Chapter 32: Chapter 33: The silence

Lena’s POV

Morning came too quickly.

I woke in my small chamber, my body still aching from the bruises. For a moment, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, remembering what I’d seen in the dungeon.

The kiss.

Elara and Kaelen.

I’d barely slept after returning to my room. Had lain awake thinking about it. Turning it over in my mind. Trying to understand what it meant.

Now it was morning. And I had to face Elara like nothing had happened. Like I hadn’t seen anything.

I got up slowly. Washed my face. Dressed in my maid’s uniform. Made myself presentable.

Then I went through the connecting door into Elara’s chambers.

She was already awake. Sitting by the window. Still wearing the nightdress I’d helped her into yesterday.

“Good morning, Your Majesty,” I said quietly.

She turned to look at me. Her face was calm. Composed. “Good morning, Lena. No one is here Lena, call me Elara.”

I expected something. A glow. A tremor in her voice. Guilt in her eyes. Some sign of what had happened last night.

But she gave me nothing.

“Shall I help you dress?” I asked.

“Yes, please,” she said.

She stood and walked to the wardrobe. I followed, already pulling out the clothes she would need for the day.

A simple dress. Nothing too formal. She wasn’t meeting with the council today.

I helped her out of the nightdress. Into the underlayers. Into the dress.

She was quiet the whole time. Controlled. Distant in a way that was deliberate.

This wasn’t the comfortable silence we usually shared. This was something else. Something careful.

“How are you feeling today?” I asked as I laced up the back of her dress.

“Better,” she said. “Less tired.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Well enough.”

Short answers. Polite. But giving nothing away.

I finished the laces. Started on her hair. Brushing it out. Pinning it up in a simple style.

“And you?” she asked. “How are your bruises?”

“Healing,” I said. “Still sore, but better than yesterday.”

“I’m glad,” she said.

More silence.

I kept waiting for her to mention it. To say something about last night. About where she’d gone. What she’d done.

But she didn’t.

She didn’t mention the dungeon.

Didn’t mention Kaelen.

Didn’t mention leaving her room at all.

And that unsettled me more than any confession would have.

If she’d told me, if she’d confided in me, I would have known what to do. How to react. How to help.

But this silence? This deliberate control?

It felt like a wall between us. One I didn’t know how to climb.

I finished her hair. Stepped back. “There. All done.”

“Thank you,” she said. She stood and walked to the mirror. Looked at herself. Adjusted a pin I’d placed slightly crooked.

I watched her. Looking for cracks. For anything that would tell me what she was thinking.

But she kept her face perfectly calm. Perfectly composed.

Like a queen.

Not like the girl I’d known for years. Not like my friend.

Midway through the morning, after we’d eaten a quiet breakfast together, Elara finally spoke.

“Lena,” she said. Her voice was measured. Careful. “Has there been any word about Kaelen’s condition?”

I looked up from clearing the breakfast dishes. “Your Majesty?”

“My personal guard who was punished yesterday,” she said. She wasn’t looking at me. Was looking out the window instead. “Has anyone mentioned whether he… whether he survived the night?”

She framed it perfectly. A queen asking about a guard who was punished under her watch. Showing appropriate concern. Nothing more.

Not a woman asking about a man she’d kissed.

The restraint was precise. And it cut.

Because I knew the truth. Knew what she’d really done last night. Knew how she really felt.

And she was choosing not to tell me. Choosing to keep it hidden.

Choosing not to confide in me.

That hurt more than I expected.

“I haven’t heard anything,” I said. My voice came out even. Calm. Matching her tone. “Would you like me to find out?”

“If it’s not too much trouble,” she said. “I just… I want to know that he’s alright. That the punishment didn’t…”

She didn’t finish the sentence.

“I’ll find out,” I said. “I’ll go ask the guards. See what I can learn.”

“Thank you,” she said. She looked at me then. And for just a second, I saw something in her eyes. Gratitude. Relief. Maybe even guilt.

