Ailea kept her forehead pressed to yours as though that would keep every single one of her doubts at bay. She breathed you in like it was the last time.

“We would not have lasted,” she said. “I have a duty to the throne.” One you could not possibly fathom. Ailea would be queen, the weight of her people would one day rest upon her shoulders and she could not falter. Weaknesses must be cut out like weeds.

You would ruin her. You spelled her downfall with your brilliant smile and beautiful eyes. You who taught her to love in a way she didn’t think she could.

You.

Ailea could not marry a human woman. That life would never belong to her. Vesta needed her, and you did not require a half-baked lover that would choose her kingdom over you. She couldn’t be weak. Her wedding was near. No longer could she make these visits to the Vestian-Odarian border to see you.

Her father had learned of the affair as he always did. There were no secret that could be kept from the King of Vesta. Aiwin must have known the entire time but he’d said nothing.

“Wake up,” he’d said.

And so Ailea had.

An affair with another Elven maid or something could be hidden, but disappearing to see a human when Vesta and Odara’s peace was shattering before her eyes? Ailea couldn’t risk losing anymore support. Lathael’s appearance had shook the very foundation, every pillar, of trust she’d cultivated with her people. There was civil unrest, her brothers worried for her endlessly, she was betrothed to a man she could never love, and yet all she could do was mourn the loss of your touch.

“Do not make the same mistakes I have, Ailea,” Aiwin had said. Her father’s hand felt rough as it reached for hers. Had they always felt so unnatural against her skin? “You were born to be a greater ruler than every soul before you.”

Ailea needed to wake up.

“I love you,” she said instead, fingers cupping along your jaw. She wondered if you believed her. Surely if her love were true she’d have argued with her father, she would have disagreed, but she hadn’t. Ailea could point fingers and blame Aiwin for this, but that would be a lie. “I’ll always love you.”

As a child she thought something was wrong with her. She loved her parents, her brothers, her betrothed, Nyriel, but it wasn’t the love in books. Nyriel did not make her heart race, just as she did nothing for him. She loved him as her friend and he loved her the same, but it wasn’t enough.

You taught her love could be suffocating and sweet and cruel. Ailea knew love to be honest and real because you existed. She would never find the words to thank you for that whether she spoke her mother tongue or Common.

“Please hate me,” she said and then she kissed you. She could live with herself if you hated her and lived out your days with a human lover by your side. Ailea swore she could.

She’d love you enough for the both of you.