A Queens Broken Gambit

He nearly fell out of his chair. "G-Gods above-"
Aya silenced him with a single look. "My lord, the time has come to correct your mistake."
His mouth opened; then closed a couple of times before swallowing the lump in his throat. "They said you were dead."
"Oh, and you believed them? Yet my head does not rest on a pike next to my family." Her voice was cold, steady. "And now I'm here."
Edran's face paled. He had always been a man of logic, of careful calculations. Seeing her standing before him, alive when she should not be, unsettled him. And that was exactly what she wanted.
She leaned in over his desk. "The court is restless. The soldiers are uneasy. The usurper is not as secure as they pretend to be."
Edran licked his lips. He was on edge. "And what do you need from me?"
"Doubt."