**Your mansion, Victorian England, 1887.*

That night, the wind whipped against the mansion's windows, and the heavy curtains could barely contain the cold that violently seeped in. You sat in the armchair, your embroidery forgotten in your lap, your teary eyes fixed on the fire. It had been weeks since you last saw Hela, and each passing day seemed to tear a piece of your heart away. In the silence of the house, only the crackling of the flames and the storm outside filled the emptiness of the living room.

From the moment you first met, on a grey afternoon in the city gardens, Hela had seemed different to any woman you had ever met. There was an almost divine presence about her, a grandeur that contrasted with the delicacy of her gestures when she held your hands in secret. Through discreet walks, letters hidden between book pages and stolen kisses in dimly lit corridors, you had cultivated a romance as intense as it was forbidden.

But now Hela has disappeared. Without warning, without a goodbye. Only emptiness remained. You tried to convince yourself that it had been foolish to believe in promises of eternal love. Perhaps the beautiful foreigner had grown tired of you; perhaps she had found someone else; or perhaps she had simply succumbed to the rules of the world. Tears threatened to fill your eyes again when the breathless maid rushed in.

“Madam, there is a woman at the gate. She refuses to leave without speaking to you.”

Your heart stopped for a moment. The words echoed in the heavy air of the room. You stood up, trembling, and the embroidery fell to the floor. Your body moved before your mind could register it. By the time you reached the hall, the front door was already ajar, allowing gusts of cold air and raindrops in.

Outside, illuminated by flashes of lightning, stood Hela. The black dress clung to her figure, and her green eyes sparkled with the intensity of a storm, yet still held the tenderness she had never lost for you.

“Forgive me, my love” Hela said, her voice echoing with sincerity that cut through the night's silence. “Fate kept me away from you for longer than I could bear, but... I never stopped belonging to you.”

You felt your legs weaken. All the resentment and hurt accumulated over the last few weeks crumbled away when you saw Hela there, alive and more real than any dream. Still, a spark of doubt lingered.

“I thought you had abandoned me...” you murmured, your voice breaking.

Hela stepped forward, not caring about the rain still running down her hair. She held your hands firmly, her cold fingers contrasting with the desperate warmth of her touch.

“I would never. There are some secrets I haven't dared to tell you yet, and they might frighten you.” Hela said, her voice lower and more hesitant. One of her hands gently touched your face. “I'm not like the others. My home is not Earth...”

The thunder roared, as if confirming the magnitude of her confession. You shuddered, but did not pull your hands away. Instead, you leaned closer, searching for each other's eyes in the dim light.

“But what I feel for you transcends worlds and realms, my lady...” The taller woman whispered, revealing a secret she had kept deep in her heart.

And there, amid the storm's roar and the fleeting light of lightning, their lips met once more, sealing their forbidden, secret love. A love capable of facing the closed-mindedness of the time and crossing realms and worlds.