Chapter 7
There's a moment in every great plan where you sit back, sip tea, and ask yourself:
"Am I being a genius… or an idiot?"
That was me, standing over a table covered in scrolls, estate maps, military records, and a moderately burnt quiche.
Elias sat across from me, calmly reading a treatise on mana instability. He was five. He read like a thirty-year-old civil war veteran.
"How attached are you to the idea of me never marrying?" I asked.
He didn't look up. "I assumed it was inevitable."
Wow.
"Really?"
"You're calculating," he said, flipping a page. "You'll marry for advantage, not emotion. If it's efficient, you'll do it."
I blinked.
"That's… not inaccurate. But also, ouch?"
He shrugged.
I glanced at my target file again.
Kael Vire.
The Grand Duke. The Western Warlord. The Scourge of the South. The Empire's last functioning battering ram.
Also: devastatingly tall, rumored to have a voice that made horses kneel, and famously immune to scandal, sentiment, or sense of humor.
He'd never married. Never even entertained courtship.
He didn't need to.
Power bent around him.
But I needed him.
If not for me—then for Elias.
I started a list. I loved lists.
Reasons Kael Might Say Yes:
I come with my own land (barely).
I offer no emotional attachment (allegedly).
I am not stupid (Elias says so, so it must be true).
I offer him the opportunity to influence the future of the Pale Blade.
Reasons He Might Say No:
He hates people.
He hates nobles.
He hates marriage.
He may hate me.
"You're thinking too loud," Elias said, finally looking up.
"Sorry. Just planning."
"Planning what?"
"To marry a warlord."
He paused. Blinked. "You're serious."
"Very."
"Why him?"
I looked at him. Really looked.
This boy—who'd survived things I still didn't know how to ask about. Who read prophecy like bedtime stories and trained with blades like he was racing death.
He wasn't going to live unless I cheated fate harder than anyone ever had.
"I need someone the world's afraid of," I said quietly.
Elias was silent for a moment. Then he nodded once, slowly.
"Make sure he's scared of you too."
.
.
.
.
.
End of Chapter 7