POV: Alaric
Neither of them was smiling.
Alaric registered this detail even as he completed his bow with appropriate depth. "Your Majesty. Your Highness. I am honored by this summons."
Eleanor gestured to the chair positioned before her desk. "Sit, Duke Vessant."
He sat, arranging his features into attentive respect while his mind took in the room. Something felt wrong. The formality was too rigid, the silence too heavy. Thalion's position by the window suggested observation rather than participation, as if he'd been assigned to watch rather than engage.
Perhaps the recognition came with conditions. Political assignments often did. Whatever the Empress required in exchange for acknowledgment, he would provide it. That was how power worked.
"I trust the journey was not too taxing on your injuries," Eleanor said. Her tone carried none of the warmth he'd expected. "We heard you distinguished yourself during the demon incursion."
"I did what any loyal subject would do, Your Majesty. The realm required defense."
"Indeed." Eleanor's gaze held his without wavering. "And now the realm requires something else from you."
Alaric maintained his pleasant expression while unease crept through his chest. The phrasing was wrong. Recognition ceremonies didn't begin with demands.
Eleanor lifted a document from her desk. The parchment bore official seals and formal script that he couldn't read from this distance.
"Duke Vessant, I have reviewed extensive documentation regarding your marriage to Lady Seraphina D'Lorien. Evidence has been presented to this court that raises serious concerns about the circumstances of that union."
The words hit him hard, each one a separate accusation: marriage, documentation, concerns.
"I'm not certain I understand, Your Majesty."
"Then allow me to clarify." Eleanor's voice hardened into something cold and official. "Your wife has petitioned for divorce on grounds of forced marriage under false pretenses, systematic financial fraud, maintaining an unapproved mistress in violation of concubinage law, and conspiracy connected to the assassination of Duke D'Lorien."
Alaric gripped the arms of his chair as the words processed through a mind suddenly unable to comprehend what he was hearing.
Seraphina had filed for divorce.
"That's impossible." His voice came out steadier than the chaos inside him warranted. "My wife is devoted to me. I have a letter from her expressing that devotion explicitly. She wrote to me just days ago about our future together, about the children we would have, about the intimacy we've finally achieved."
Eleanor's expression didn't change. "Whatever correspondence you received, Duke Vessant, the petition before me tells a different story. A story supported by documented evidence including your formal engagement contract with Lady Evelyne Malenthra, signed three years before your marriage to Lady D'Lorien."
The engagement contract should have been locked behind seven killing wards in the family archives. No one should have been able to access it without dying in the attempt.
"The contract with Lady Malenthra was a preliminary arrangement." He forced his voice to remain calm. "It was never finalized. The terms were superseded by my marriage to Lady D'Lorien."
"The document suggests otherwise." Eleanor set down the first paper and lifted another. "Additionally, I have evidence of a formal compensation agreement. Monthly payments, property rights, household staff, and clothing allowances provided to Lady Malenthra in exchange for stepping aside from your engagement. The document grants her the right to maintain private counsel with you indefinitely."
Alaric's mind raced through explanations, justifications, any argument that might deflect what was happening. "Your Majesty, I believe there has been some misunderstanding. My wife and I have a strong marriage. We've grown closer over recent months. Whatever documents have been presented, I can explain the context if given the opportunity."
"The context," Thalion spoke for the first time, his voice carrying the weight of formal accusation, "is that you married a woman while contractually bound to another. You maintained that mistress without your wife's knowledge or consent. You gained control of her inheritance through a marriage built on deception."
"And the death of Duke D'Lorien." Eleanor spoke before he could respond. "Which occurred eight years ago when your wife was fourteen years old and cleared the path for your eventual control of D'Lorien assets. That death is now under active investigation with evidence pointing toward House Vessant involvement."
Everything he'd built over years of careful planning was being stripped away in minutes. His marriage, his assets, his reputation, his control over the D'Lorien inheritance that had been the entire point of the arrangement.
"Based on the evidence presented," Eleanor continued, "I have granted provisional separation effective immediately. Your marriage to Lady D'Lorien is legally suspended pending full divorce proceedings, which will conclude in seven days."
"You can't do this." The words escaped before he could stop them, before he could calculate the cost of challenging the Empress directly.
Eleanor's gaze turned cold. "I am the Empress. I can do precisely this."
"Duke Vessant." Thalion stepped away from the window, his posture carrying unmistakable threat beneath the formal courtesy. "You are hereby ordered to maintain physical distance from Lady D'Lorien. House Vessant assets are frozen pending investigation. If you attempt to approach your wife, contact her directly, or interfere with these proceedings in any way, you will be arrested for violating Crown directive."
