The grand courtyard of Caelmont stirred with the clamor of departure.
Banners of the five realms snapped in the brisk morning wind, their colors rippling against a pale sky.
Delegates mounted restless horses, servants folded away silken tents, and guards moved with steady purpose, the scrape of steel echoing faintly against stone.
Amid the tide of nobles and warriors in motion, one group stood still.....the Ashmere delegates, their crimson cloaks gleaming like embers under the sun.
Valerian Stormborne strode toward them, his dark cloak trailing, Aurelia and Vaelric keeping pace at his side.
Behind him, Kaelen, Rael, and Therion followed at a measured distance, their sharp gazes watching every flicker of movement.
Azarion Flameborne, Lord of Ashmere and Warden of Emberhold, was waiting.
He stood tall, broad-shouldered, his flame-red hair streaked with iron gray. His eyes narrowed as Valerian approached, but his lips curved into a thin smile that carried no warmth.
"To what do I owe the courtesy of your visit, Lord Stormborne?" Azarion's voice was rough, like wood splitting under flame.
Valerian stopped a few paces away, his expression carved in granite.
"Courtesy has little to do with it, Lord Flameborne. Tradition demands I bid you farewell, and so I stand here."
Azarion's smile widened, mocking. "Ah, the dutiful son-in-law. Rare indeed. The Storm Lord himself comes to see me off....though I suspect not out of affection."
"Affection," Valerian said flatly, "is a coin you do not possess. I came to fulfill my duty, nothing more."
Aurelia's steps faltered at the edge of the circle.
She lowered her gaze, clutching Vaelric's hand tighter, her veil trembling slightly with each breath.
Azarion's eyes flicked to Aurelia, lingering with deliberate cruelty that made her flinch.
"So this is your triumph, Stormborne," he said.
"The prize of Caelmont's trial. My daughter." His tone curled with scorn.
"Scarred. Broken. Cast aside even by her own betrothed, and yet gathered up by you.
Tell me, Valerian, is this truly the height of your glory? Do you see her as a queen… or is it pity?"
Aurelia stiffened, her grip on Vaelric tightening.
Valerian's jaw clenched, and for a moment the storm in his eyes darkened.
"Careful, lord Azarion," he said softly, the warning sharper than steel.
"The shame here is not mine. You parade yourself as a monarch, but you cast away your own daughter like an old cloak once she ceased to be useful to your ambition.
What father speaks of his child as though she were nothing but a tool?"
Azarion gave a short, bitter laugh. "Ambition, Stormborne, is the lifeblood of kings.
I sought to unite the five nations under Ashmere's banner.
If Aurelia could not play her part, why should I pretend otherwise? A scarred and cursed queen cannot command loyalty. You know this as well as I."
"No. Valerian stepped closer, storm-grey eyes flashing. his voice cutting like a blade through the air.
"What you call ambition, I call cowardice.
What I know is this....you betrayed blood. You betrayed flesh.
A man who scorns his child for failing his schemes is no king, Azarion. He is only a coward hiding behind crowns and fire."
Gasps stirred among the Ashmere retinue, though none dared speak. The two lords stood eye to eye, storm against flame, old grudges simmering to the surface.
Azarion's smile thinned, his teeth bared. "And you believe you will be any different? You think your storm banners will hide her scars from your people?."
Azarion's eyes slid to Aurelia, sharp as daggers in the sunlight.
"Tell me....." his smile widened mockingly, "...will you be any different from me?
Can you stand before your people, hand in hand with a deformed and cursed bride, and call her your queen without shame?"
"Will you not falter as I did?"
The silence that followed was tense as a drawn bowstring.
Even the Ashmere guards shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting between their lord and the Storm Lord.
Valerian's jaw tightened. His storm-gray eyes darkened, and his words came out like thunder.
"You dare speak of shame, Azarion? You, who cast aside your own daughter the moment she no longer served your ambition?
You, who paraded her power and beauty when it suited your schemes, only to discard her when fate scarred her face and power lost?
A man like you forfeited the right to call himself a father."
Aurelia's breath caught. For a moment she could not move, stunned that Valerian had spoken so fiercely in her defense.
