Chapter 36: Before the Throne of Theron
Aldenmarch looked exactly as Ryuji remembered it from his brief visit weeks ago, stone and stained glass and the particular arrogance of a city that believed order kept it safe.
This time, though, he wasn’t walking through it as a curiosity.
He was walking through it as a man about to be judged.
The Royal Palace rose ahead of them, gold-heavy and deliberately intimidating, guards flanking every entrance with the stiff precision of soldiers who’d been told a demon princess and her classless husband were arriving under a cloud of suspicion.
Selene rode beside him in full formal dress, silver hair braided back, chin lifted with the particular composure she’d built brick by brick over months of political performance.
Alexei rode ahead, armor polished, the only member of the party who seemed genuinely at ease in a place designed to make everyone else feel small.
"You’ve been here before," Ryuji said, as they dismounted in the palace courtyard.
"Once. Diplomatic occasion, years before your summoning. My father does not send his children to human courts lightly." Selene’s eyes swept the guards, the architecture, the careful theater of power surrounding them. "I did not enjoy it then. I do not expect to enjoy it now."
They were led through corridors of gold and marble, past courtiers who watched them pass with the particular hunger of people starved for gossip, and Ryuji felt the old machinery in his head cataloguing exits and threats the way it always did in unfamiliar rooms full of people who might want him dead.
None of them drew weapons. That didn’t mean none of them wanted to.
The throne room, when they finally reached it, was exactly as ostentatious as the Bible’s description promised, gold heavy enough to make a man’s eyes ache, stained glass throwing colored light across a floor polished to a mirror shine.
King Theron sat upon his throne, older than Ryuji expected, silver threading through a beard kept meticulously trimmed, eyes sharp despite the weight of years.
Lord Maren Ashcroft stood at his right hand.
Ryuji’s jaw tightened at the sight of him, elegant and composed, silver-streaked dark hair swept back, sharp blue eyes that studied Ryuji and Selene with the particular satisfaction of a man watching his own plan unfold precisely as intended.
"Lord Volkris. Princess Selene." King Theron’s voice carried the practiced weight of a man used to being heard the first time he spoke. "You have traveled far on short notice. I appreciate your prompt response."
"We came as quickly as your letter allowed, Your Majesty," Selene said, dropping into a curtsy exact enough to have been practiced for weeks.
Ryuji bowed, less polished but respectful, and felt Ashcroft’s eyes settle on him with the particular weight of a predator confirming his prey had arrived exactly where expected.
"Lord Ashcroft has brought concerning reports to my attention," Theron said. "Regarding activity at the Border Estate. An intercepted courier. Unexplained tension along the Grey March. I would hear your account before I decide how seriously to weigh his concerns."
"With respect, Your Majesty," Ryuji said, "I’d be curious to hear exactly what Lord Ashcroft reported first. Seems fair, given he apparently spoke to you before we had the chance to speak for ourselves."
A ripple of quiet tension moved through the court at the directness of it, and Ashcroft’s composed smile didn’t waver, though something behind his sharp blue eyes sharpened.
"A reasonable request," Theron said, surprising Ryuji slightly with the ease of the concession. "Ashcroft, repeat your concerns for the benefit of the accused."
The accused. Ryuji filed the word away carefully.
"Your Majesty," Ashcroft said, smooth and measured, "reports have reached my household suggesting the Border Estate has intercepted and tampered with correspondence not addressed to them. This is, at minimum, a violation of diplomatic courtesy. At worst, it suggests activities the estate wishes hidden from proper authority."
Selene’s hand found Ryuji’s, brief and steadying, before she stepped forward with the particular composure that had carried her through every political performance since the wedding.
"Your Majesty," she said, "if my husband’s household intercepted correspondence, I would ask Lord Ashcroft to clarify what, precisely, that correspondence contained, and to whom it was addressed. If it concerned nothing beyond innocent trade, surely there is no harm in confirming its contents openly, here, before your throne."
[System Log: Day 51]
[THE WIFE HAS TURNED ASHCROFT’S OWN ACCUSATION INTO A TRAP]
[IF HE REVEALS THE LETTER’S CONTENTS, HE EXPOSES HIS OWN COVERT SURVEILLANCE NETWORK]
[IF HE REFUSES, HE APPEARS TO BE HIDING SOMETHING FROM HIS OWN KING]
[THIS IS AN ELEGANT POLITICAL MANEUVER]
[I HAVE BEGUN TO SUSPECT SHE LEARNED CONSIDERABLY MORE FROM THE ENTITY THAN SHE ORIGINALLY BELIEVED SHE WOULD]
[...]
[I FIND MYSELF ROOTING FOR HER SPECIFICALLY, WHICH IS A NEW SENSATION]
Ashcroft’s composure held, though something flickered behind his eyes, the particular recalculation of a man realizing his opponent had learned to play a game he’d assumed she couldn’t understand.
"The correspondence contained routine trade instructions," he said carefully. "Nothing worth disclosing before this court."
