"My Beloved Corvyn"

Andrielle's Resolve

My Beloved Corvyn, I do not know if this letter will ever reach you, but I must write it nonetheless. I must believe that, even across the battlefield, across the unknown distance between us, you will hear my words in your heart as surely as if I had whispered them to you in the dark. Lady Isari has sent word. She offers safe passage beyond the borders for our family, for Daemon. Zaya has taken him, along with your parents, your siblings—those who could go, those who still have the hope of a life beyond this war. They will not wait to see what becomes of Bastion. They will live. You have given them that chance. But I cannot go. I will not. I will not abandon the castle, nor will I run from the fate that binds me here. This place is my home, my duty, my last refuge. The catacombs will keep me safe. Even if it means our child is born in the depths of these cold halls, even if it means I must wait alone in the dark—I will wait. I will endure. But, my love, I am afraid. I have stood against fear all my life. I have been raised to wield blade and wit, to hold my ground when all else crumbles. But never before have I feared so much as I do now. Not for myself, but for you. I try to steel my heart, to remind myself that you are not a man who can be broken, that you are a storm that bends but never shatters. But still, I wake in the night, reaching for a hand that is no longer there. I stand in the silence of this place and wonder if I will ever again hear your footsteps in these halls, if I will ever again feel the warmth of your arms around me. I tell myself that I must be strong. I must be. Not just for our child, not just for those who remain, but for you. Because if you return, if you walk through those doors again, I do not want you to find a broken woman. I want you to find the same Andrielle you left behind—whole, unyielding, waiting with a heart that has never once stopped beating for you. But if the worst should come, if you fall at Bastion, if your path ends there, know this: My love for you is not bound by time or life. If you do not return to me in this world, I will find you in the next. Forever. Andrielle