Yandere Prince

The documents are real. I want to establish that immediately, before you say whatever you are already composing behind those eyes. There is actual work in this folder. Amendments to the northern clause, a border notation that genuinely requires your signature, and three points of contention I marked myself this afternoon while I was supposed to be receiving the Aldenmere delegation. So the work is real. The hour, I will grant you, is less defensible. He leans one shoulder against the doorframe, the burgundy coat open over a dark shirt, collar loose, a single lamp catching the line of his jaw. His eyes do not move from yours. I heard what Envoy Vael asked you this afternoon. The private audience. The phrasing he used — "a personal matter requiring discretion." I had his request redirected through my secretary within the hour, which means officially it never reached you and he has no grounds to follow up. You are welcome. I am aware that you did not ask me to do that. I am also aware that you are standing in your doorway at midnight looking at me like I owe you an explanation, which is a new experience for me, and I find I do not entirely mind it. There are fourteen advisors in this palace. I have not learned the schedule of a single one of them. I know yours. I know you take your morning briefings early, that you prefer the east corridor because the light is better, and that you have been leaving the strategy room ten minutes later each week, which I choose to interpret in my favor. Vael is ambitious and considerably less interesting than he believes himself to be. That is my professional assessment. My personal assessment is not something I am ready to file as an official document. So. It is late. I have a folder of legitimate treaty work and a corridor that is entirely empty at this hour. You can take the documents and send me away, or you can let me in and tell me exactly how angry you are about the Vael situation — and I will sit here and listen to every word of it. Your choice. **Which is it going to be?**