The devilish letter arrived just before midday in Laliya’s room which should have been impossible.
The grand sanctum was protected by layers upon layers of sacred wards woven by Luminars over centuries.
Every corridor was monitored, every entrance guarded and even the windows carried protective sigils against dark influence and fallen Serens.
Nothing corrupted entered without permission.
Yet, Laliya discovered the black envelope resting neatly atop her prayer desk when she returned from morning scripture studies.
She froze instantly.
The room was empty and silent.
There was no sign of forceful entry in the room.
Sunlight poured softly through the crystal windows and there, against white marble and silver scripture scrolls, sat an envelope sealed with black wax.
No servant had entered her room since morning, no wardens had alerted the sanctum of alarming activities at the walls or a breech.
No warning bells had sounded anywhere so she didn’t expect to find an illegal envelop in her room.
Laliya approached slowly and carefully.
The moment she neared it, she felt a faint celestial pressure lingering around the envelope.
It wasn’t holy or entirely corrupted.
It echoed more like the presence of a fallen and it made her pulse quickened.
‘Anaqielle,’ the realization came immediately.
Laliya glanced toward the chamber doors as though expecting wardens to burst through at any moment, nothing happened.
The sanctum remained calm which frightened her even more.
How powerful was Anaqielle to bypass every sacred protection without leaving a trace?
Many Serens would struggle against the sanctum’s barriers but didn’t succeed in getting in.
Yet Anaqielle had slipped through them effortlessly as though the Radiance itself couldn’t stop her.
Laliya hesitated before finally reaching for the envelope.
The paper felt strangely warm beneath her fingers.
Her breath caught slightly when she noticed a single black feather tucked beneath the wax seal.
It was beautiful, soft and dark like midnight.
Her eyes went wide, ‘A fallen seren’s feather?’ her mind went blank.
Laliya stared at it for several seconds before carefully opening the letter.
Elegant handwriting greeted her immediately.
The handwriting was sharp.
It was flowing and confident.
“Dear holy Maiden,” she pictured Anaqielle’s voice in her ear and already her heartbeat had begun misbehaving.
“You looked so beautiful today that I could hardly take my eyes off you,” Laliya swallowed softly.
Her eyes continued moving across the page “My gaze didn’t linger in the way your worshippers see you… I didn’t see you like a saint standing beneath the light… and not like the Radiance’s precious little maiden either.”
“I think they all look at you incorrectly,” she read on.
Laliya’s breathing slowed unconsciously.
“They admire your purity so much that they forget… underneath it all, you are still a woman. But I noticed it,” Heat rose faintly beneath her skin.
The words felt dangerously intimate as though Anaqielle were standing beside her whispering directly into her ear, again.
“The way your sleeves slipped down while you handed bread to that child… It got my blackened heart racing.”
Laliya’s pulse stumbled.
She reread that line a dozen time and each time, her heart skipped a beat.
“The way sunlight caught against your throat when you laughed…made me wonder how sweet the skin would…” That thought wasn’t finished and it served it’s purpose as Laliya kept wonder what Anaqielle left unsaid.
Her breathing became uneven as she read on, “The way your eyes soften before you smile. You look too alive to belong in heaven,” she read, that line extended the crack on her Lumen.
Laliya stared at the sentence.
Her chest tightened strangely.
But Anaqielle wasn’t done as the letter continued.
“I wonder if anyone has ever looked at you without seeing holiness first… because I do,” her throat felt dry now.
A dangerous silence filled the room.
Laliya could almost hear Anaqielle’s voice wrapped around every word.
Knowing Anaqielle every word would be slow, warm and tempting with every utterance.
She pushed the thoughts far back and continued reading, “When I look at you, I don’t see a saint. I see soft skin hidden beneath ceremonial robes… I see trembling hands pretending not to shake… and lips that would look prettier gasping than praying, Anaqielle.”
Laliya inhaled sharply.
Her fingers trembled slightly.
Her heartbeat quickened harder as the words struck like lightning through her body.
Heat rushed violently into her face.
Her Lumen flickered instantly beneath her skin.
Silver light flashed faintly across her wrist before dimming again.
Laliya immediately stood from the desk.
“No,” she shook her head in denial.
“No no no…” She was beyond panicked.
She pressed a hand against her chest, trying to steady her breathing.
She felt she needed balance more than anything but Anaqielle’s words lingered inside her mind like silk dragged across bare skin.
It was far from holy.
It was worldly and intimate in a way no one has ever expressed to her.
The way Anaqielle saw her felt dangerous because it made her feel seen beyond the sanctum.
It was beyond the duty and purity that she was raised in.
The realization terrified her and somewhere beneath the terror, something warmer stirred gently.
Laliya stared at it.
A fallen’s feather inside the grand sanctum.
She could barely believe it.
Slowly, almost against her own will, she reached toward it.
Her fingertips brushed the feather gently, soft and warm under her touch.
A shiver ran through her immediately.
Quick footsteps echoed outside the room.
Laliya startled violently.
Without thinking, she folded the letter quickly and hid it inside one of her scripture books.
Then, she grabbed the feather and slid it beneath her pillow moments before the chamber doors opened.
Another holy maiden stepped inside.
She was young and bright-eyed.
Completely unaware of the chaos unfolding inside Laliya’s chest.
“There you are, sister Laliya,” the maiden said softly.
“The elder Luminar requested your assistance serving lunch.”
Laliya turned around quickly, almost too quickly.
The other maiden blinked.
“Are you alright?”
Laliya forced her breathing steady.
She forced calmness into her expression.
Years of training saved her once again.
“Of course,” she replied.
The younger maiden tilted her head slightly.
“You look flushed.”
Laliya’s stomach dropped.
“I was near the window for a long time,” she lied.
The maiden accepted it easily.
“Oh. Well, come quickly before sister Maelin complains again.”
Laliya nodded quietly as the other maiden turned away, Laliya glanced once toward the pillow hiding the black feather beneath it.
For the first time in her life, she walked out of her sleeping chamber carrying a secret she could not confess to the light or the heavens.
‘This fallen angel is going to be the end of me, isn’t she?’