"But I have lived in fire all my life, Your Grace. I know its nature intimately. I understand how it moves, how it breathes, how it responds to the world around it. And I know this truth that many forget: fire only destroys what refuses to adapt. What tries to smother it. What treats it as enemy instead of force of nature."
She turned slightly, her gaze finding Soren where he stood watching her with an expression that suggested he was witnessing something magnificent.
"I did not come here to burn your empire. I did not travel across frozen lands and through hostile territory because I seek destruction. I came because your son, your Emperor, asked me to stand beside him."
Her emphasis on that word was deliberate, unmistakable.
"Not behind him, following in his shadow. Not beneath him, serving his will. Beside him. As his equal. As his partner. As someone who can share the weight of a crown rather than simply wearing one for decoration."
