared. Expensive. Aisha's.
Someone called my name.
"I didn't take it," I said calmly.
Why would I? It held no value for me. There were far more valuable things at home. Why would she accuse me? As I observed them, I thought silently.
Aisha looked at me as if I had hurt her.
"I didn't want to think that," she said softly.
"But I heard it was seen near you."
The lie was smooth. Almost kind.
By the time Claude arrived, the incident was already over.
He didn't ask what had happened.
He looked at Aisha first.
Then he looked at me.
His expression hardened.
"I didn't do it," I said, meeting his gaze.
He looked at me coldly. Not searching for the truth, but measuring importance.
"Aisha has no reason to lie," he finally said.
The statement settled cleanly. Definitive.
His sharp gaze remained fixed on me, as if I had embarrassed or disappointed him.
The tea gathering ended soon after. Apologies poured in for Aisha.
I only received their gazes.
I left alone.
That night, I looked down at my hands in the room.
I had prepared for everything. Enemies, overt hostility.
But I had not prepared for this.
At this very moment, Aisha's words carried more weight than mine.
If there was any relationship Claude and I had to build, she was already standing between us.
This time, the future did not feel distant.
It was very close, watching, waiting.