Her taste still on his tongue, her breath still in his chest—
yet at the foot of the hill, they were waiting.
Dispatched by the hand of
Queen Amerei Aleksandra Zrynon Storne
Queen of Casqadia
To His Highness, Prince Xavien Draekenra
Xavien,
I write not as Casqadia’s heir, but as Amerei.
You once told me to enter as if I were already Draekenra. Will you walk your father’s court now with the same conviction?
Aerdania burns. I have seen its streets—smoke heavy, the wounded lying beneath open skies. They do not turn from elven aid. They beg for it.
Go before your father. Speak as if the fire were at your own gates. Do this, and it will not be forgotten—by them, or by me.
With respect,
Amerei
Amerei sat at the kitchen table, quill poised above parchment, candlelight casting a golden halo across the sweep of her hair. The nib scratched steady and precise, letters dark and deliberate unfurling across the page.
Gabriel’s finger tapped just above the line—to enter as if I were already Draekenra.
“Good.” His mouth curved. “Play his pride.”
Amerei lifted the corner of the parchment, murmuring the words beneath her breath.
At the hearth, Issachar tended the kettle of emberbrew, stirring once, slow. His gaze lingered on the fire before it lifted to her, something wary flickering behind his eyes.
“Nothing’s ever simple with the noble class.”
Then, more quietly—almost as if the words cost him:
“How long will you let the prince believe he can have you?”
The quill stilled.
Amerei’s hand faltered, then drew back from the page.
How did he—
She pressed the pen down again, harder this time, and signed her name with an unshaken flourish.
“As long as I must.”
Gabriel leaned over her, sprinkling drying powder across the parchment.
She lifted her gaze across the room. Viktor stood waiting by the ladder, dark and silent. He nodded once.
She continued, voice steady though her hands trembled as she dipped her seal into wax.
“Casqadia is falling. Our noble houses were outcast the morning after they pledged fealty to me. Xavien took them in on his lands.”
