The Reckoning - Book Two

Chapter Eight - Daella

"Excuse me Miss," A servant girl appears in front of me and I blink, looking up at her from my spot on the bench in the gardens.

"Yes,"

"His Majesty asked me to give these to you." She says holding out two letters.

I stare at them not able to move, I can feel her staring at me, waiting for me to take the letters and I force myself to move, taking the letters from her outstretched hand.

"Thank you." I say staring at the two letters.

I didn't want to get my hopes up again just to have them crushed but what else could they be?

With shaking hands I open the first one and immediately search the bottom of the letter finding Aeris' name and I gasp.

With tear filled eyes I read his letter, my fingers gripping the pages tightly.

To My Dearest Daylight,

I don't know the words to try and explain how much I miss you and how often I think of you. I wish I was more eloquent like Alvaryn, I'm sure his letter will be filled with poems and love verses and everything this one will not.

So, I will simply tell you that I love you. I love you even more than I did before. Being without you, not being able to see you, it only reminds me of how much I want and need you in my life and how dark and miserable life can be without you.

While I am surrounded by soldiers and horses and my brothers constant hovering state I am reminded of how happy I was whenever I was beside you, of how you made me feel just being with you.

I miss being able to simply reach out and know you were there beside me. Now my nights are spent lying awake, thinking of you and my days are spent trying my best and failing miserably at not being distracted by memories of you.

I can only hope that you are doing well. I know you will be kept safe behind the palace walls and you will be looked after but it doesn't feel enough. I wish I could be there with you as you deal with the changes you have since the attack. I wish I didn't have to leave you to suffer alone. I know you will be strong and endure whatever you will suffer until I can return.

I don't know how long it will be until I can see you but I do know that each and every one of the days I am away I will think of you and count the days until I can have you in my arms again.

Yours always and forever,

Aeris

I stare at his name on the page, his words coursing through me and bringing more tears to my eyes.

Then I am opening the next one and reading Alvaryn's words.

For My Dae,

I imagine you reading this letter somewhere quiet, maybe the library or the atrium, but perhaps that is only because most of the memories I have of you involve those familiar places and my mind has been filled with memories of you since the moment we left.

I miss you so much more than I was expecting Dae. I was prepared to feel the loss, to wonder what you were doing, to long to be there with you. But this is more than I could have imagined. Not a moment goes by where you aren't here with me, in the back of my thoughts, or just lingering at the very edges. Many times you are its very centre and I can think of nothing but you.

I wish we had spent more time together, that we had shared more of ourselves, that I had more memories of you to play on repeat when I am left alone and my thoughts turn to you. There are so many questions I have for you, so many things I want to know about you, and it has made me realise how in love with you I truly am. I don't think I will ever have enough time with you. I don't think I will ever be satisfied with the time we are given no matter how long or short.