Azarion's smile faltered, his nostrils flaring. "Careful, Lord Stormborne. You may find your wife's scars more difficult to bear than her father's words."
Valerian stepped forward, his voice low and edged like lightning before it strikes.
"Listen well, Lord Flameborne. Whatever passes between me and Aurelia is no longer a concern of yours.
I will not degrade her, nor mock her, nor discard her as you did. You should be the one bowing your head in shame."
The heat between them was palpable. Vaelric squeezed his mother's hand tightly, sensing the danger in the air.
Valerian drew a steadying breath, though his teeth were clenched.
"I have met you as duty demands. But know this....though fate has tied our houses by this marriage, I want nothing to do with you, Azarion. Nothing."
With that, he turned sharply, the folds of his cloak swirling, ready to leave.
But Aurelia's steps faltered when she caught sight of a figure just behind her father....her elder brother, Aldric.
"Aldric," she breathed, her voice trembling.
His stern features softened. Without hesitation, he stepped past their father's guards.
Aurelia released Vaelric's hand and ran to him, tears already blurring her sight.
"My sister," Aldric murmured, gathering her into his arms. His voice, usually cool as steel, now trembled with restrained emotion.
"I will miss you," Aurelia whispered against his shoulder. "So terribly. I don't know if I can bear it."
He held her tighter. "And I you. But listen to me, Aurelia....you are stronger than any of them will ever admit.
You will endure this. Promise me you'll care for yourself in Virelia."
"I promise," she said, though her tears would not stop. "I'll try to be brave."
He drew back enough to meet her eyes, brushing a tear from her cheek.
"You are still brave Aurelia, just that after the curse, due to the harsh and terrible words people said about you, you became scared to be seen and heard.
You are still my sister, veil or no veil. Scar or no scar. Never forget that."
Before Aurelia could speak again, a sharp, mocking laugh broke the moment.
"Well," came Calista's biting voice, "isn't this a pitiful scene?
The disfigured bride clinging to scraps of affection, as though tears could wash her face clean.
Do you think Virelia will be any kinder, sister? Do you think happiness awaits you with that cursed mark?"
Aurelia flinched, but before she could retreat, Vaelric stepped forward, his young frame trembling with outrage.
"She is not cursed!" he cried, his voice clear and fierce. "She is my mother. She is brave, and kind, and stronger than you'll ever be, lady Calista."
The Ashmere delegates murmured in shock. Calista's lips curled in disdain, but Vaelric's eyes blazed.
"You laugh at her scars," he went on, his voice growing steadier, "but scars show survival.
My mother endured where others would have fallen. That makes her greater than you, not lesser."
Calista scoffed. "Such bold words from a boy. You'll learn in time that the world does not bow to pity."
Vaelric's chin lifted. "No, the world bows to strength. And she has more strength in her little finger than you have in your whole body.
You mock her because you are afraid....afraid you will never matter except by tearing others down."
Calista's face flushed, and for once, she found no sharp reply.
Silence stretched across the Ashmere circle, broken only by the sound of banners snapping in the wind.
Aurelia's chest swelled with pride, her heart aching as she looked at her son, pride and love filling her chest.
She drew herself tall, her veil trembling but her voice steady.
"You may call me scarred, cursed, broken....yet still I stand," she said.
"I don't know what waits for me in virelia,but I will endure whatever it is that comes my way because I am a warrior and a survivor, Calista.
I have those who love me, who believe in me". she turns to vaelric and though a veil covers half her face, vaelric saw through her eyes that she was smiling.
"So you don't have to be spiteful sister, I will not give you the chance to mock me again."
Her gaze flicked to her sister's glittering jewels. "Congratulations on your betrothal to Lord Neris. You finally have what you've always wanted."
Calista's lips curled. "I don't need your flattery."
"You forget sister, I do not flatter," Aurelia replied evenly.
"I wish you happiness in Aiseryn. You and Neris will suit one another well."
Without another word, she took Vaelric's hand and turned away.
Valerian was already moving, his retinue gathering close around them.
And so they turned from Ashmere, leaving behind fire and venom, stepping toward the path that led to where the Virelia delegates are.
Behind them, the Ashmere banners flared in the wind.