The marble halls of Valkoron stretched wide and gleaming, sunlight spilling through tall, arched windows and striking sparks across polished stone.
The air held the faint tang of salt from the distant sea, carried on winds that curled through narrow slits in the fortress walls.
Banners of silver and storm-blue lined the walls, each embroidered with the sigil of House Stormborne.... A silver thunderbolt splitting a black storm cloud on a deep navy Field, with jagged lightning patterns along the edges.
a symbol as old as the cliffs upon which the citadel stood. Valkoron was not a place of gloom, as many whispered in fear, but of command.
Its towers pierced the sky with austere majesty, a reminder to all who looked upon it that the Storm Lord's bloodline brooked no rivals.
Outside, the citadel overlooked the vast cliffs of Virelia, its towers commanding not only the sea below but also the respect of every realm in the Five Nations.
Through these corridors a young woman moved quickly, her sun-blonde hair glinting beneath shafts of light.
Princess Levina Stormborne walked with urgency.
Her gown....royal blue laced with silver....threatened to tangle about her ankles, and so she lifted the hem of her gown in one hand so as not to trip.
Her heels clinked sharply on polished stone with every step, echoing up toward vaulted arches where carved gargoyles leered.
Servants bowed as she passed, though she barely noticed; her thoughts surged too fiercely.
At last, she reached the double doors of her mother's private chamber. With a decisive push, she threw them open.
The heavy doors banged against the wall, drawing the startled gaze of the chambermaids.
Dowager Queen Aelira Stormborne sat upon a low cushioned seat, robed in deep violet silk.
Even stripped of her crown, there was something formidable in her bearing..the iron of a queen who had ruled beside a king feared across continents. Her pale eyes narrowed.
"Levina," she said coolly, her tone measured but sharp.
"Do you intend to shake the foundations of this castle with your entrance? What is the meaning of this intrusion?"
Levina's breath came quick, indignation in her flushed cheeks. She ignored the rebuke and strode forward.
"I heard the news, Mother. Is it true? That Valerian...my brother, the Storm Lord himself...has taken a wife? And not just anyone, but Lord Azarion's daughter? The one whispered to be cursed?"
Aelira's hand tightened on the carved armrest, her lips curving into a bitter line.
"So the court whispers already. I had hoped to hold this longer."
With a sharp flick of her fingers, she dismissed the chambermaids and gestured for Levina to close the doors.
"Do not shout it for the servants to savor. Sit."
Levina obeyed, though she remained standing for a moment, as though her restless spirit could not yet be bound to a chair.
"Then it is true," Levina pressed, stepping forward.
Aelira inclined her head stiffly. "A pigeon came at dawn. In his own hand, Valerian wrote that he returns within the week… and with him, his new bride."
Levina's eyes widened. "He has married the Flameborne girl? The one brought to Caelmont under trial?"
The queen's voice hardened, each word falling like a hammer. "True," Lady Aelira spat, "and yet unbelievable.
He who commands thunder and lightning, feared by kings and revered by his people, comes home with a cursed girl as consort.
The one whom even fire itself recoiled from." Her gaze burned, unyielding.
"Do you grasp what this means, Levina? Every bond we have cultivated trembles. Every house we sought to bind to ours will now watch us with suspicion."
Levina drew in a slow breath, then spoke with deliberate calm. "I cannot fathom it either.
And yet…But surely, Mother, Valerian would not make such a choice without reason. He has never been reckless, never one to act on folly."
Not reckless?" Aelira's laugh rang out, sharp as broken glass.
"He was sent to Caelmont to preside, to guard the honor of Virelia in judgment.
And he returns with a wife? A cursed bride! Do you see what he has undone?" Her hand cut the air dismissively, as though brushing away smoke.
"I dreamed of binding us to Stormbane's, or to Galesreach with their winds. Even the Raventhorn's of the east might have been courted.
Those alliances would have secured our position for generations. Instead, he casts it aside for a girl whose very blood reeks of ruin.
What will the lords say? That the Storm Lord, master of lightning, has been ensnared by fire's disgrace?"
Levina approached and lowered herself into a seat across from her mother.
"Mother, do not let anger take you. Valerian has ever been deliberate. You taught him so. If he chose this, it was not lightly. We must hear him before we condemn his decision."
"You speak as though you already side with him," Aelira accused, her storm-gray eyes flashing.
"I side with reason," Levina countered softly. "He is our blood. Our king. And your son. If you greet him with scorn the moment he crosses the threshold, what trust remains between you?"
"The lords already fear him. They dare not speak openly against Valerian. But if you rise against him, Mother, you will give them the weapon they crave: division within House Stormborne."
Aelira's eyes flashed. "Would you have me embrace this marriage? Welcome a Flameborne into the seat of Virelia as though she were bred for it?
The girl's line is riddled with ruin....Azarion himself clings to his hold over Ashmere and seeks dominion over the other realms. And now his daughter will sit at my son's side? No, Levina. I cannot abide it."
Levina leaned forward, her voice firmer. "And yet, you must. For the realm's sake. If Valerian has taken her, then he has already calculated the cost and gain.
He is no fool. He is the Storm Lord...revered for his strength, feared for his wrath. If he deemed her fit to stand at his side, then there is more to this union than whispers of curses."
The dowager queen studied her daughter, torn between indignation and dawning uncertainty.
"Consider this," Levina continued, her tone persuasive, almost diplomatic.
"If the Flameborne girl is truly cursed, then perhaps he means to bind that curse to his will.
Imagine what it would mean for the lords to see Valerian not only wielding thunder and lightning, but fire tamed at his side. What they call weakness might prove to be power."
For a long moment, silence pressed heavy between them. Outside, gulls cried over the cliffs, their wings flashing in the sun.