"Perhaps???"
"Perhaps!!!" he said again out of sheer disbelief towards his daughter's carelessness. His voice was a low snarl. The moment the heavy doors of the council chamber shut, he took a predatory step toward her, crossing the marble floor that separated the throne from the table. "You have ruined two months of careful work! You have alienated Corvus, who controls the key shipping routes, and you have, for the first time, directly defied my counsel in front of the assembled power of the realm! shaming me in front of everyone!"
"I deferred to the needs of the realm, Father, not to your counsel."
"I am your father! I am the High Lord Minister!" Vael spat out the titles, trying to make her flinch with their weight. "You will respect my guidance. You are just a girl, barely seated on a throne warmed by another woman's fear, and you dare to play the Queen?"
Vienna raised her chin, "I am the Lady Regent. And when we are in this chamber, where I speak with the Queen's authority, you will address me as such. Lord Vael!"
The silence that followed was brutal, heavy with sudden, crushing dominance. Lord Vael stood absolutely still, his mind went numb, calculating the true cost of striking her down. His entire demeanor was now held hostage by the words of a woman who was just few feet away, and by the courage of the very daughter he had always dismissed.
"You believe that pathetic queen's ultimatum is sufficient to reduce me to a state of subservience to you?" he barely managed, his voice trembling and stuttering now, not with anger, but with bewilderment. Afterall Lord Vael, a master of discourse, orchestrator of foreign affairs, and adept practitioner of diplomatic nuance, was soo smoothly felled by his own daughter.
"This is not for you to decide if she is pathetic or not. She made you my shield, Lord Vael, not my controller. I know what she expects. And if I fail to rule with honesty; if I starve the people to feed your political games; she will return, and you know she will not blame me."
Vael finally dropped his gaze, his shoulders slumping. He looked older, suddenly stripped of his protective arrogance. He had traded his political freedom for his life, and now his own child was collecting the payment.
He ran a weary hand over his face. "Vienna…" he started again.
"LADY REGENT, Lord Vael!"
"You are right," he whispered. "You are the Lady Regent." Poison coming back into his tone, "And you have just set us on a course of true war with the Western nobles. Be ready for the consequences. My lady!"
Then, he turned, the once-powerful and cunning minister now reduced to a man who had lost his last shred of leverage. Being forced to call his daughter as lady regent (that was her right) was a public disgrace, a stark announcement that he was no longer in control. It served as a harsh reminder for him to regain composure, and a clear signal that he was no longer required to think of himself as the only leader of the court. With a swift turn, he walked to the door, opened it, and left.
The moment the door closed, Vienna's body went limp, her strength draining away like the last bit of moisture evaporating from a piece of overripe fruit. Her knees buckled. She stumbled backward, catching herself on the velvet armrest of the throne, and then collapsed onto the seat.
Her breath came in ragged, hyperventilating gasps. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the room from spinning. Her hands, which had been perfectly steady while ordering grain transfers and commanding her father, were trembling violently now. She forced herself to open her fists. Across both palms, crescent-shaped ridges of white and red showed where her nails had dug deep into the flesh. Sweat slicking her brows.
She was the Lady Regent. And she was utterly, terrifyingly alone. But as her shaking eased, the fear was slowly replaced by a cool, strange sense of relief; the knowledge that the heaviest burden, the burden of being her father's puppet, was finally lifted.
........................…..
The morning air was crisp and cool, smelling of pine needles and damp earth. Aeryn sat on a fallen log near the edge of their encampment, the newly rescued twins; still unnamed by the sisterhood, and clinging close to one another; watching from a short distance.
She held a parchment sealed with the small, distinctive mark of Sasha, her spymaster in the capital. As Aeryn read the meticulous detailing of the Council session; Corvus's challenge, Vael's intervention, and Vienna's final, unwavering decree; a slow, genuine smile spread across her face, one of amused satisfaction.
Sakina approached, carrying two steaming bowls of porridge. She watched the shifting expression on Aeryn's face and frowned. "Good news, Your Highness?"
Aeryn looked up at her, her eyes dancing with quiet pride. "Here, see this." She passed the letter to Sakina.
Sakina took the parchment, her face quickly twisting into a dreaded expression as she reached the part where Vienna defied Lord Vael over the grain reserves. She looked up sharply. "My Queen, you have turned them against each other!"
"They were always against each other, no?" Aeryn countered, the amusement lingering in her tone. She took the bowl and let the steam warm her face. "Vienna is the only one who can control her father. Loyal as he is, As long as he controls this habit of his; the habit of kissing up to the nobles; he will go well with his daughter."
Sakina still frowned, unconvinced by the diplomatic risk. "You think Vienna did good?"
Aeryn shrugged lightly, taking a spoonful into her mouth, "She did better than me, in this aspect."
Sakina shook her head, her jaw tightening. "Defiance in the face of political necessity is recklessness, Your Highness. She has made powerful enemies one of them her own father! and left the capital vulnerable for sentimentality! That's totally unacceptable!"
Aeryn set her bowl down. "Vael is not her enemy... he cannot become her enemy, regardless of all the disagreements he can have with her. After all, she is his blood, granting him the honor of being called the noblest of the nobles, leading the court to believe that he is the one holding the reins of regency – the facade he will not tear down out of respect for himself, to preserve his dignity."
"And…" she continued while thinking, he eyes becoming dead, devoid of any feeling, "Sentimentality? Strength? You miss the point, Sakina. I would have bled the court dry, you know it! I would have forced Vael's compliance by stripping him bare, threatening his sons, or making him choke on his own tongue in front of the council." Aeryn leaned forward, her voice low. "And you would be running after me to clean up my mess, you know it! More than anyone! Vienna did not need a physical threat. She simply used the power I gave her. She did better than me. Honestly better than what I had expected."
Sakina opened her mouth to argue the inherent danger of political instability, but before a word could escape, a small shadow approached the Queen.
It was the younger of the twin girls, the one with the wide, terrified green eyes. She moved with hesitant grace, holding out a delicate garland woven from small wildflowers gathered at the forest edge. She did not speak, but offered the crown silently to Aeryn.
Aeryn stopped smiling. Her gaze softened completely, absorbing the girl's trembling gratitude. She gently took the garland and placed it over her own head, the simple, natural flowers a stark contrast to the cold steel of her armor.
"Thank you," Aeryn whispered. She met Sakina's eye, the message clear: I know what I am doing, sakina don't worry!"
Sakina silently bowed her head in acceptance.
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