I found this in an old notebook the other day and decided it was good enough to put up. The protagonist is the noblewoman Tunstall pulls aside at the Summer Palace at the beginning of Mastiff.
Our Sorrows
Melia was a quiet sufferer.
To the world, she showed smiles and a brave face, but at night she sobbed her heart out. It was hard, forcing her mouth not to tremble while she was with company, but she knew she needed to do so. Reese would not want everyone to know about them.
She and Reese had met in secret—honeyloves were not welcome in the palace—holding hands, kissing some, never going any further. It was too much to risk. Melia was a lady, Reese a maid. Even if their love had been socially acceptable, they could never have been together. Their statuses were too far from each other.
Reese was a dream for Melia—sweet, kind, thoughtful. Melia herself was giggly and flighty. Reese helped ground her. Melia had always felt nervous, carrying their secret in her heart, but those fleeting moments hidden away in closets and behind closed doors made it all worth it.
It had all come to a sudden and brutal end in early June.
Their Majesties had just arrived in the Summer Palace. The governor of Blue Harbor had invited them and half the household to a grand party in the city. Melia was excited to accompany them, and tried to convince Reese to tag along.
"No, Melia," Reese said firmly, a laugh in her voice. It was the third time she had asked. Melia twined her fingers in her lover's own. Reese turned her head up to the lady. "I don't like parties, and I can serve just as well here, with the prince."
"Fine," Melia relented. "I love you. I'll see you later." She stood to go prepare herself for the party, leaving Reese alone.
She wished she could have convinced Reese to come.
Even without Reese, the party was great fun, and she was sad to leave early. The queen was unwell, however, and she needed to return to the Summer Palace.
Melia still felt sick to her stomach when she recalled the terrible scene that awaited them. So much blood and death everywhere... Mangled remains of guard and servants she had once known, and—oh no...
Where was Reese?
Desperate and panicked, Melia sprinted through the palace as soon as she was allowed to stray from the guards' presence. She feared what she might find, but the suspense of not knowing almost reduced her to a puddle of tears.
At last, she found her: stabbed in the stomach, limbs splayed about her on the ground. Reese was dead, stained with blood, the color drained from her face, her eyes glassy.
Melia broke. She sobbed with Reese's body in her arms for a good half hour, until a guard found her and separated them. Melia screamed for a while, until harsh reality settled upon her.
Reese was dead. But the official story was that they were only friends, nothing different. And she could not suffer loudly: the prince was gone, and that was everyone's main focus.
Melia held herself together all the next day, up until the tall Dog saw her and pulled her aside. She broke at that moment, and spilled out her tale: she told him everything. It felt good to get it out, but now she felt empty.
She soon found herself in the room they had last talked in, wishing for Reese. But Reese never came. She was dead.
You have our sorrows, the tall Dog had said. But those words were empty. He felt nothing for her. He only wanted information so he could track down the prince. Melia had no one's sorrows—no one's but her own.