---- Chapter 11 No.11 Lyra POV: | raced back to my quarters, my heart hammering against my ribs. | locked the door behind me and sent a mind-link to my most trusted subordinate, a young warrior named Finn. 'Finn, | need you to do something for me. Discretely. | need the complete record of Elara's time in the dungeons. Everything. Visitor logs, incident reports, healer's visits. And | need to know why the guards | paid to protect her failed.' 'At once, Captain,' came his swift reply. With that done, | sank onto my bed and pulled out the healer's teports and the journal. The cold, clinical language of the reports painted a horrifying picture. My sister had nearly died. Multiple times. And we never knew. We never even asked. The journal was worse. | opened it to the first page. The handwriting was neat, hopeful. It spoke of her love for Kaelen, her faith in our family, her belief that the truth would eventually come out and she would be exonerated. As | read on, the pages became a testament to her slow descent into despair. The neat script grew shaky. She wrote ---- of the cold, the hunger, the beatings from other prisoners. She wrote of overhearing our careless words through the mind-link, words of love and praise for Seraphina, while she, our own blood, wasted away in a cell. She wrote about the day she realized we had completely and utterly abandoned her. My hands were shaking so badly | could barely turn the pages. | felt a profound, soul-crushing shame. We had been so blind, so cruel. A few hours later, Finn appeared at my door. He handed me a sealed packet and a small, glowing memory crystal. "The official records were... incomplete," he said, his voice low. "| had to persuade one of the old guards to share his personal logs. He also gave me this." He gestured to the crystal. "It's a recording from the day of the rogue attack seven years ago. And another from inside the prison." My blood ran cold. "The beatings," | whispered. "Why did they happen?" "The prisoners who attacked her were all loyal to a lesser house that has long been allied with the Gamma's family line," Finn explained. "They were acting on orders. Orders that seemed to come from Seraphina, passed down through her loyalists." The pieces clicked into place. Seraphina hadn't just let Elara take the fall for her. She had actively tried to have her tortured, possibly even killed, in prison. ---- After Finn left, | activated the memory crystal. The first image that formed in the air was from the forest. | saw Kaelen, younger and more reckless, fighting off two rogue wolves. | saw an arrow, glowing faintly with a silver sheen, flying towards his unprotected back. And then | saw her. Elara. A flash of movement as she threw her body in front of his, taking the arrow meant for him. | watched her collapse, a silent scream on her face. The second image was from the dungeon. It was dark, brutal. | saw Elara, rail-thin and bruised, cornered by three larger prisoners. | saw them beat her, kicking her repeatedly in the side where the arrow had struck. | watched until | couldn't bear it anymore, and deactivated the crystal, a choked sob escaping my lips. Finally, with tears streaming down my face, | turned to the last page of her journal. It was written in the elegant script of the Old Tongue, a language | had struggled with but she had mastered in secret. It was a letter. A farewell. 'To my mother and father,' it read, 'l release you from the burden of a daughter you never wanted. May you find happiness with the child you chose." 'To Lyra, my sister, | release you from the bond of blood we once shared. May you never know the pain of being betrayed by your own kin." ---- 'And to Kaelen, my mate, | release you from the vow the Goddess made. The boy | loved died long ago. | will not be tethered to his ghost. | am sorry, but this time, | will not wait for you.' | finally understood. She had heard every cruel word we'd spoken in the Old Tongue, believing she was ignorant. Her departure wasn't a tantrum. It was a final, calculated escape. She was gone. And she was never, ever coming back. In "A Relationship Kept in The Dark" by CrushReel, the storyline unfolds as renowned photographer Jane finds herself drawn to the charismatic rookie model, Hector. Little does she know that Hector harbors a secret—he is actually the heir to a powerful business empire. As their romance blossoms, Hector grapples with concealing his true identity to capture Jane's heart. However, their love story takes a tumultuous turn when jealousy rears its ugly head, threatening to unravel the delicate balance they've built. 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