Letters Never Sent
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Night whispered through the velvet halls of House Velmira.
The moonlight bled through the stained glass, casting fractured colors onto the marble floor. Kael sat by the window in the guest quarters, unmoving, the silence around him heavier than the ornate chains lining the walls.
He held a single piece of paper in his hand. Unfolded. Unwritten.
Yet in his mind, it already contained everything he had never said.
> "Lireen... I don't know how to save you yet. But I will. Even if I have to tear down every lie that binds you."
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Earlier that evening, just before he was escorted from the hall, Talin had slipped him something.
A key. And a whisper:
> "The library. After midnight. Don't be followed."
Now, Kael moved through the corridors like a shadow. The nobles were long asleep or so he hoped.
The key led him to an old study behind the main library. Inside, the dust was undisturbed. Candles cold. And yet
A box waited on the desk. With Lireen's crest.
Inside, he found them.
Letters.
Stacked. Tied by red string. Addressed to Kael Avenhart.
The top one was dated a year ago. The first day she arrived at Velmira.
Kael's hand trembled as he opened it.
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**"Kael…
They took me from the river the day after you were wounded. They said you were dead.
I screamed. I begged to go back.
But I'm not allowed to leave.
I write you every week, hoping someone would let them through. But no reply ever came.
Do you remember the song you sang for me? I still hum it at night.
I hate the silence here.
– Lireen"**
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He read another. Then another.
In each one, her handwriting became shakier. Her words more desperate. Then colder.
> "They said you're just a dream I made up." "They say if I let go, I'll be a proper noble." "Why haven't you come?" "Are you even real?"
Kael sank to his knees. His voice cracked. "I'm sorry… I didn't know…"
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Suddenly, the door creaked.
He turned.
And there she was.
Lireen.
No guards. No chains. Just a nightgown and bare feet.
Their eyes met. And broke.
> "You found them," she said, voice hollow.
Kael stood. "You wrote them all?"
She nodded.
> "Every week. For a year. Until I stopped believing you'd ever return."
Kael stepped forward.
> "They lied to you. I was taken too far from here. But I never forgot. Not for a moment."
Lireen looked down.
> "You were the only part of me that wasn't carved into obedience."
Kael reached out.
> "Then come with me. Tonight."
She hesitated.
> "If I run now, they'll destroy my family."
Kael: "And if you stay, they'll destroy you."
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The candle between them flickered.
Then Lireen touched his hand.
> "Tomorrow. Meet me in the garden. I'll decide then."
And just like that, she slipped away into the night.
Leaving Kael surrounded by unsent letters and the ghosts of everything they'd lost.
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🔹Chapter Highlight Teaser : Kael discovers a trove of letters Lireen wrote but never sent each one revealing her fading hope and buried pain. When they finally meet under the moonlight, she must decide: will she run with him or stay to protect her family's honor?
Next: Chapter 23 – "Echoes in the Locked Garden"
Chapter 22 – Letters Never Sent Have been completed💌🌙
Kael finally found Lireen's conscience not through the words spoken, but the letters full of wounds that never arrived.
And that night ... their hearts almost touched each other again 🕯️💔
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📌 Highlight Teaser:
> Kael discovers a trove of letters Lireen wrote but never sent each one revealing her fading hope and buried pain. When they finally meet under the moonlight, she must decide: will she run with him or stay to protect her family's honor?
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