The courtroom of Alderyn was nothing like Xandria had imagined.
Massive and echoing, it was lined with tall arched windows that bathed the floor in fractured light. Tapestries of ancient kings adorned the stone walls, their embroidered eyes watching from centuries past. Nobles and ministers filled the curved benches, and the air was thick with murmurs, perfumes and the faint scent of ink and parchments.
She had never been here before.
Her gown rustled as she walked beside Maltherion, her posture straight though her hands trembled ever so slightly at her sides. She decided not to wear her crown today, but that did not stop the aura that emitted from her.
Her parents came in for the wedding the night before the wedding. She had not had time to sit and talk with them. There was really nothing to talk about. Especially with her father.
Her mother noticed her trembling hands, her father too. They sat among the nobles, their faces were filled with pride but with a slight worry. Her mother's hands twitched in her laps, resisting the urge to reach out, to hold her daughter's hand.
But Xandria kept walking.
She kept her chin high as she reached the dias, sitting on the chair beside the throne. Maltherion took his place beside her without a word. He didn't need to say anything. His presence was a wall of calm and quiet strength. The room silenced the moment he sat.
Xandria let her eyes scan the courtroom, taking in every detail with quiet intensity.
She was nervous - how could she not be? But her nerves was a luxury she had long learned to hide beneath poise and presence. So she sat still, hands folded, listening. Watching.
A minister rose.
Lord Halden, grey bearded and hollow-eyed, stepped forward with a scroll in his hands.
"My king," he began, voice sharp and official. " The court submits a proposal to increase the levy in the southern and lowland district. As you know, their grain yields have improved, and the coin is sorely needed for the expansion of the eastern military base."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Xandria's brows furrowed. Her ears had been tuned to every word since she walked in, but now her mind began to calculate, to remember. She'd been to the lowlands. She'd seen the frost still clinging to ruined fields in spring. Grain yield have not improved - they had barely survived.
She stepped forward before she could second-guess it.
"That is false," she said, voice calm and clear.
All heads turned.
Lord Halden blinked, "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty?"
"I said it is false," she repeated. "The lowlands have not recovered. Their granaries remain half- empty. Tasking them now will starve them before winter."
The silence stretched.
Halden gave a short, incredulous laugh. "With all due respect, Queen Xandria, the affairs of grain and war are not threads sewn in a lady's embroidery ring."
Her chest tightened. The court shifted. A few chuckled behind their sleeves.
Her father's jaw clenched.
But Xandria did not flinch.
"I may not sit in war councils," she said, voice rising, " but i have walked those ruined fields. I have spoken to the mothers who ration a handful of oats for five mouths. If you believe that suffering is beneath your notice, then you are unfit to serve this court "
The laughter stopped.
Halden's face turned molten red. " How dare you --! "
"Enough," Came a voice like steel.
Maltherion rose.
The weight of his presence fell over the room like a sword raised in mid swing. Even those who had smirked seconds ago, lowered their heads, as if suddenly cold.
"I do not recall giving you leave to insult your Queen," he said, every word slow and precise. " Do you question her right to speak in my court? Or is it her intelligence that offends you more than the truth she spoke?"
" My king, I meant no -"
" You meant every word," Maltherion interrupted, descending the steps of the dias with slow, deliberate force. "And you've revealed yourself more clearly than any parchment could."
He turned slightly to the shadows at the end of the edge of the courtroom.
And from them stepped Reagan.
The court seemed to still again as the man emerged. Cloaked in dark fabrics, face unreadable, he had stood at the edge of the halls all along - silent, unseen, but always present. Like a whisper that could become a sword at any moment.
"Reagan," Maltherion said. "Strip Lord Halden off his title."
Gasps filled the hall.
The former minister stumbled back, eyes wide. "My king ... please, I ...."
"If he truly wishes to prove his worth," Maltherion said coldly, "let him do it to the rats in the dungeon."
Reagan moved with the grace of a sword drawn from its sheath. Two guards followed. Halden's protest were loud, desperate - but they were ignored. His voice echoed down the stone halls as he was dragged out, and then the heavy doors slammed shut.
Silence returned.
Maltherion turned to the court once more.
"Let it be understood," he said. "Queen Xandria's voice carries the weight of mine. Her words, her insights, her fire - this court will need them. Or it will burn in it's arrogance."
He looked at her then. Just for a second. And what she saw in his eyes wasn't just pride - it was power, unyielding and dangerous, offered to her without condition.
A quiet tension clung in the air. Ministers shifted uneasily in their seats, eyes darting to Xandria now with something closer to respect - and perhaps a touch of fear.
She turned her head slightly, scanning the courtroom once more. And this time, the faces that met her gaze did not see a trembling girl in a gown.
They saw fire.
And Xandria - who had walked through the courtroom as a new comer, shaking beneath her gown, now stood as the storm they hadn't seen coming.
She didn't bow.
The court did.
As the matters in the court proceeded, Xandria offered advice that could help the kingdom and the people, and none of the ministers had the courage to counter her words. Some were even amazed at how brilliant and intelligent she sounded.
Xandria turned to Maltherion and she saw him staring at her with admiration in his eyes.
She did not wear her crown today, but that did not change the fact that she had authority.