After the official meeting ended, the real maneuvering began.
Lady Seraphine returned to her private quarters in the Palace's East Wing....the section that housed the Traditionalist faction's leadership. Her most trusted advisors were waiting.
"The Revolutionaries will send an assassin," her second-in-command, Lord Dorian, said without preamble. "Malachai made that clear."
"Of course he will," Seraphine said, pouring herself wine from a crystal decanter. "He's terrified that a legitimate heir will expose his coup for the power grab it was. His entire faction's authority rests on the claim that the Seraphim dynasty was corrupt and needed to be overthrown. A young, powerful, popular heir would destroy that narrative."
"Should we warn her?" Dorian asked.
"No," Seraphine said decisively. "If she can't survive one assassin, she's not worthy of the throne. We need a strong queen, not someone we have to constantly protect."
"And if she does survive?"
