Morning came quietly, with soft light slipping through the cracks of the wooden cottage. Aurelia woke as she always did before the sun, before the birds, before anyone else stirred.
She tied her hair back, stepped into the cold kitchen, and began her day.
She cooked a simple breakfast boiled eggs, bread, and herbs and set the plates quietly on the table. Drevana and Emily never said thank you. They ate in silence, or sometimes with complaints, then left for the tavern, where they spent most of their days laughing with townspeople who never asked about the quiet girl in the woods.
Aurelia stayed behind.
She moved to the small room where her mother, Lyanna, lay wrapped in a faded blanket. Her skin was pale, her breath shallow. The illness had crept in slowly brought on by too many years of hard work, too little rest, and too much burden after Edric’s death.
Aurelia sat by her side, gently wiping her forehead and feeding her warm soup.
“You should rest, Mama,” she whispered.
Lyanna gave a faint smile. “You’re the only warmth left in this house, Lia.”
That evening, after a long day of chores, Aurelia returned from gathering firewood only to find her mother motionless.
Her hands were folded neatly over her stomach, her chest no longer rising.
Lyanna had passed in silence, alone.
Aurelia fell to her knees beside her, the firewood scattering across the floor.
She called her name. She shook her gently.
But her mother was gone.
...----------------...
Years Later...
Aurelia was twenty years old now.
She still woke before the sun. She still cooked the meals. And she still stood silently in the corner while Drevana and Emily sat at the table like royalty.
She no longer had a voice in the house.
She had become a maid in her own home. Though there were other servants brought in to help now and then, Aurelia was always the one called to scrub, to sweep, to carry, to serve.
When she washed clothes by the river, she was alone. When she tended the small garden, no one offered to help. She kept the cottage running, the food on the fire, the tools in order.
And yet… she was invisible.
Since her mother’s death, Aurelia had not returned to town even once.
Drevana and Emily had forbidden it.
They told her the world had no place for a girl like her.
That people would gossip. That it was better if she stayed hidden.
And over time, Aurelia stopped asking.
...----------------...
That afternoon, she made her way into the woods to gather firewood. The trees stood tall and silent, their shadows cool and familiar. It was the only place where she could breathe.
But then she heard it.
The sound of horses.
Not one, but several. Hooves crunching over dry leaves. The low murmur of men’s voices. She froze behind a thick tree trunk and peered through the leaves.
A group of armed men moved slowly through the forest. Their cloaks bore a crest the royal crest of the kingdom. Their swords were polished, bows strapped to their backs. They looked like trained soldiers, not hunters.
Among them sat a man calm, focused, and striking.
He had dark black hair, slightly tousled, and sharp green eyes that scanned the blade he was sharpening. His posture was confident. His expression unreadable.
Aurelia stared, her breath caught.
Something about him made her heart pause.
He didn’t see her. No one did.
Slowly, quietly, she backed away. Then she turned and ran.
...----------------...
Back at the cottage, she said nothing. She returned to the laundry, to the dishes, to the silence.
The encounter in the woods remained tucked away in her mind, like a secret pressed between pages.
She didn’t know who he was.
She didn’t know why they were in the forest.
But something told her this would not be the last time their paths would cross.
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