The Space Between Bells

They met where no one lingered.

The old stairwell behind the chapel was narrow and smelled faintly of dust and candle smoke. It was a forgotten place-too inconvenient for servants and too plain for nobility. That was why it was theirs.

She arrived first, as always. She pressed her palm to the stone wall, grounding herself, listening for the footsteps that never came. Above her, the bells tolled the hour- measured, public, honest. Nothing like what she was about to do.

When he appeared, it was without sound. He never announced himself. He simply existed beside her, close enough that the warmth of him felt like a confession.

"You shouldn't be here," she whispered, though she never meant it.

"I know," he said, and smiled anyway.

They never kissed right away. That was a rule they never spoke aloud-if they delayed it, the moment lasted longer. Instead, they stood too close, breathing each other in, memorizing details they were not allowed to keep. The faint scar on his jaw. The way her hands trembled when she pretended they didn't.

In daylight, they were strangers.

He bowed when he passed her in the halls, respectful and distant. She returned the courtesy with practived indifference. Others watched them and saw nothing. That was the cruelest part-how easy it was for the world to miss them.

Here, in the stairwell, the truth pressed between them like a second heartbeat.

"You'll be promised soon," he said quietly.

She nodded. "And you'll be sent away."

"Yes."

Neither of themsaid the word forever. They had learned not to.

When he finally kissed her, it was gentle, almost reverent, as if he were afraid of breaking something sacred. She clutched his sleeve, knuckles white, as though holding him might anchor him to this place, to her.

They loved each other in fragments: stolen minutes, whispered laughter, hands brushing in passing. No vows. No witnesses. Only memory.

When they parted, she straightened her dress and smoothed the evidence from her face. He stepped back into the shadows, already fading into the role he was expected to play.

Before leaving, he said, “If there is another life…”

She shook her head, smiling sadly. “We’ll find each other sooner.”

And then they were gone—two secrets walking separately through a world that would never know how close it came to holding something true.