Rafael

Chills ran down Soleia's spine as she heard Raziel's words. He was studying her, but even though her discomfort should be more than obvious, he didn't stop speaking. If anything, he noticed her intrigue.

And he knew that he had caught her attention.

"We've had a lot more brothers growing up," Raziel explained, "but life in the palace can be competitive when there are one too many heirs. As the years passed, they died off one by one or left the kingdom and renounced their right to the throne in favor of pursuing other things in life. We thought Rafael would be the same, until recently."

The name drifted through the air, soft yet unmistakable. She froze. A peculiar sensation gripped her chest like a thread pulled tautly. That name… why did it feel like she had heard it before? Her green eyes flickered with something unspoken, her breath catching ever so slightly. It gnawed at the edges of her memory, elusive yet persistent, like a word on the tip of her tongue.