The air thinned. The torches in the chamber guttered low. Then, Vael stiffened. His hand flew to his throat as if choking on something unseen. His knees buckled, his breath rasped. His blood obeyed her call, tightening inside his veins like an iron clasp.
Vienna gasped, rushing forward. "Father!"
But before the girl could touch him, Aeryn lowered her palm, and the weight shifted.
Vienna froze, wide-eyed, as her own body stiffened. She did not choke, but her hand lifted against her will, then lowered again, slow, precise, like the movement of a puppet's string.
Gasps filled the chamber from the guards and scribes witnessing the event.
Aeryn's voice cut through the silence. "Do you see?" she said, stepping closer, her gown whispering across the marble. "I could spill the blood of your father with a thought." She looked at Lord Vael. "I could make your daughter kneel at my feet."
She turned her back and continued, "I could bend you both like reeds in the storm. This is the power you whisper about in your halls."
Vienna trembled, tears gathering in her eyes as Aeryn's unseen grip released her. She sank to the floor, clutching her hands together.
Aeryn turned her gaze back to Vael. He was pale, sweat beading at his brow, but he forced himself upright, his earlier arrogance replaced by stark terror.
"I do not need a sword to command your obedience," Aeryn said, her voice sharp as steel. "Nor a crown to remind you who I am. I am the blood that remembers. I am the fire that does not extinguish. And if any among you thinks to test me again, "
She let the silence hang, filled with the echo of his rasping breath.
"…they will find their veins answering to me before their lips can speak treason."
The chamber was quiet. Aeryn lifted her chin. "You came here for a performance. Now you've seen it. Leave my sight."
Vael bowed low this time, his arrogance gutted, his daughter clinging to his arm. They retreated quickly, the heavy doors slamming shut behind them.
......…..
The doors had barely stopped quivering when Aeryn's voice cut the silence again.
"Stop."
Lord Vael and Vienna froze mid-step, slowly turning back, confusion and raw fear painted across their faces.
Aeryn descended the last step of the dais. Her gaze fixed not on the lord, but on the girl who clung uncertainly to his arm.
"Lord Vael," she said, her tone measured, regal, "the reason I called you today was not only to silence your mutterings, but to entrust you with something greater."
Vienna's eyes widened. Vael frowned, wary. "My queen?"
"I am preparing an expedition," Aeryn said, her voice carrying to every ear. "Beyond these walls lies old power, waiting to be uncovered. But while I am gone, the realm will not govern itself. Someone must hold the regency."
Vael straightened, his pride swelling. "If it is Your Majesty's will, I will, "
"No."
The word cracked across the chamber like a whip.
Aeryn turned her gaze to Vienna. "Your daughter will serve as regent, in my absence," she declared. "And you will guide her; not as lord over her, but as a father. Mind that I know how you've ignored her, how you've treated her as less than your sons. That ends now. You will stand behind her, and she will stand before this council in my name."
A ripple of shock spread through the room. Vael's face drained of color.
"My… daughter?" he stammered, as though the word itself had never quite belonged to him.
"Yes," Aeryn said, her tone cold but steady. "Vienna. She will bear the crown of regency while I ride into shadow. She will speak with my authority, and the council will heed her voice as they would heed mine. You, Lord Vael, will teach her what she must know; but you will not control her. You will not silence her. If you do…"
Her eyes narrowed, a glint like steel catching fire.
"…then you know what I can do with a single thought."
Vienna's lips parted in astonishment. She looked from her father to the queen, waiting for the jest.
"I…I don't understand," Vienna whispered, trembling.
"You don't need to," Aeryn replied, stepping closer until the girl was forced to meet her gaze. "Not yet. You will learn. You will rise." She tugged a loose strand of Vienna's hair behind her ears, her touch gentle but absolute.
"You will see what it means to hold power, and to wield it without shame."
Then, softer, almost too soft for the others to hear, she whispered in her ear:
"You are my first. I will not let another girl be forgotten."
.
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