The next morning, the second day of the three-day ultimatum, the atmosphere in Stonehaven had changed from one of political siege to one of tense, calculated collaboration.
Seraphina's initial audit of the garrison was complete, and Kaelen knew she had cross-referenced his "disgruntled intelligence" with her own dispatched scouts. The confirmation of the Ironwood financial manipulation and the dangerous state of the Eastern Glacier Pass was now only a matter of hours.
Kaelen spent the morning alone, pushing the bare minimum of his Draconic Blood Magic cultivation, recovering the mental energy expended during his performance for Seraphina. He needed his wits sharp. He knew she would summon him again, and this time, the script would be entirely different.
The summons arrived at midday. Commander Lycus, the high-ranking Silverblood officer, delivered it himself. His demeanor was no longer dismissive, but held a strained, professional wariness.
"Lady Seraphina requires your presence in the quartermaster's hall, Your Highness. She requests you bring no one, save your cane," Lycus stated, the message clearly emphasizing privacy over security.
Kaelen walked the distance slowly, leaning heavily on the wooden shaft, ensuring that the Silverblood guards patrolling the courtyard saw only the sickly Prince reluctantly obeying a command.
When he entered the hall, the scene was altered again. The heat stove still glowed, but the tables were clear of Varrick's reports. Instead, a single, high-definition map of the entire Imperial Exchequer's financial districts was unfurled across the oak. The Mana-Sensitive Shields remained, humming softly, but they were positioned to prevent external listeners, creating a perfect, magic-dampened sound bubble.
Seraphina stood over the map, no longer wearing the heavy general's cloak, but a severe, black tunic that emphasized her practical nature. She held a stylus, tracing a line across the financial districts Kaelen had mentioned.
"Sit, Prince Alaric," she commanded, the formality still present, but the tone stripped of its previous contempt. There was only the cold, clear sound of a military commander addressing a trusted, if compromised, operative.
Kaelen seated himself, resting his weight carefully. He waited, letting Seraphina initiate the conversation.
She tapped the map. "My covert financial network confirms your assertion regarding the Ironwood loans. The two primary guilds, Ironbark and Northern Sail, have been issued stabilization loans with amortization schedules precisely designed to accelerate failure by the end of the second quarter. Prince Darius's proxies are in position to capitalize on the debt and seize the timber contracts."
She looked up, her sapphire eyes meeting his with an unblinking, analytical intensity that Kaelen appreciated. "The Empress is indeed using your exile as a political smokescreen to conduct internal asset stripping against House Silverblood's strategic resources. You were not entirely motivated by bitterness, Your Highness. You spoke the truth."
Kaelen allowed himself a single, weak, sardonic smile. "Truth is rarely a moral act in the Capital, Lady Seraphina. It is merely the most lethal weapon. I gave you the truth because I want the Empress to fail, and you are the only instrument with the reach to achieve it."
"Exactly," she agreed, ignoring the insult and seizing on the utility. "Therefore, the pretense of my three-day audit is over. The dissolution of our contract is postponed indefinitely."
She placed the stylus down with a sharp click. "The contract between the Imperial House and Silverblood is guaranteed by the Articles of Strategic Necessity, Article 7, which stipulates that the dissolution can be postponed if the union presents a higher value to Imperial Security through tactical coordination than through separation. You, Prince Alaric, are physically failing and magically impotent. But your strategic intelligence is, by extension of this contract, a Silverblood asset."
She leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table, her voice dropping to a low, powerful register.
"I require that intelligence. I propose a temporary, purely transactional partnership under the terms of Article 7, Sub-clause Gamma. I will provide the thirty Imperial Swords and the full reach of the Silverblood financial and military networks. In return, you will provide the strategy and intelligence."
Seraphina's proposal was a marvel of cold, cynical political maneuvering. She had found a loophole to bypass the Empress's authority, shielding Kaelen's strategic value behind the legal wall of the Silverblood contract.
Kaelen straightened slightly in his chair, dropping the exaggerated tremor in his hands for a bare moment, demonstrating that the mind beneath the weakness was now fully engaged.
"Article 7, Sub-clause Gamma, is indeed the correct legal instrument," Kaelen confirmed, his voice momentarily losing its strained quality, achieving a flat, authoritative pitch. "It allows for temporary command transfer and Mutual Preservation of Assets between the Contracting Parties. But if we are to proceed with this alliance, Lady Seraphina, you must accept that my terms are not political luxuries. They are necessities."
Seraphina raised a thin, white-gold eyebrow, acknowledging the challenge. "State them."
"First, my physical health is paramount. The illness is real, and the fever must be protected at all costs. I require complete, undisturbed access to the tower for my 'convalescence.' Your Mana-Sensitive Shields are not to be removed, but rather used to guarantee absolute privacy. The sickness must be seen as the shield that protects my mind."
"Understood. My security detail will enforce your isolation. It protects my asset," Seraphina conceded without hesitation.
"Second," Kaelen continued, his voice returning to a convincing rasp, and he pressed his hand to his side, signaling the immediate return of his feigned illness. "The command structure must be completely stabilized. I require an immediate, official transfer of command for a specific, disgraced Elven unit on the Western Frontier. The unit is currently commanded by the exiled former High Commander Lysandra."
Seraphina's expression remained neutral, but a flicker of military comprehension crossed her face. She recognized the name, and she understood the strategic value of the woman Kaelen was requesting.
"Lysandra is under Imperial exile for defiance against the Crown. She refused to cede the Arch-Mage's estate," Seraphina said, testing the water. "Transferring her command is a severe breach of the Empress's direct orders. It smells of building a private legion."
