The candle near her door flickered once before dying out completely, leaving the corridor dim and still. He turned and walked back to his study, steps slow, mind tangled.
The letter had unsettled him, not just for what it revealed, but for what it stirred in her. Liora, for all her grace and gentleness, carried a storm within her. He'd seen it in glimpses: when she stood tall despite humiliation, when she spoke with fire despite fear. He knew that look in her eyes when she'd read the letter, recognition mixed with hunger. Not for vengeance alone, but for truth. Closure. Maybe even peace.
He couldn't let her go alone.
Even if it meant retracing his own buried past.
