Usera
The candle on my writing desk flickered violently as the door to my chambers burst open without warning.
Only one person in the palace dared enter like that.
Nova.
She swept into the room in a flurry of perfume and silk, her lips pursed and fire flashing in her eyes. "He didn't summon me," she said without greeting.
I didn't look up. "Roan?"
"Of course Roan." She stalked across the rug and threw herself into the chair opposite mine. "You said he would. You said he wouldn't be able to resist."
I set my quill down and folded my hands in my lap. "The dosage was precise. He would have been overwhelmed."
"Well, apparently not overwhelmed enough to come looking for me. He didn't even send a servant."
I studied her face—flushed with irritation, not sorrow. She had no sense of patience. That had always been her weakness.
The plan had been simple: let Arin see them together, let the humiliation sink in, then weaken her with the aphrodisiac and leave her vulnerable to a staged attack by carefully selected men who would take things far enough, just enough to ruin her name. With Arin disgraced and banished or even executed, Roan would inevitably turn to Nova and the rest would unfold easily.
Instead, silence.
No attack.
No scandal.
And Roan had not sought Nova.
A soft knock came at the door.
Nova and I both turned as one of my footmen entered, followed by the two brutes I had paid handsomely to seize Arin in the garden—quietly, swiftly, and with no witnesses.
"Well?" I asked, voice calm.
The shorter of the two shifted uncomfortably. "Milady, we searched the garden twice. We didn't see her. We didn't see anyone. It was as if she vanished."
"Vanished?" I said, rising slowly. "A girl in ceremonial robes, fleeing from the palace into an enclosed garden, vanished?"
"There were traces, my lady," the other man said quickly. "Broken branches. Footprints. But no one was there when we arrived. No blood, no scream. Just silence. We searched until dawn threatened the sky and came straight here."
Nova rolled her eyes. "Useless. Utterly useless."
I raised one hand, dismissing the men. They bowed hastily and exited, grateful to escape my presence.
Nova stood, pacing. "So much for your perfect little potion. The aphrodisiac didn't even work! Not on her. Not on Roan. If it had, he would have come to me. You promised he would come to me."
I said nothing.
Nova's voice sharpened. "He didn't even look for me! And Arin, what? She resisted it entirely? That's not possible unless… unless it never worked at all."
Still, I did not respond. My mind had already begun turning, slipping through each piece of the plan, reexamining every careful detail.
Nova threw her hands up. "Are you even listening? This was our chance! And now it's ruined. She's probably off crying somewhere while I look like a fool."
I stood quietly.
Then turned and walked out of the room.
"Mother?" She called after me. "Where are you going?"
I didn't answer.
I needed to see it with my own eyes.
Arin's chambers were silent when I arrived and i pushed the door open without question.
The room was dim. The fire had gone out. The girl slept curled beneath her blankets, her breathing steady and even.
I stepped inside and moved closer. Her skin was pale, her lashes long against her cheek, ceremonial robe was gone, replaced by a simple shift.
There were faint scratches on her arms. A bruise on her knee. Her hair was tangled in a way no brush had yet touched.
But she was here.
She had made it back.
No guards had reported her missing. No whispers echoed through the halls.
Whatever happened in that garden… it had not followed her.
I stared at her for a long moment.
Then turned and left.
When I returned to my chambers, Nova was still pacing.
"Well?" she demanded.
"She's in bed," I said, voice carefully neutral.
Nova blinked. "You mean she was in her room this entire time?"
"No," I said, slipping back behind my desk. "She came back. Likely sometime after dawn."
Nova gaped. "So… what? She fought off the aphrodisiac? Just walked it off like a strong cup of wine?"
I met her gaze, cool and steady. "That is not possible."
"You said the potion was flawless."
"It is. I've used it before. It has never failed."
Nova scoffed. "Well, it failed tonight."
"No." My voice cut through her like a blade. "It didn't fail."
"Then explain it!" she shouted. "Roan didn't want me, Arin wasn't ruined, and nothing went according to plan. You keep telling me how brilliant your strategies are, but all I see is Arin still standing, still married to him, and me, me… waiting."
I rose to my feet.
She didn't stop.
"All these schemes, these potions, your secrets, your bribes, what good are they if nothing happens when it matters most?"
"Enough."
She fell silent.
I stepped toward her slowly, each word laced with steel.
"Don't mistake your impatience for my failure. Everything you have, every inch of standing you possess, is because of me. I carried you through the whispers, the rejections, the Court's disdain. I placed you at Roan's side. I orchestrated the fall of a queen before the crown even settled on her head."
Nova's mouth opened, but no words came.
I leaned in closer. "And I will see you on the throne. Even if I have to cut it from Roan's skull myself."
Her eyes widened, just slightly.
I straightened, smoothed the silk sleeve of my robe, and exhaled.
"But something did happen tonight," I murmured, almost to myself. "Something we didn't plan. Something beyond the garden. Beyond our reach."
Nova crossed her arms. "Like what?"
I turned back to my desk, staring down at the empty inkpot. "I don't know. Not yet. But the aphrodisiac did work. That, I'm certain of."
"Then how is she still…" Nova trailed off.
I didn't answer. Because the answer forming in my mind was one I didn't like.
If both Roan and Arin were under the effects of the same potion… and if neither of them came to us…
Where had they gone?
Who had they gone to?
Or worse, who had they found in each other?
I looked down at my trembling hand and clenched it into a fist.
Whatever happened in that garden… wasn't failure.
It was something far more dangerous.
It was an unknown.
And the unknown has a habit of undoing queens.