A Whisper of Night

18.2 || MAJAEYRA ❄️

Jae couldn't help but stare. Up close, Lady Aeslyn looked nothing like the Lion Queen - while Lleona's face was square-jawed and fierce, Aeslyn's features were delicate, her nose high-bridged and her jaw gently curved. She was easily one of the most beautiful women Jae had ever seen, with her ebony skin and willowy posture, her rich dark hair trimmed to her shoulders.

"Please," Lady Aeslyn said, smiling gracefully, "sit down."

Unsteadily, Jae sat.

Aeslyn passed her a pastry - one with jam as red as blood. "When was the last time you ate, my dear? Forgive me, but you look positively sick."

Jae ignored the pastry, staring Aeslyn in the eyes. "Why did you want to see me?"

"Why not?" Aeslyn leaned towards Jae, one hand cupping her jaw. "You fascinate me."

Jae said nothing.

Aeslyn sighed, pulling apart a pastry. "Come now, dear. There's no need to be so tense. I'm not going to hurt you. Svanvald and Scorvald - well, Old Skeynvald, in my case - aren't enemies."

"But my brother Verradaen turned Svanvald against you."

"Yes," Aeslyn admitted. "My sister was quite furious."

They sat in silence for a moment. And then Jae spoke.

"Do you...do you know what happened to Princess Scirocca?" she said. "I have not heard of her execution, yet I know she was sentenced - "

"Oh," she said. "Yes...Scirocca has been recruited for other uses. Queen Lleona found a place for her at court."

"What sort of place?"

"That is not for you to know."

Jae bit her lip. "Lady Aeslyn," she said, "with all due respect...aren't you the older sister of Queen Lleona? Why did you not inherit the crown?"

Aeslyn paused. Jae's heart hammered as she looked up, her eyebrows raised. "Older sisters often face...unfortunate...circumstances," she said. "Look at you, driven from power by your brothers."

Jae blushed, staring at her hands.

"Speaking of your brothers," Aeslyn said, "what do you know about Verradaen's plans? Answer honestly, please - it will be tiring for both of us if you don't."

Jae took a deep breath. "I know he wants to take Scorvald," she said. "I know he wants to use it as a quaratine. For our diseased."

"So why join Lady Astnorden?" She leaned over the table, her liquidy eyes captivating. "Why not attack Scorvald directly?"

"Perhaps it was luck," Jae said quietly. "Their ships may have sailed from Stromvald to Skeynvald. It would've been too complicated to sail across the shores to Scorvald, especially with autumn arriving."

"Ah," she mused. "Clever. So your brother handed his troops to Princess Lorelei...and, in the case of defeat, he will claim that he had no idea what she intended to do with them."

"I hadn't thought about it that way before," she murmured.

Aeslyn plowed over her comments. "That brings me to my next point," she said. "The Princess Lorelei. She wishes to take her brother Calder back...and that need is especially urgent now, given the death of her parents."

Jae's eyes widened. "What?"

"Ah," she said. "So you don't know. Queen Ceira and King Glion were murdered a week ago by members of one of their Faiths."

Yes...Stromvald had been plagued with religious turmoil. But Jae could've never predicted that it could rise to that scale.

"Prince Calder is betrothed to my daughter," Aeslyn said, "Lady Vespira. And I believe that he loves her."