Since Esmera was abandoned on a stranger's doorstep as a baby, the only person who has looked out for her is herself.
Until a lark starts visiting her, leaving behind exotic flowers and iridescent pebbles that the internet doesn't recognise.
Esmera...
Please be warned that this chapter delves deeper into the potentially triggering themes of the previous chapter, including mentions rape, abuse, suicide, and murder. None of these will occur on the page, but the topics will be discussed. Please read with caution 💜
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Tauram let out a shaky breath. It trembled through the room, skittering against the walls, scraping against the window. At his ankles, Lundas purred before draping himself over his booted feet. "I feel like I should know this even though I don't want to."
Princess Kerani nodded, squeezing her eyes closed with the pain of a secret being contained while it struggled to break free. "And I should tell you even though I can hardly bear to speak about it, even after all these years."
Esmera took Tauram's hand. He clasped her palm between his even as his eyes never left his sister.
Where Princess Kerani sat on the pastel blue and purple covers of her bed, she was out of Esmera's reach. She'd have taken her hand too if she could. It was the least Esmera could do if she was about to relive Tauram and Princess Kerani's pain with them.
Princess Kerani opened her eyes. "You remember how Danshan felt about rules, don't you?"
"He couldn't stand them, whether they were mine, Āmā's, or the laws of the land." Tauram gave that wry smile Esmera had been so drawn to when they first met, but now it only broke her heart.
Esmera would be amused by the idea of a prince who refused to follow the rules of his mother, the queen, if she wasn't so sure that his defiance didn't end well for him.
"He didn't care much for Ruagu's rules either." Princess Kerani lowered her eyes to her lap, blinking furiously.
Ekta nuzzled her cheek, but she didn't seem to notice in the consuming hold of her turmoil.
Tauram clutched Esmera's hand tighter, fear widening his eyes.
Princess Kerani let out a breath, keeping her gaze on her gleaming, oval-shaped nails that ran along the golden embroidery edging her robe. "Ruagu and Ghallia were married a few days after you were banished. It was very festive for the wedding of a usurper and a captive bride, I must say." A muscle twitched at the edge of the princess's jaw, and Esmera found herself wondering what she wasn't telling them about the woman who was now the Queen of Milatanur.
If Ghallia wasn't the woman Esmera had thought she was from their single meeting, she certainly wasn't the one Tauram had loved. The prince gave no sign that was on his mind, only watched his little sister as she continued her story.
"Ruagu and Ghallia were happy for about three months before he got bored. His eyes started wandering. Soon, so did his hands." Princess Kerani swallowed. "Namesha and I were both trapped in the palace with nowhere to go. The difference was, I was a child, and she was a woman."
