***Cassius***
The Draven estate was huge, so big it almost didn't feel real. Every tower seemed to touch the clouds, and sunlight bounced off the windows until the whole place looked like it was glowing.
The gardens were filled with roses and jasmine, the air so heavy with their scent it made me dizzy. Inside, servants hurried through long hallways, music played somewhere in the distance, and courtiers laughed as they passed, eager to be near the duke's son and his new spouse.
Everything was beautiful. The orchards, the fountains, the paintings of his ancestors staring down from the walls, it all screamed perfection.
The kitchens prepared feasts that could feed an army. Seamstresses brought me piles of silk too fine to even touch. Living here felt like stepping into a dream I'd had since I was a child: to be admired, respected, envied. To belong to someone powerful.
Our wedding had been a spectacle. Gold, silk, and music that filled the cathedral. When Aldrik took my hand, I thought I was finally stepping into the life I'd always wanted.
But dreams fade fast.
Aldrik was perfect in public. He smiled, said the right words, touched my back just enough to make it seem affectionate. Everyone adored us. We looked flawless.
Behind closed doors, he barely looked at me. His smile disappeared, and silence filled our rooms. He was polite but distant. He was gone most nights, always with some excuse, meetings, duties, his father's affairs. I told myself it was temporary. That he'd come around. That marriages needed time.
But deep down, I knew I was lying to myself.
One night, when the silence felt too heavy to bear, I got up. I wrapped a robe around myself and walked through the halls. The manor looked different in the moonlight, quiet, cold, almost haunted.
Then I saw him.
Through the window overlooking the garden, Aldrik stood under the archway. He wasn't alone. Someone in a dark green cloak stood close beside him.
Too close.
They spoke softly, leaning toward each other. Aldrik's voice was warm in a way I'd never heard before. The other person laughed, and it felt like the sound punched through my chest.
I pressed my hand to the glass. My heart was racing.
The stranger handed him something small, metal, maybe. Aldrik took it carefully and tucked it into his coat, right over his heart. Then the cloaked figure disappeared into the shadows.
Aldrik stayed there for a long time before finally turning back toward the house.
I ran. My hands shook as I slipped back into bed. When he came in minutes later, I pretended to be asleep. He said nothing, just climbed into bed without touching me.
I didn't sleep at all.
By morning, I was hollow. I sat at the table, food untouched, waiting. When he entered, calm and perfect as ever, I couldn't stand it anymore.
"We need to talk," I said.
He dismissed the servants with a flick of his hand. "About what?"
"Don't act like you don't know," I snapped. "Last night in the garden. Who was that?"
His expression barely changed. "A private matter."
"Private?" My laugh came out bitter. "I'm your spouse. There shouldn't be secrets between us."
"You're my political spouse," he said flatly. "Don't mistake duty for affection."
The words hit like a slap. "So this…" I gestured around us "...this whole life, this marriage, it's all for show?"
"It's what's required," he said. "For our families. For the empire."
"So I'm just a decoration. A trophy?"
For a second, regret showed in his eyes, but it disappeared quickly.
"You're important," he said in a rehearsed tone. "Just not the way you think. Don't make this harder than it has to be."
My throat tightened. "You think I agreed to this? To be ignored while you meet your lover in the garden?"
He frowned. "You shouldn't have been wandering around at night."
"So it's my fault now?" I said quietly. "Because I saw what you tried to hide from me?"
He didn't answer. Then he said, almost tiredly, "You were chosen because you fit the image my family wanted. Nothing more."
Everything inside me cracked. The perfect dream, the love story I'd built in my head, it all fell apart in an instant.
I sat down before my legs gave out. My hands shook as I pressed them against the table.
"I have a meeting," Aldrik said after a moment, straightening his cuffs. Then he left.
I stayed there long after he was gone. The sunlight caught the gold and crystal on the table, but it all looked dull now.
I couldn't stop seeing that scene in the garden. The way he smiled at someone else. The softness in his eyes. The gift pressed into his hand.
All this time, I'd thought I was the lucky one. I thought I'd been chosen. But I wasn't chosen, I was just useful. A prop in a story that wasn't mine.
The life I'd dreamed of was nothing more than a cage dressed in silk and gold.
And inside it, surrounded by everything I'd ever wanted, I had never felt more alone.
That thought hurt more than anything. Because for the first time, I realized the truth: I'd gained everything I'd ever wanted and lost the one thing that mattered..
Hope.