THE SHADOW [ LINGORM ]

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The warmth of her hand in hers felt foreign, a hollow echo of the intimacy she craved.  She was her Wife, yes, but her eyes held a distant gaze, a flicker of longing that mirrored her own.  They were bound by vows, by tradition, by the weight of a life they'd built together, yet a chasm of unspoken emotions separated them. She looked at her with a love that was kind, familiar, but never truly passionate, never reaching the depths of her longing. It was her sister's laughter that sparked the fire in her eyes, her sister's name that fell from her lips with a tenderness she couldn't claim. Each shared moment, each whispered word, each stolen glance at her wife, fueled the fire of her secret love, a love that was meant for another, a love that left her adrift in a sea of unspoken longing. The vows that bound them were a gilded cage, a testament to a love that was true but incomplete, a love shadowed by the ghost of another.