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THE WHISPERS of Daemon and Rhea's arrival spread through the Red Keep like wildfire, and with each fleeting murmur, Eleanor felt the weight of suffocation pressing down on her more and more. It wasn't just the fact that her brother was returning after years away, but that he would not be alone. Rhea Royce—his wife—would be by his side. The woman who had claimed him in the years since Eleanor had left to carve her path in war.
No one knew of the bond Eleanor and Daemon had once shared, of the nights they had stolen away to whisper their dreams to one another, of the secret passion that had burned between them like a dragon's fire. It was something buried deep, known only to them, locked away beneath layers of duty and family ties. To the world, Daemon had always been her brother, her twin. But to Eleanor, he had been more.
Now, as news of his arrival crept through the halls, Eleanor found herself gripped by emotions she could scarcely understand. The thought of seeing him again, with Rhea by his side, felt like a blade twisting in her chest. She had chosen this life—chosen to leave and seek vengeance, to command armies and reshape the world on her terms. But the return of Daemon, the man she had abandoned as much as the brother, threatened to undo all the armor she had built around her heart.
No one knew. No one could ever know. But the truth was a silent specter that followed Eleanor as she made her way through the Red Keep, her heart tightening with every step. The arrival of Daemon and Rhea was just the beginning of what felt like an unraveling—a reminder of everything she had left behind, everything she had lost.
Eleanor stood in the gardens, the scent of jasmine and roses swirling around her as the wind gently stirred the leaves. The sun cast a warm glow over the familiar space, but its beauty did little to ease the storm raging within her. These gardens had once been her haven, a place of laughter and innocence, where she and Daemon had run wild as children, their laughter echoing through the stone walls of the Red Keep. But that was not all the gardens held.
These paths, these trees, had borne witness to moments she would not dare speak of, moments that still clung to her soul like shadows. It was here, in the heart of this place, that she had shared her deepest secrets with him, where their bond had become something more than the world could ever know. There, beneath the boughs of the weeping willow, they had exchanged whispers of a future that could never be.
Her fingers brushed the petals of a rose absentmindedly, the delicate bloom reminding her of the fragility of everything they had once had. No one had ever guessed the true nature of what lay between them. To the world, they were brother and sister, twins born of fire and blood. But here, in this quiet garden, they had been more. They had stolen moments from time, dangerous moments, where they had been everything to each other in ways that should have never been.
Now, with Daemon's return, the weight of it all pressed against her chest. She clenched her fists, trying to suppress the flood of memories that threatened to overwhelm her. Her choice to leave, to fight in distant lands, had been as much about duty as it had been about escaping the impossible. But here, in the gardens they once shared, there was no running from the past.
