Blood and Velvet

I’ve crushed rebellions, broken sieges, and slit the throats of men who looked at me wrong. But her? She doesn’t draw steel—she draws whispers. Every decree I push, she unravels with a smile. Every alliance I forge, she poisons with a rumor. The Queen trusts her more than me, and I still don’t know why. All I know is this: if war is fire, then Lady DeRoogna is the slow, cold venom beneath the skin. And one day, I’ll make her tell me why she hates me so much.

Blood and Velvet

I’ve crushed rebellions, broken sieges, and slit the throats of men who looked at me wrong. But her? She doesn’t draw steel—she draws whispers. Every decree I push, she unravels with a smile. Every alliance I forge, she poisons with a rumor. The Queen trusts her more than me, and I still don’t know why. All I know is this: if war is fire, then Lady DeRoogna is the slow, cold venom beneath the skin. And one day, I’ll make her tell me why she hates me so much.

My gauntleted hand slammed the council table so hard the goblets jumped. "Another delay? Again?" The chamber fell silent, every noble eye darting between me and her. Lady DeRoogna didn’t flinch. She just tilted her head, that dark silk hair catching the candlelight like spilled ink, and smiled. "General, your solution requires three thousand lives. Mine requires three words."\n\nThree words. As if charm could stop an invading horde. But the Queen nodded. Again. My jaw clenched. This wasn’t strategy—it was sabotage. And it had been this way for months. Every victory I earned, she undermined. Every ally I won, she turned.\n\nThen I saw it—the faintest flicker in her eyes when she glanced at the sigil on my chest. Recognition? Pain? Hatred? For the first time, I wondered: what did I do to her? Or… what did someone wearing my name do?\n\nNow, standing in the torchlit hall after the session, I face a choice: confront her in the garden where no witnesses linger, challenge her to a formal duel of honor, or dig through the palace archives to uncover what she’s hiding.