"Then I fail to understand," Selene said, "why routine trade instructions warrant a formal audience before the King of Theron."
King Theron’s sharp eyes moved between them, the particular attention of a man who’d spent decades learning to read exactly this kind of exchange.
"An interesting question," he said. "Ashcroft, if the correspondence was merely routine, why did you petition me so urgently regarding its interception?"
Ashcroft’s smile didn’t waver, though Ryuji watched the man recalculate his approach with the fluid speed of someone who’d survived court politics for far longer than either Ryuji or Selene had been alive.
"Your Majesty, my concern is not the contents specifically, but the precedent," he said. "If a princess of the Dominion, married to an unclassifiable summon, believes herself entitled to intercept correspondence within Theron’s borders, what does that suggest about the stability of the peace her marriage was meant to represent?"
The redirect was smooth, elegant, exactly the kind of move Ryuji recognized from a lifetime spent watching men protect themselves by attacking the framework of a question rather than answering it directly.
"With respect," Ryuji said, stepping forward, "we didn’t intercept anything belonging to your crown, Your Majesty. If a courier traveling through our territory was questioned by our people, that’s border security, not diplomatic violation. Every kingdom does exactly that when they suspect something’s crossing their land they haven’t authorized."
"And what did you suspect," Theron asked, sharp eyes fixing on Ryuji directly for the first time.
Ryuji held the king’s gaze steadily, the old machinery in his head weighing exactly how much truth would satisfy without exposing what needed to stay hidden.
"We’ve faced repeated assassination attempts since the wedding," he said. "Trained professionals, coordinated attacks, not random border thugs. When couriers start moving through our territory under unclear purpose, we treat that seriously. We’d be fools not to."
The throne room went very quiet.
Theron’s expression shifted, something calculating replacing the earlier neutrality. "Assassination attempts. Against a princess of the Dominion, on Theron soil, that you have not reported to this crown."
"We reported them to Commander Voss directly," Ryuji said. "Weeks ago. He can confirm the conversation."
Theron’s eyes cut sharply toward Ashcroft, and for the first time since the audience began, something like genuine suspicion crossed the king’s face, aimed not at Ryuji and Selene, but at the duke standing beside his throne.
"Voss did not bring this to my attention," Theron said, voice tightening.
"Perhaps," Selene said carefully, "because Lord Ashcroft’s household maintains connections that might make certain reports slower to reach Your Majesty than others."
Ashcroft’s jaw tightened, the first genuine crack in his composure since the audience began, and Ryuji felt the old satisfaction of watching a carefully built trap begin closing around the man who’d set it.
"Your Majesty," Ashcroft said, "I would remind the court that accusations without evidence are dangerous things."
"As are urgent audiences built on incomplete information," Theron said, and something cold entered his voice for the first time. "I will speak with Commander Voss directly. And I will expect a full account of these assassination attempts, Lord Volkris, delivered to my own hand rather than filtered through anyone else’s household."
"Understood, Your Majesty," Ryuji said, careful to keep the relief out of his voice.
Theron’s gaze lingered on Ashcroft a moment longer, something unspoken passing between king and duke that Ryuji filed away for later consideration, before the monarch finally rose from his throne.
"This audience is concluded for now," Theron said. "Lord Volkris, Princess Selene, you will remain in Aldenmarch until I have spoken with Commander Voss. I would prefer to make my judgment with complete information rather than competing accounts."
They were escorted from the throne room, and once safely beyond the reach of courtly ears, Selene finally exhaled, the composure she’d maintained through the entire audience cracking slightly at the edges.
"That went better than I feared," she said quietly.
"It went well enough," Ryuji agreed. "Theron’s suspicious of Ashcroft now. That’s worth more than anything we could have said directly against him."
She looked at him, something proud and exhausted both in her violet eyes. "You handled him well. Ashcroft, I mean. You did not let him control the conversation once."
"Neither did you," Ryuji said. "That trap with the letter’s contents was good work."
Her cheeks colored faintly, and she leaned into him as they walked, the particular closeness she’d stopped hiding weeks ago even in settings this formal and dangerous.
"Selene."
"What."
"We’re not done yet. Voss still has to confirm everything. Ashcroft’s not finished either."
"I know," she said. "But for tonight, at least, we survived the first move. That is worth allowing ourselves a moment before the next one arrives."
He didn’t argue. He simply let his arm settle around her as they walked toward the guest quarters assigned for their stay, the weight of the audience finally easing into something almost like relief.
Behind them, in the throne room they’d just left, Lord Maren Ashcroft remained alone with his king for a long moment, composure fully restored, already calculating his next move with the particular patience of a man who had lost a single battle and had no intention of losing the war.
That night, as Ryuji and Selene finally allowed themselves rest in the unfamiliar quiet of a guest chamber far from their own estate, a servant slipped quietly through Aldenmarch’s palace halls, carrying a message meant for someone the household had never once suspected might already be listening from inside the walls of the capital itself.