The Imperial Palace towered before Kael like a monument to decaying glory—white marble veined with gold, grand and flawless on the surface, but beneath it, he sensed rot. Power clung to its stones like dust—ancient, fading, brittle.
As Kael stepped from his carriage, silence fell across the courtyard. Every guard, every noble, every court official turned to him—not as a visiting Duke, but as the storm that threatened to overturn the heavens. His black coat fluttered slightly in the breeze, his crimson eyes betraying nothing.
He was not here by summons.
He was here because they could no longer ignore him.
The invitation had come under the Emperor's seal, but Kael had not missed the detail in the wax: the subtle stroke of sapphire—Selene Aurex's private mark. The Empress. The true force behind the throne.
She had asked to meet. Alone.
The imperial gardens were deserted, drenched in moonlight. White blossoms shimmered beneath silver rays, their petals eerily still. And there, beneath the shade of the flowering willows, stood Selene.
She turned slowly as he approached, the moonlight dancing along the deep sapphire of her gown. Her golden hair flowed like molten silk, her skin pale as porcelain, flawless and cold. And yet her eyes—those brilliant violet eyes—were anything but distant. They were watchful. Calculating. Dangerous.
"You came," she said, her voice velvet and veiled steel.
Kael halted a few paces from her. "I was curious. The Empress rarely makes idle invitations."
She smirked. "Nor do you, Kael. That's why we both know this was inevitable."
He let the silence hang, letting her decide how deep this game would go.
She turned her gaze skyward. "Lucius believes you are still a pawn, one to be boxed in and controlled. He does not see the king you are becoming. That blindness will cost him his throne."
Kael's eyes narrowed slightly. "And what do you see, Empress?"
She looked over her shoulder. "I see a man who never plays to lose."
Selene stepped closer. Her scent—jasmine and something darker—wrapped around him. She was elegance personified, every movement deliberate, every word a blade.
"You fascinate me, Kael," she whispered. "You command loyalty without chains. You take power without screaming for it. You don't conquer kingdoms—you bend them."
Kael tilted his head. "Flattery from an empress? What do you want, Selene?"
She met his gaze, and the mask slipped for just a moment. Beneath the poise, there was frustration, hunger, and perhaps… fear.
"I want to survive," she admitted, softly. "And I want to rule."
Kael stepped into her space, their breath mingling in the night air. "Then tell me—are you done serving a fool?"
Selene's expression didn't change. But her eyes said everything.
"I have served the empire," she said. "Not Lucius. Never him."
Kael's hand brushed a stray lock of her hair from her shoulder. He didn't need to threaten, nor seduce—his presence alone was enough to draw the truth from her lips.
"The empire is crumbling," Selene said, her voice low. "And I would rather rise with you than fall with him."
Kael smiled, slow and deliberate. "Then it begins."
Selene placed a hand on his chest, resting it above his heart. "Power like yours… terrifies them. But it excites me."
Kael leaned in, his voice brushing her ear. "Good. Because I'm not here to be accepted. I'm here to be inevitable."
Their eyes locked—an unspoken pact formed in the dark.
This was no mere meeting.
This was the beginning of an alliance that would crack the Empire from the inside.
To be continued…