But then it was gone. Hidden behind that calm, controlled mask again.

“I’ll be back soon,” I said.

I left the chambers. Walked through the palace corridors with purpose.

But inside, I was reeling.

She’d lied to me. Not directly. But by omission. By pretending she didn’t already know Kaelen’s condition.

Because she’d seen him herself. Had treated his wounds. Had kissed him in that dungeon cell.

And now she was pretending none of that had happened.

Why?

Why keep it from me?

Did she not trust me anymore?

The thought stung. Made my chest tight.

I’d been her maid for years. Her friend. The person she’d always confided in. The one she’d told about wanting to leave the palace. The one she’d trusted to help her with that plan.

And now she was keeping secrets from me.

I pushed the hurt down. Focused on the task she’d given me.

Find out about Kaelen.

I already knew he was alive. Had seen him breathing. Seen Elara bandaging him.

But I needed to know more. Needed to understand the situation fully.

I went to the guard quarters. Found a guard I knew slightly. A man who’d always been kind to me.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” he said. “What do you need?”

“The guard who was punished yesterday,” I said. “Kaelen. Is there any word on his condition?”

The guard’s face darkened. “He’s alive. Barely.”

“Where is he being kept?”

“The holding cells,” the guard said. “Lord Malakor ordered that he remain confined until further instruction.”

Those words. “Until further instruction.”

I knew palace language. Knew what that meant.

Kaelen wasn’t being held because he was a danger. He was being held as leverage.

As a piece on Malakor’s game board.

Something he could use if he needed to control Elara.

“Has he been treated?” I asked. “By a healer?”

“Not that I know of,” the guard said. “Lord Malakor said he was to receive basic care only. Water. Bread. Nothing more.”

My stomach turned. “No medical treatment?”

“The punishment was supposed to teach him a lesson,” the guard said uncomfortably. “I suppose Lord Malakor thinks healing him too quickly would defeat the purpose.”

I thanked him and walked away.

My mind was racing.

If Kaelen was leverage, if Malakor was keeping him weak and injured on purpose, then Elara’s attachment to him was dangerous.

Malakor would use it. Would twist it. Would turn it into a weapon against her.

And I’d seen enough in that dungeon corridor to know the attachment was real.

This wasn’t just a queen concerned about her guard. This was deeper. More complicated.

More dangerous.

I walked slowly back to Elara’s chambers. Thinking about what to say. How to deliver this news.

When I entered, Elara looked up immediately. “What did you learn?”

“He’s alive,” I said. I watched her face carefully as I spoke. “Barely. He’s being kept in the holding cells. Lord Malakor ordered that he remain confined until further instruction.”

Elara’s face didn’t change. Didn’t show any reaction beyond a slight pause before nodding.

But I saw it. In her eyes. In the way her hands tightened slightly on the book she was holding.

Relief. Buried deep. Controlled. But there.

“I see,” she said. Her voice was steady. “Thank you for finding out.”

“He hasn’t been treated by a healer,” I continued. “Lord Malakor ordered basic care only. Water and bread. No medical attention.”

Something changed in Elara’s expression. Anger, maybe. Or pain.

But she buried it quickly. “I understand. Thank you, Lena.”

She turned back to her book. Dismissing me.

I stood there for a moment. Looking at her. This queen who was learning to hide herself.

Not just from Malakor.

From me.

“Will there be anything else, Your Majesty?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “That will be all for now.”

I bowed slightly and left the room.

But I didn’t go far. Just to my small chamber. Where I could think.

Elara was changing. Learning to mask herself. To hide what she was really thinking. Really feeling.

She’d always been open with me before. Always told me everything.

But now?

Now she was keeping secrets. Playing a game I wasn’t sure I understood.

And I realized something that hurt more than I wanted to admit.

I was no longer the first person she turned to.

Maybe I wasn’t even the person she trusted most anymore.

That thought planted itself in my mind like a seed. Small but growing.

If Elara could keep this secret from me… what else might she be capable of?

What other secrets was she hiding?

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