Before the royal burial ground, where countless forebears sleep like stones under moss, Talant stood in armor, her face a mask of grief, before Elyu’s grave.
Haidra collapsed onto the cold earth, sobbing like rain on broken tiles, while Talant’s brow darkened like a stormfront under a helm.
When her gaze met Paris’s across the wind-swept tombs, she ground her teeth till they flashed like steel, and tears fell onto Elyu’s name like scattered beads...
“Where are Venus and Mother? I want to see them. They’re the ones hurting most.” Talant stood before Paris, her voice flat as winter ice.
Paris sighed, his head shaking like a weary cypress in wind. “They couldn’t take the blow and fainted. I sent them somewhere safe to recover. After all, the Royal Capital could be wiped out by a meteor swarm at any time...”
He let out a laugh that tasted like ash, a smile cutting itself on its own edge.
“Is that so?” Talant’s chill could frost glass. She walked up to Hippo, quiet as falling snow, and with a slender hand gripped the tip of his Black Spear. “Captain Hibo, thank you for everything you’ve given Eunomia. Talant will carry that debt for life.
Thank you for driving your spear through that damned traitor with your own hands. Thank you for staying loyal, even when Father left you in the cold for decades.
Truly… thank you, a thousand times.
What’s done is done. Grief fixes nothing. I’ll throw my full weight behind Emperor Paris’s ascent. Let me start by taking Tianensai’s head to voice my rage.”
Her even tone pressed on Hippo’s chest like a stone.
Hippo didn’t answer. His helm dipped, armor humming like iron in a slow wind. Talant seized the stunned Haidra by the collar and sprinted for her palace, her boots drumming like distant thunder...
“Your Majesty! The Second Princess, she…” Velledo’s voice trembled like a plucked string.
Paris’s eyes cut like ice, his face set like carved granite. “Talant… she’s far stronger than I expected. One march north, and I can barely recognize her.
She’s likely caught the truth, but without proof she won’t strike.”
“What do we do?!” Ginsley’s breath hitched like a man staring at a stormfront. “With her blade, plus nobles who won’t bow to you, and the entire Dike Guard…”
Velledo flicked her hair like a banner in a steady wind. “No. His Majesty bears the rightful royal blood. The people won’t side with Princess Talant, and the nobles won’t either. This world runs on interest like a river runs downhill.
His Majesty holds the Erene Guard, the great houses of the Royal Capital, the treasury, the armory—every key is already in his pocket. By force of arms, we won’t lose.
The only field we might lose is the hearts of the people. But His Majesty set the board long ago; living standards haven’t fallen—they’ve risen, slow as dawn light, under his full coordination.
We hold the truth, the public’s favor, the coin, the sinew of the state. A princess can’t topple the rightful line with a few fine words and a raised banner. The odds aren’t one in ten thousand.”
Silence fell like snow. They’d underestimated Velledo’s edge, and even Paris looked faintly startled, as if the orchard he’d tended for five long years now hung heavy with ripe fruit.
“As Velledo says, there’s nothing to fear,” Paris said, his palm striking the table like a gavel. “Do your jobs. Don’t provoke her, and don’t ignore her. Send ravens to watch around the clock. If there’s no reply for over twenty-four hours, consider the raven dead.”
Heads nodded like reeds in a night breeze. “For our great vow,” they intoned as one, “may Eunomia stay evergreen and unfallen, its light shining through the ages.”
“Velledo, with me. There’s something I need to discuss.” Paris’s words curled like smoke as he turned.
“Your Majesty… don’t… ah…”
Velledo’s cheeks flushed like peach petals as she caught Paris’s hand. He sealed her crimson lips with a kiss, snuffed the candle like a falling star, and pressed her into the softness of the bed as night closed like a curtain.