Alaric stood, his ribs protesting the sudden movement. Propriety abandoned in the face of everything collapsing around him. "She's my wife. You cannot keep me from my own wife based on accusations and forged documents."
"The documents are not forged." Eleanor rose from her chair with deliberate authority. "Your wife presented three hours of evidence regarding financial fraud, contract violations, and assassination conspiracy. She did so with clarity, precision, and supporting documentation that has been independently verified."
Seraphina had spent three hours in this very room. Three hours surrounded by people who wanted to destroy him. Three hours without her husband there to protect her.
What had they done to her? What threats had they made to force her compliance?
"This is political." Rage crept into his voice despite his attempts at control. "Someone is using my wife against me. She would never do this willingly. You don't know her the way I do. You don't know how gentle she is, how trusting. That makes her easy to manipulate."
"The evidence suggests otherwise."
"What evidence? Documents stolen from my archives? Words put in her mouth by people who have every reason to want me destroyed? Whatever you made her say in this room, that is not my Seraphina."
He stepped forward, desperate to make them understand.
"She's fragile. She's been through so much since her parents died. I've spent our entire marriage trying to protect her. And now you've taken her away from the one person who actually cares about her wellbeing."
Eleanor moved around her desk to stand directly before him. The motion was slow and deliberate.
"Duke Vessant. Your wife presented documented proof of crimes spanning your entire marriage and reaching back years before it began. She did so while maintaining complete composure and providing verifiable sources for every accusation. If anyone in this room is suffering from compromised judgment, it is not Lady D'Lorien."
Alaric's chest constricted until breathing became difficult. They didn't understand. None of them understood what he and Seraphina had. The way she had looked at him that night before her transformation, her eyes soft with wanting, her body yielding to his touch for the first time without reservation.
That wasn't something anyone could fake. That was love. And whatever she had said in this room under duress couldn't change what existed between them.
"You are dismissed, Duke Vessant." Eleanor returned to her position behind the desk. "Imperial guards will escort you to quarters where you will remain until morning. You may consult with legal counsel regarding the proceedings, but you may not leave the palace grounds tonight."
"Your Majesty." He forced his voice into something resembling composure. "I request the opportunity to speak with my wife directly. To understand what has caused this breakdown in our marriage."
"Denied."
"Then I request access to my household archives to gather evidence in my defense."
"Also denied. House Vessant archives are sealed pending investigation."
He remained frozen in the center of the room while the full weight of his situation settled over him. His marriage was suspended. His assets were frozen. His family was under investigation for assassination. And Seraphina, his quiet wife who loved him, was being used as the weapon to destroy everything.
"Duke Vessant." Thalion's voice carried warning. "You've been dismissed."
Alaric forced himself to bow, though every part of him resisted. "Your Majesty."
He walked toward the door with measured steps, refusing to show how shaken he was. Imperial guards fell into formation around him as he exited, their presence confirming that he was no longer a lord being consulted but a man being contained.
The quarters they led him to were comfortable but clearly designed for detention, with windows too narrow for escape and a door that would be guarded through the night. The room looked comfortable, but everything about it was controlled. It was still detention.
Alaric stood in the center of the room after the guards withdrew. His hand moved to his coat pocket and pulled out Seraphina's letter.
He read it again, tracing the words with his fingers. The way she wrote about wanting his children. The way she described their intimacy with a warmth that couldn't be manufactured. The way she had signed it, "Your devoted wife."
This was the real Seraphina. Everything that happened in Eleanor's study was a performance, forced by his enemies who knew the only way to destroy him was through the woman he loved.
But Seraphina was strong. She had survived her parents' deaths, the loneliness of being an orphaned duchess. She had survived by learning to say what people wanted to hear while keeping her true self hidden. That's what she had done in that room. She had performed for Eleanor the same way she used to perform for court functions.
And now she was somewhere in this palace, alone and frightened, waiting for him to rescue her.
He imagined finding her tomorrow. The way her composure would crack when she saw him. She would run to him, collapse into his arms, whisper "I knew you would come" against his chest while he promised that no one would ever separate them again. He would give her the diamond necklace and watch her cry with happiness. He would worship her the way he had that night, and she would whisper that she loved him, that she had always loved him.
Tomorrow she would return for document signing. Seraphina would be here in this building, surrounded by the same people who had turned her against him.
The Empress had ordered him to stay away.
But Seraphina needed him. Once he reached her, once he could hold her and look into her eyes, everything would change. She would break down and tell him how frightened she had been. And he would forgive her for every word she had spoken under duress, hold her and tell her that their love was stronger than any conspiracy.
Alaric placed the letter carefully back in his pocket, against his heart where it belonged. Then he began planning exactly how he would reach that signing tomorrow, imperial guards or not.
His wife needed him.
And nothing would stop him from saving her.