Chapter two: The First Glance

The Imperial Palace was colder than I imagined.

Not physically. The air was warm, filled with the scent of roses and incense. Servants bustled in hushed silence, polished marble gleamed under chandeliers, and golden banners fluttered in the corridors.

But the moment I stepped inside the grand audience chamber, the temperature dropped.

Or maybe it was just him.

Caelan Ashet Ardent.

The Emperor. The man I had dreamed about, wept for, loved from a world away.

He sat on a throne of black stone veined with crimson—metal forged from the ashes of the last war. His presence swallowed the room. Cold, composed, and commanding, as if carved from winter itself. He wore his uniform like armor: sharp-lined obsidian with a crimson mantle, his imperial sigil burning on one shoulder like fire held in place by will alone.

He didn’t glance at me. Not at first.

I stood at the center of the hall, surrounded by ministers and guards, my reputation marching ahead of me like a stormcloud. The noble girl turned warrior. The one with magic too wild and eyes too direct.

“Leona Kaelis,” the herald announced. “Lady of House Kaelis, daughter of Lord Renan Kaelis, and duelist champion of the western provinces.”

The echo of my name died out. I bowed—gracefully, but not low enough to be truly polite. Just enough to play the part of a rebellious noble who didn’t fear the crown.

His voice came like steel through silk. “Rise.”

I did.

And he looked at me.

Our eyes met—mine green and gleaming, his the color of frost over midnight. My breath caught. No book, no portrait, and no desperate rereading of the Empire of Thorns had prepared me for this.

He wasn’t just beautiful. He was dangerous. Regal. Every movement restrained, every breath measured. His gaze wasn’t cruel, but it wasn’t kind either. It was calculating. Distant. A man who ruled not by charm, but by silence that made others nervous.

I smiled anyway. “Your Majesty.”

“Lady Kaelis.” He said my name like it tasted strange on his tongue.

Caelan tilted his head, studying me like I was a riddle in a language he hadn’t decided to trust. “I’ve heard… interesting things."

“Only the flattering ones, I hope.”

There was a pause. Someone inhaled sharply behind me.

One of his advisors—a sharp-eyed man in gray—cleared his throat. “Your Majesty, Lady Kaelis is here to receive formal commendation for her service in the border wars.”

“She led a counteroffensive that saved an entire battalion,” another said.

Caelan’s gaze never left mine. “A noblewoman who fights in the mud. Unusual.”

“I was tired of tea parties,” I said, eyes glittering. “Mud washes off. Regret doesn’t.”

Silence. Even the guards shifted uncomfortably.

Then, the corner of his mouth twitched. Not a smile—but something like it. “Spoken like someone who hasn’t learned fear.”

“I learned it,” I said, stepping forward slowly, “and then I beat it unconscious with a sword.”

This time, I saw it—a flicker in his eyes. Amusement. Or intrigue. Maybe both.

“Leave us,” he said.

The entire chamber stilled.

“Your Majesty?” one of the ministers asked, hesitating.

“I said—leave.”

One by one, the court began to file out, glancing between me and the Emperor like they’d just smelled blood in the air.

When the doors shut, it was just the two of us. Silence stretched thin between us.

Caelan rose from his throne and walked toward me, every step like thunder in my chest. He was taller than I imagined. Sharper, somehow. Real.

He stopped just in front of me, eyes scanning every inch of my face like he might find an answer there.

“Who are you really, Leona Kaelis?”

I swallowed. He was close enough that I could see the faint scar at his temple, the faint tension in his jaw.

“I’m the girl who knows how your story ends,” I thought.

But I said nothing.

Just smiled.

The Emperor, the untouchable, unreadable, unstoppable Caelan Ashet Ardent, looked at me like I was the first mystery he didn’t know how to solve.

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