SWNOVELXO Chapter 13: Chapter 13 – Under the Same Roof
The palace felt different at night.
Kaelith had walked its halls for most of his life, yet tonight they seemed narrower, heavier. As if the air had been thickened by a presence it couldn't name. Maybe it was Elara. Or maybe it was the weight of her words still echoing through his chest.
He led her down the south corridor, past the guest quarters and into the wing reserved for foreign dignitaries. It was mostly unused, which made it perfect for discretion.
"You'll stay here," he said, pausing before the final door at the end of the hallway. "No one comes this far without permission."
Elara looked up at the towering arch. "And they won't ask questions?"
Kaelith gave a dry smile. "They might. But I'll give the answers."
He pushed the door open and stepped aside.
The room was spacious, with high windows, tall bookshelves, and a hearth that hadn't seen fire in years. Dust lay in polite corners, undisturbed. But everything else-the velvet seating, the marble wash basin, even the carved writing desk-had the kind of quiet dignity that only time could give.
Elara stepped in slowly, running a hand over the windowsill.
"It's colder than I remember," she said softly.
Kaelith turned to her. "You've stayed here before?"
"In the second life," she nodded. "You didn't know I was here. Not yet. I watched you from the high balcony during your sword drills. You moved like you were chasing something you couldn't see."
He studied her face, but didn't interrupt.
She walked toward the center of the room and turned. "Why are you trusting me?"
Kaelith hesitated.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I just… feel like I should. Like I already did once. And I regretted not listening sooner."
She nodded slowly. "Your soul is starting to remember."
He watched her for a moment more, then cleared his throat. "You'll be safe here. I'll have someone bring food, fresh clothes, whatever you need."
"I won't need much," she said. "Just time."
Kaelith's hand touched the doorframe as he turned to leave. But then he paused.
"If you remember every life," he said quietly, "do you remember the one where I asked you to stay and you said yes?"
Elara's eyes didn't flinch.
"I remember the one where I stayed," she said. "But you left."
He lowered his gaze, then gave a slight nod and stepped out, closing the door gently behind him.
Elsewhere in the palace, high above the main halls and buried behind layers of stone and shadow, someone was already watching.
A man in dark robes, his face obscured by the silver half-mask worn only by the Silent Order, moved silently through the inner sanctum. In his hands, he held a parchment freshly inked with symbols not meant for open eyes.
He placed it on the altar.
Another masked figure joined him, speaking in a language that had not been uttered in court for centuries.
"She has returned."
"We see her."
"The prince remembers too quickly."
"They must be broken again."
They lit the fire beneath the altar. The parchment burned blue.
The night listened.
Elara lay awake long after the door closed.
She had lit a single candle and sat by the window, staring out at the stars above Virelles. In another life, Kaelith had named one after her. A bright one. West of the moon. It was long gone now-snuffed out by time or gods or maybe just memory.
Still, she looked for it.
The silence didn't comfort her. It warned her.
She knew what came next. The resistance. The watchers. The protectors of fate. They always came once Kaelith began to feel something. Because love, once awakened, was a threat to the curse.
But this time, she had something different.
Hope.
Kaelith stood alone on the observatory terrace, a place he often retreated to when the weight of the crown felt too tight across his shoulders.
The stars above blurred slightly.
Not from tears.
But from something deeper. A realization he couldn't name.
He thought of her words. Her eyes. Her patience. Her pain.
What if she wasn't wrong?
What if she was the truth?
And what if he had already failed her more than once?
A gust of wind caught the hem of his robe as he turned to leave.
Behind him, hidden in shadow, a raven perched silently on the rail.
Its eyes glowed faintly.
Watching.
Waiting.