The Unbound

She was promised to the general before she could speak.

A political alliance sealed in a cradle.

He was the scholar who taught her to read.

In stolen afternoons behind the library walls.

Every lesson was a secret.

Every word exchanged, a risk.

She memorized his handwriting before his face.

He memorized the sound of her footsteps.

The wedding date approached like a verdict.

She would belong to a man she'd never met.

And the one she loved would watch from the crowd.

Bound by honor. Unbound by everything else.