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...
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Tauram's eyes widened when he reached the bottom of the page. He looked up at Esmera, confused, surprised. "I stand by what I said." He shook his head as he set the parchment down on the duvet between them gingerly as if it were a grenade in his hand. "I never read this letter, I swear. I meant what I said, that if I had known you were in Arkōsāra this whole time, I would've looked for you until I found you." Tauram's hand reached for Esmera's, but she pulled it away as much as it pained her to do so.
"How am I supposed to believe you when the words on the parchment say something different?" Esmera asked softly, fighting back tears as she looked into his pained eyes. She wanted to believe him, but the proof was there, and she had promised herself that she would never again ignore blatant signs of trouble just to lure herself into feeling safe.
"Do you think my word means so little, Esmera?" Tauram's voice cracked, but he cleared his throat and took a moment to gather himself. "Would you believe a letter from a stranger over me? After everything we have been through together?"
Esmera narrowed her eyes. She had thought he was above weaponising their limited shared past against her, but clearly she didn't know as much about him as she thought she did.
"Do you know what I think, Tauram? I think you do whatever suits you in the moment. When you believed me to be dead, you replaced me with Ghallia in your life. Now that you know the full extent of her betrayal, that she never really loved you, you replaced her with me because I'm here. Because I was available. Because I was easy." Esmera's voice tightened with resentment.
She was as angry with herself as she was with Tauram. She was equally to blame. It took two to tango, and she had offered him her hand without knowing whether he could dance.
"How can you say such a thing?" Tauram shook his head, his brow furrowing. "Do you think so little of me, that I would take advantage of you and lie through my teeth about how I felt about you?"
Esmera opened her mouth to reply, but Tauram cut her off. He grabbed her hand and turned her face to his so she couldn't look away. "Listen to me, Esmera. What you said isn't true. Yes, I did move on with my life and let myself fall in love with someone else when I thought I had no hope of marrying you, but you are not just a replacement for Ghallia. You mean so much more to me. I wish you could just see that."
"Maybe I would if you hadn't left me for dead in Arkōsāra until I found my way to you completely by chance." Esmera's mouth trembled, but she somehow managed to keep her gaze level.
It didn't hurt any less each time she referred to it. The man she had thought she could trust not to leave her, to keep her safe in this new dangerous world was no different from any other she had met.
Tauram's voice went low, tense with forced calmness. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Esmera. I never read this letter."
"But you must've opened it." Esmera's eyes hardened. "Yours is the only fingerprint that can access a letter addressed to you, or are you going to tell me I'm wrong about that too?"