"It smells of guaranteed loyalty," Kaelen countered, his gaze hard. "If I am to act as your intelligence asset in the North, I require hands I can trust implicitly, hands that hate the Empress's current regime as much as I do. Lysandra is indispensable. If you cannot use the power of Article 7, Sub-clause Gamma to secure her unit, even under the pretext of 'Stress-Testing Irregular Border Assets,' then you cannot use my mind."
Seraphina considered the demand, weighing the risk of incurring the Empress's direct wrath against the immediate strategic benefit of Kaelen's information. She chose the latter.
"Done. I will draft the transfer orders immediately, citing Strategic Necessity and the need for an experienced Northern asset in a 'support capacity' for the beleaguered Stonehaven Command. She will be officially attached to this post within the week. Do not contact her directly; I will establish the legal framework first."
Kaelen nodded, satisfied. His recruitment of the Winter's Hand was now legally enforced by the very system designed to destroy them both.
"Third, and most immediate," Kaelen continued, now shifting the focus to the tactical objective. "We must strike the Ironwood corruption first. It is the lowest-hanging fruit and the easiest way to send a message to Darius that the worthless pawn is playing the market."
"What is the counter-measure?" Seraphina asked, her stylus hovering over the Exchequer map. "A competitive loan offer? Outbidding Darius's proxies will cost House Silverblood millions."
"No. We do not engage in a bidding war," Kaelen dismissed the idea with a shake of his head. "We use the law against them. Imperial law states that any asset seized due to stabilization loan default must undergo a minimum three-month Public Strategic Auction if the asset's value exceeds fifty million Imperial Marks. The two Ironwood guilds you cited are valued at a combined eighty-seven million Marks."
Seraphina's eyes narrowed, seeing the trap. "Darius's proxies intend to seize them privately, circumventing the public auction."
"Precisely. Their high-interest loans are designed to force immediate default and immediate private seizure to the creditors—Darius's people," Kaelen explained, speaking faster now, the strategy flowing out of him like freezing water. "Your move, Lady Seraphina, is to use the Silverblood financial network to buy the two largest junior creditors in both guilds, right now. They are small banks, worth less than ten million Marks each."
He pointed a thin finger at two specific points on the financial map. "If Silverblood, as a minority creditor, can seize the right to audit the terms of the predatory stabilization loans, you can legally demand a full, six-month Audit and Stabilization Period per Article 94 of the Royal Merchant Code, which forces the issue into a mandatory Public Strategic Auction."
Seraphina stared at the map, running the legal maneuver through her mind. If the seizure went to public auction, Darius would lose his ability to secretly control the timber price, and Silverblood would have a clean, public opportunity to buy the contracts back at a competitive, fair market price. The delay would also wreck Darius's political timeline.
"It is a brilliant counter," Seraphina admitted, the compliment delivered with the cold precision of a military salute. "It weaponizes delay and transparency against Darius's corruption. I will mobilize the assets within the hour. Lycus will handle the execution remotely from here."
"Good," Kaelen confirmed.
He was exhausted now, the brief burst of strategic clarity fading, the tremor returning to his hand. He had committed the full reserves of his focus and his knowledge, and the physical price was evident.
"The Ironwood is secured, Prince Alaric. Now, the Eastern Flank," Seraphina pressed, relentless in her pursuit of strategic security. "What is the countermeasure for Baroness Elsinor's inevitable failure at the Glacier Pass? We cannot afford a breach."
Kaelen struggled to inhale, the cold air burning his lungs. "The Skitter-Fiend Hives are migratory, driven by a deep-earth mineral seam in the Pass. They will not attack until the heavy snow breaks. We have three weeks. We must use that time to convince Baroness Elsinor to abandon her current position and adopt a high-ground, fortified defense against the Pass, using the local dwarven ruins as a shield."
"She is Prince Darius's political puppet. She will not listen to a message from Stonehaven."
Kaelen slowly retrieved a small, silver-filigreed cigar case from his tattered robe. IT was a relic of Prince Alaric's decadent past. He opened it, revealing not cigars, but a small, folded piece of thick, parchment.
"She will listen to a command from the Empress's own Chief Strategist," Kaelen stated, his voice a bare whisper. "Draft a letter to Baroness Elsinor. You will not sign it. You will address it simply from: The Arch-Mage's Legacy."
He passed the parchment to Seraphina. It was a precise, seven-point tactical order detailing exactly how Elsinor must fortify her position to survive the Skitter-Fiend swarm. It was written in the highly technical, almost extinct military vernacular used only by the Empress's highest-tier tactical council. It was in a language Seraphina, as a general's daughter, recognized immediately. It was the language of command, pure and absolute, and only a handful of people still alive were capable of using it.
Seraphina stared at the document, then back at the sickly prince. The look in her eyes was no longer professional curiosity, but profound, unsettling realization.
This man, this prisoner, was operating with the knowledge and authority of a ghost.
"This letter... this is treason, Your Highness," she breathed, her voice barely audible.
"No, Lady Seraphina," Kaelen coughed, resting his head back against the chair. "This is Mutual Preservation of Assets. The Ironwood is Silverblood's asset. The Eastern Flank is the Empire's. Now execute. I need rest."
He closed his eyes, dismissing her completely. Seraphina stood for a long moment, staring down at the exhausted Prince and the parchment in her hand.
The sick, exiled Prince had just given her the perfect blueprint for financial sabotage and military survival, delivered with the voice of a tactical genius who had died two years ago.