The Red Glaive

Adelaide pondered on the dresses before her. One for Aeria, the other for herself. The dress for Aeria, Adelaide had commissioned a gold dress with a metallic fabric over the bodice that almost looked like armor. It reached up to her neck without sleeves. Adelaide figured her sword obsessed sister would appreciate that. She still wasn’t sure she had two skirts for the dress.

One was a traditional Durian petticoat of massive proportions and beaded with thousands of tiny gold beads. To go with it, Adelaide had commissioned a matching Durian headdress that Aeria’s hair - thanks to her potion - was now long enough to be weaved into.

The other skirt was a simple see-through skirt in the style of Aestus. That style was popular with the women of the capital this year. The skirt had delicate beading that covered the upper, more scandalous parts of her body and tapered off to reveal the sheerness. If Adelaide had this one affixed to the bodice, Aeria would have to wear the heels she always complained about. She couldn’t hide her boots under the expansive petticoat.

Adelaide wasn’t sure which one to get her yet, but she knew that she wanted to wear a dress to match her sister’s. Now that Aget was there, she wanted everyone to know that she was the sister they had to approach in regards to Aeria.

Despite her failures at the pageant, she was still the talk of the town. Most of it negative, but she was in the public eye. Once Aeria snagged the prince, that would put Adelaide in quite the powerful position within the city. Many knightly orders were already inquiring about her barrier spell, thanks to Videl’s showcase, and asking to buy. The problem was, even though Adelaide had figured it out, she still needed Aeria to make the flasks and Nikorni to fill them. Mass production would require the right connections—the type of contacts that came when your little sister was consorting with the Crown Prince.

Adelaide wouldn’t tell her that, of course. She didn’t want Aeria stressed tonight. She had won the prince’s attention on her own, and she would allow her to continue to do that.

For now, her most pressing matter: her own dress. It had to match Aeria’s, but she couldn’t let Aeria’s dress outdo her own. She was the eldest sister after all. Unwed, Aerie’s color was that of their father’s. Gold like the gold of the Goldfinches of the grove. Adelaide had to represent her husband but also tie herself to Aeria through their father. So all her dresses were peacock green and gold. There was one dress that only had gold on the trim. Would that be enough for people to notice the association with Aeria? Or if she wore that mostly gold dress, would people think she was insulting her husband?

So, so much to think about.

“My lady?” Fides said from the door. He had gone to set up the boys with their baths. Insulted or not, Alwyn would look fine tonight. “There are three men at the gates inquiring about your sister. . .”

Three? Maybe Aeria did better than she thought.

“Are any of them the prince?” Adelaide asked, wondering if adding a green bow to the gold dress would represent House Lonroth the best.

“No, my lady.”

“Then are any of them a Storm Knight here to escort my sister to the Ivory Bastion?”

“No, my lady.”

“Then send them away. No one else will do tonight.”



“What is he doing here?!” Nalia said, crouching down low in her seat in Dorian’s carriage. Outside, Reading and the Infernal Captain were sharing words outside the gates of Adelaide’s mansion.

“I thought you said he would be with us,” Dorian said, closing the curtain and blocking Reading’s direct line of sight.

“He will,” Nalia said, relaxing now that the relative darkness of the carriage allowed her to see outside without being seen. “But if he sees me with you, he’ll think I’m up to something.”

“Aren’t you?”

“I’m always up to something Baron Stone,” Nalia said with a smile. “Today, that aligns with you.” Reading and the Infernal Captain. Their territories shared a border, and Reading had been quite vocal about how inept he believed the Legion to be in stopping marauders—always stopping just short of accusing the Legion itself. He never outright said it, those words were war invoking, but he never quite missed the opportunity to harass the captain.

The captain had been smart to come with two of his spearmen. Had he come alone, Reading would undoubtedly have tried to kill him, in his mind, to remove the threat. That would be the stupid thing to do, but stupidity never stopped him before. It was those spearmen today. Reading was stupid, but he still wasn’t stupid enough to start something where he knew there was no escape.

“My lord.” the coachman said from beyond the curtained door. “The Lady Aeria isn’t taking any guests this morning. Them including,” he said, nodding to Reading and the captain whose name was unimportant. It was rather impressive that plain Aeria from the pageant had managed to impress someone other than the idiot Reading. Still, the captain of the Inferno Legion wasn’t exactly someone to boast about.

“Irritating. . .”

“I know you grew up hearing red eyes are common, but they’re not Dorian,” Nalia said, placing a hand on his knee. He had been insistent on proving his wife dead or an imposter. But Adelaide had already welcomed this girl into her home; it could be no one else. “I haven’t heard of it ever. I even asked my priest, and he said only devils have red eyes.”

Dorian knocked on the door, and the coachman returned. “Tell them I wish to speak to the Lady Adelaide to settle an annulment to her late sister.”

The coachman nodded and returned to the guards at the gate. A servant was sent back into the mansion to relay the message. They were good servants, and they returned in mere moments and relayed the message back to the coachman.

“The Dutchess will see you, Baron.”

Dorian smiled and made to leave. “Don’t try to do anything. Give her your offer, and see what she wants. Tell her you need time to mull things over.”

“I just want the damn annulment Nalia. I can’t become Lord of Durus if I don’t first marry Serafina.”

“I know, and you will, but we can string Adelaide along if she does want the annulment. If she doesn’t, then we can play that too.”

Dorian scowled. “Are all women like this?”

“Only the clever ones,” Nalia said and opened the carriage door for him. He scoffed and left, shutting the door behind him.

Nalia watched as the two men stared at Dorian, a newcomer to them, enter the grounds without so much as a passing glance. Reading had probably met him before but, knowing him, had already forgotten about him. Neither of them knew that it was the very husband of the actual woman whose attention they sought to win. After Dorian entered the mansion, Reading said something to the group. The two spearmen visibly tensed before he calmly walked away, whistling a tune to be as agitating as possible. He’d probably try and find whoever else he had on his fuck and dump list for tonight’s ball.

The captain looked back at the mansion after Reading had vanished before leaving too. Nalia waited patiently in the carriage. Nalia had described the Aeria from the pageant to Dorian. The only thing he could confirm from her description was her eyes. Those unsettling eyes. Even Nalia didn’t like looking directly at them for too long. Too much they seemed like the eyes of the devils she heard in the stories. She had never seen a Night Devil in person, and she’d much rather keep it that way.

Dorian returned a short time later. “What did she want?”

“The annulment. I did as you said and told her I’d think it over.”

Nalia smiled. “Well, isn't that just perfect.”