Kael Draven
She looked at me as if I were a trap about to snap shut.The silence inside the cabin was almost as heavy as Violet's stare. She had taken two steps back since I entered, as if my presence were a hidden threat. Her hand trembled slightly, though she tried to hide it.
"You've been manipulating me. From the beginning." Violet's voice was firm, but there was a tremor behind it. "You pretended to take care of me. Lured me here… to gain some political advantage? Whose side are you on, Draven?""A carefully laid trap to pull Cardan's secrets from me?"
The words hit me harder than any blade could. I felt the blood freeze in my veins.Violet, it's not like that. I never—"Shut up." She raised her hand. "I see the way you look at me. How cautious you are. And now… this ridiculous story! You must have mistaken me for someone else, because that's not my mother. You're taking advantage of my pain to extract secrets from my kingdom."
She took a step back, her face twisted with fury and frustration. I wanted to reach out, to tell her she was wrong, but any gesture would only deepen the rift between us.
"I'm going back to Cardan. I'll report everything I saw here. Even if I go alone." Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "And if it's true that you're a spy, then be warned: I won't hide a single word of your betrayal."
My jaw tightened. Not out of anger, but because that word—betrayal—echoed like an old blade, one I'd felt before in the trenches of war and in the castle's corridors.
For a moment, silence reigned between us, broken only by the wind rustling through the trees.
"I let a healer go, Violet," I murmured at last. "Weeks ago. He was captured by our patrols. I was to interrogate him. But among his belongings, there was a letter. Written by you."
She paled, but said nothing.
"It was about your sister. Her illness," I continued. "You asked for help. He was headed to Cardan with herbs and an ancient spell. He might have saved her. I... let him go. I escorted him to the border to ensure his safety."
Violet was speechless for a moment. Her hand clenched the fabric of her dress.
"I didn't know if the letter would make it…" she murmured. "I thought no one… no one would care."
"I cared. Not because you're a princess. But because you wrote as a desperate sister. And because… I saw there was still kindness, even behind the walls between our kingdoms."
She looked away. For a moment, I thought she would speak, but she stayed silent. Instead, she turned and sat near the fireplace.
"Then prove it," she said finally, her voice hoarse. "Prove you're not like they say. That you're not just another pawn on the board."
I nodded silently and left the cabin.The forest was cold, wrapped in mist, as if the world was holding its breath. I went to where I'd hidden my belongings, beneath the roots of a twisted oak. I rummaged until I found a small wooden box.
When I returned, she was still there, staring into the embers of the fire as if searching for answers in the flames.I knelt before her and opened the box. Inside rested a silver medal, bearing Cardan's sun emblem and Espadaris's crossed insignia.
"This was the first," I said. "A medal of honor, given by your mother, the queen. It was a joint mission with Espadaris, before the war. I was young, inexperienced… But back then, there was still hope."
She picked up the medal gently, her fingers brushing over the cold metal. The queen's initials were engraved on the back. And in that moment, Violet could no longer hold back her tears.
"Is this real?" she whispered.
"I kept it as a reminder that once, we fought side by side. Before the death. Before the lies. Before everything shattered."
Violet remained silent for a long time. When she finally looked up, there was something new in her eyes. Not trust, but doubt. The first crack in the wall she'd built.
"The story they told us…" she murmured. "About my mother's death. My sister's illness. It always felt... hollow. Fragmented."
She stood and began pacing the cabin, her fingers brushing dusty furniture and old paintings.
"You don't understand, Draven. My father… he was always a good man. But there was something about him… a rush to bury the past. As if he feared the truth would rise. As if the past haunted him, or maybe his own choices."
"Violet." I stepped closer, slowly. "There's something you need to know."
She turned to me.
"Espadaris has been observing strange movements in Cardan. Troops relocated to areas never patrolled before. Intercepted communications marked with the symbol of another kingdom."
Her eyes widened.
"You're saying there's… someone else involved?" Her gaze was confused, but then something shifted in it.
"Yes. We don't know exactly who's behind it, but Cardan is involved. If it's true, it's not just a threat to Espadaris. It's a risk to all of us. Even to Cardan."
Violet brought her hand to her lips, visibly shaken. The firelight flickered in her eyes.
"I… I need to tell you something," she said at last. "I don't know if I should. But… if what you're saying is true… then maybe my mother died for something bigger. And my sister too."
She stepped closer to me, hesitant.
"I saw my father… months ago, on a night he was supposed to be resting with one of our advisors. I found old maps of northern routes, seals from a kingdom I didn't recognize. There were burned letters. It all made no sense. But now…"
"You think he's allied with another kingdom?" I finished.
She nodded.Silence settled between us like a new presence. And for the first time since this quiet war began, I realized that maybe we weren't on opposite sides.
I stood still for a moment. The air felt heavier, as if even the cabin held its breath.When I thought Violet had laid all her cards on the table…
"There was just one phrase that stuck with me. He said: 'Cartara will be unified, with or without the Thrones' consent.'" She bit her lip. "And my father… my father didn't contradict him."
That was it. The piece that connected all the rumors, all the shadowed whispers.
Violet stepped away, her eyes lost in the wood floor.
"I don't know if I can trust you, Draven. But I know I can no longer trust the story I was told."
She raised her head, determined.
"If my father is allied with another kingdom… then everything changes."
And there, in that forgotten cabin behind the waterfalls, two worlds began to break.