Zelene's POV
The morning light poured weakly through the high windows of the Dravenhart manor, pale and cold like watered wine.
Five days.
Five days since the assassination attempt. Five days since Kael's walls rose higher than ever — and every step she took in this vast fortress seemed to echo how far apart they'd become.
Zelene had never been one to mope, but lately… she didn't know what to do with herself.
Her presence had become ceremonial — a Duchess-in-pretense with no real purpose. The staff bowed, curtsied, murmured "My Lady," but their eyes flickered elsewhere, as if uncertain whether to respect her or to measure the time before she disappeared.
Kael had made sure she was "safe." Which, in his mind, translated to locked away from everything that mattered.
Zelene sighed, her reflection frowning back at her from the mirror as her maid, Elise, arranged the ribbons of her gown with trembling fingers.
"Careful," Zelene murmured absently.
"Y-yes, My Lady. I apologize."
The girl's voice cracked slightly — not from fear of her, Zelene realized, but from exhaustion. There were faint bruises on her wrist, thin as a chain's imprint.
Zelene blinked. "What happened there?"
Elise froze. Her hands faltered mid-tie. "It's nothing, My Lady."
The lie was too quick. Too clean.
Before Zelene could press further, the door opened sharply — the sound like a whip through the air.
In stepped a woman in her mid-forties, her posture straight enough to slice through stone. The Head Maid, she assumed — she carried authority like a perfume, sharp and suffocating.
"Lady Evandelle," the woman greeted smoothly, dipping her head with just the right amount of respect to be proper, but not an inch more. "I was informed you required assistance."
Zelene tilted her head slightly. "Elise was doing just fine."
"Was." The older woman's eyes snapped toward the trembling maid. "But she seems incapable of even dressing you properly. How disappointing."
Before Zelene could speak, the Head Maid moved — swift and sudden. The crack of a slap echoed through the chamber.
Elise stumbled, clutching her cheek, eyes wide with shock.
Zelene stood.
"Stop."
Her voice wasn't loud — it didn't need to be. The temperature in the room seemed to drop all on its own.
The Head Maid froze, her hand still halfway in the air.
Zelene's tone was calm, but laced with something sharp. "Was that discipline I just witnessed… or cruelty?"
The older woman's expression didn't flinch, though Zelene saw the faint twitch of irritation behind her politeness. "With respect, My Lady — Dravenhart servants uphold standards. Sloppiness reflects poorly on our Lord."
Zelene stepped closer. "And bruises reflect poorly on you."
A faint stir of shock flickered in the Head Maid's eyes — quickly masked, but there. She inclined her head. "You misunderstand. Lord Kael—"
"Lord Kael isn't here," Zelene interrupted, voice low but cutting. "So let's not pretend he condones you striking his staff like cattle."
The silence that followed was taut. Even Elise held her breath.
The Head Maid's tone softened, but her words coiled with venom. "My Lady, I meant no disrespect. Of course, I'll… handle things differently."
Zelene's lips curved in a polite, humorless smile. "See that you do."
The woman bowed — perfectly, elegantly — and swept out, leaving the faint scent of lavender and iron in her wake.
When she was gone, Elise exhaled shakily. "Thank you, My Lady," she whispered.
Zelene turned back toward the window, her eyes tracing the snow that had begun to fall across the distant training yard. Soldiers drilled with precision, servants carried crates, and somewhere beyond the frost-bitten glass, Kael was likely speaking with his generals — fighting invisible wars while his own halls rotted from within.
Her hand tightened slightly on the windowsill.
She was starting to see it now — the cracks Kael couldn't, or wouldn't, see.
He commanded armies. He tamed chaos outside these walls. But inside… inside, his house was quietly decaying.
And maybe that was why he needed her — even if he'd never admit it.
Zelene turned back to Elise, her voice gentler. "Go rest. Tell the others… if anyone touches you again, they'll have to answer to me."
Elise's eyes widened, a glimmer of something like hope flickering there before she bowed and hurried out.
When the door closed, Zelene leaned against the table, exhaling a long, tired sigh.
"Dravenhart," she murmured to herself, a faint, bitter smile tugging at her lips. "You've built yourself a kingdom of shadows."
For once, she wasn't thinking about politics, or performance, or revenge.
For once… she was just angry.
And something in her gut told her that if Kael kept turning his back on what was festering inside his own walls — it wouldn't be the assassins outside that would destroy him.
It would be the ones already inside.