The Queen's Guard

Chapter 25

It was Ben's loud knock and voice through the door that finally drew them from their reverie. They had been staring at each other, their eyes locked in a silent exchange of love and longing. The urgency in Ben's tone shattered the fragile dream as he informed them that the frontline was ordered to prepare for battle.

Carina froze, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, her breath catching as the weight of Ben's words settled in. She could feel the cold grip of fear tightening around her, but before she could even fully process what was happening, Maya was already on her feet. The shift was instantaneous—one moment, she had been lost in the tender intimacy they shared, and the next, her training and instincts had taken over.

"What are you doing?" Carina's voice wavered, a mix of fear and desperation threading through her words as she watched Maya slip into her uniform.

"I need to go," Maya said, her voice steady but filled with a quiet determination that left no room for Carina to protest. The words hung in the air like a death knell, final and inescapable. She glanced at Carina, her eyes reflecting the depth of the torment that had been simmering between them for too long—an unspoken understanding of the pain they both carried. Carina's heart clenched painfully as the familiar ache of heartbreak welled up inside her, a wound that had never fully healed, now torn open once again. They were back in that same impossible place, where love and circumstance collided, tearing them apart just as fiercely as they had been drawn together.

"I can't lose you again," Carina said, moving to physically block the door, her eyes pleading in denial of the deflation of their dream.

Maya's resolve to leave like a death rattle in her chest, each breath a cruel reminder that she was about to sever the only lifeline keeping her soul tethered to this world. The night she spent with Carina had been a fragile gasp of life, a brief, flickering moment where the pain seemed to dissolve into the darkness. But the morning light had a way of unraveling dreams, of forcing the truth back into the forefront—there was no place for them together in this world, not in the way they wanted, not when Carina's vows were bound to another and any discovery of their stolen moments would be her death sentence.

Their love was destined to be a shadow that lurked in the corners, unseen but always present, a ghost haunting every moment they shared. Her heart ached with the memory of the last time Carina was hurt, a wound that nearly tore her away when Maya's protection faltered. She had promised herself then, with a fierce and unyielding determination, that she would never let that happen again. She couldn't bear the thought of losing Carina—not to the world, and certainly not to her own mistakes. Leaving was her opportunity to make amends, to protect Carina in the only way she could.

Maya's gaze softened, the weight of Carina's words cutting deep into her heart. "I have to go, Carina. This is my duty, my responsibility," she said, her voice firm but trembling with the sorrow she couldn't fully conceal. She had prepared herself for this, but no amount of resolve could dull the pain of seeing Carina's eyes fill with tears.

Carina's voice broke as she spoke, raw and desperate. "If you leave, we are over. I won't forgive you." The words were a final plea, a line drawn in the sand, but even as she said them, she knew how fragile it was.

Maya felt her heart twist painfully at the ultimatum, but she forced herself to hold onto the reality of their situation. "We already are over, Carina. You're married." The words were a knife edge of truth, one she hated herself for wielding, but she needed Carina to understand.

"It wouldn't matter if we left," Carina insisted, her voice rising with a desperation that echoed off the walls. She would run away this very moment, leaving everything behind.

Maya shook her head slowly, the sorrow in her eyes deepening. "You still don't get it," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "We can't leave, Carina. There's nowhere for us to go. This... us... there's nowhere this is right. There's nowhere that will ever accept this. The only way this will be okay is in death."