CHAPTER 439: CHAPTER 449: TROUBLESOME EXTENDED FAMILY.

A steward stepped to the side of the upper marble landing, mic clipped discreetly to his collar, voice smooth but unmistakably formal as it echoed through the ballroom.

"Their Royal Highness, Crown Prince Sirius Alaric of the Palatine Empire."

The room stilled at the announcement, every noble already calculating how they could reach for a ’beneficial’ discussion about the empire.

Sirius descended the steps slowly, like he had all day, unaccompanied. His tailored black coat was embroidered with the silver imperial crest at his collar and the faint glint of heritage embroidery was worked into the inner lining of his coat, barely visible unless you knew where to look.

He moved like someone who had been trained since birth to walk through rooms built to test him. Like someone who knew the weight of the Empire would never leave his spine.

And, more importantly, like someone who had just spent twenty minutes evading the Malek family’s latest "gift-wrapped niece" and was barely clinging to civility.

Chris’s mouth twitched. "Well. Someone looks done."

"He is," Mia murmured, not turning. "They tried to offer him a consort again."

"Which one?" Lucas asked, immediately intrigued.

"Same niece who tried to sneak into Caelan’s foreign delegation four years ago," Trevor said. "Only this time, they put her in pearls and a theology degree."

Cressida hummed. "Desperate and delusional. A refreshing combination."

Sirius crossed the ballroom, ignoring every offered smile and angled glance. His gaze never wandered.

He was here for them.

The nobles parted with well-practiced grace. Enough to make way, but never too quickly, lest they be remembered.

Sirius reached the edge of their cluster like a man stepping into familiar war lines. He took a fresh glass of champagne from a nearby tray and downed half of it before he spoke.

"I want this night stricken from every record and burned from every backup server in the Empire."

Chris, bless him, didn’t even blink. "Let me guess. Fertility was mentioned."

"She asked if I wanted a consort who could ’restore the imperial bloodline to full glory.’" Sirius’s tone was flat. "In front of a senator. From Pasenthia."

Lucas winced. "And what did you say?"

"That I would rather marry the Empire’s internal revenue report. At least it’s honest."

Trevor turned slightly, eyes gleaming. "Isn’t that classified?"

"Not anymore," Sirius said. "I’ve just declassified it by emotional association."

Chris tilted his head, looking faintly amused. "Did she cry?"

"No," Sirius said, deadly calm. "But her mother did."

Mia sipped her wine. "They think Lucius’s engagement means they have the Emperor’s favor again. They’re throwing family members at every branch of the family tree."

"Unfortunately for them," Cressida said, "you’re more of a cactus."

Chris lifted his glass. "To thorns."

Sirius clinked it with mechanical grace. "To strategic sterilization."

Lucas snorted. Dax, still silent, looked vaguely like he was trying not to smirk.

"I told them," Sirius added, "that I do not plan to marry, bond, reproduce, or so much as glance romantically at anyone this decade. The response was..."

"’You just haven’t met the right omega,’" Mia finished with disgust.

Sirius blinked. "Yes. How did you...?"

"They said the same thing to me three years ago, but with alphas," she said flatly. "It was at a party where I was working as a waiter; they tried to marry me off to a millionaire infamous for his... attraction to extremely young girls." She shuddered.

Sirius’s jaw twitched. Just once. "That man died in a boating accident the following year."

"I know," Mia said. "I sent flowers."

Chris hummed. "What kind?"

"Belladonna and wolfsbane," she said sweetly. "Symbolism is important."

Lucas nearly choked on his drink. Trevor looked openly impressed.

"And yet," Cressida said, her voice a shade too light to be harmless, "the Maleks continue. Bold, considering none of their tactics have worked since the turn of the century."

"They think persistence equals proximity," Sirius muttered. "They don’t understand that I would rather chain myself to the judiciary committee than marry one of their daughters."

"I could make that happen," Trevor offered, entirely too helpful.

"You’re not funny," Sirius said flatly. "You’re dangerously close to being Prime Minister."

"And you’re dangerously close to being engaged if you stay at this party much longer," Chris added. "There’s another niece by the window. She’s armed with a genealogy chart and a Twitter following."

Sirius closed his eyes. "Caelan should have exiled them."

"He tried," Dax said quietly, the first words from him that evening. "But Chris said no."

Chris didn’t deny it. "I thought it would be funnier to let them hang themselves socially."

"And yet I’m the one they’re trying to bond off like surplus livestock," Sirius said. "She told me she was ’happy to bear royal burdens.’"

Lucas coughed. "That’s either a child or a lawsuit."

Sirius raised his glass again. "It’s a war crime."

"I’ll speak with Lucius," Mia said suddenly, her voice cool and unshaken. "The engagement may have shifted perceptions, but if they think they can use my name for more empire-climbing..."

"They can try," Chris cut in, voice calm, "but they won’t get far."

Sirius looked over the rim of his glass, expression unreadable. "That wasn’t what she said to me."

Mia’s brow arched. "What did she say?"

"She said, and I quote, ’Once you have a proper heir, your brother won’t need to keep her around.’"

The silence that followed was enough to burn.

Mia didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Her grip on the stem of her glass remained delicate, but something behind her eyes shifted.

"She said that to you?" Her voice was level, polite even. The kind of tone one might use to inquire about the weather. Or a planned execution.

"To my face," Sirius replied. "Smiling."

Lucas stared at him. "What did you do?"

"I finished my drink," Sirius said. "Then asked her if she’d prefer to be exiled by decree or accident."

Trevor exhaled softly through his nose. "Kind."

"I was trying to not ruin the engagement gala," Sirius said. "Mia and Lucius deserve this."

"They do," Chris agreed, his black eyes almost absorbing the light around him. "Which is why I’m going to ruin her instead."

Cressida swirled her wine. "Do you want it fast or theatrical?"

"Fast and theatrical," Mia murmured. "Make her a cautionary tale with tasteful lighting."

"She’s already talking to a reporter," Dax said, voice low. "Stage left. Red jacket. No press badge."

Chris didn’t turn to see them; Dax was a dominant alpha that could feel, see, and hear more than anyone was willing to accept. "Does she look smug?"

"Like she thinks she’s about to make history," Dax replied with a faint smirk that promised to do anything his lovely mate asked.

Lucas leaned forward slightly, squinting toward the edge of the ballroom. "That’s not just a reporter. That’s the one who wrote the piece about Lucius’s ’mysterious omega companion’ last year."

"Perfect," Chris said, and smiled.

Trevor’s brow lifted. "What are you thinking?"

"I’m thinking," Chris said slowly, "that I’ll give them a quote."

Sirius’s eyes narrowed faintly. "You’re not going over there."

"No," Chris replied, setting his glass down. "I’m inviting her over. She’s already looking for scandal. Might as well feed her something she’ll choke on."

"You’re serious?" Mia asked, voice low.

"I’m always serious when it comes to weaponized gossip," Chris said. "Let her run a headline that makes it clear: you are the future of this family. Not the people clawing at its ankles."

Cressida tilted her head, eyes gleaming. "And what will the headline say?"

Chris smiled, slow and savage. "’Crown Prince Supports Lucius-Mia Union, Warns Off Opportunistic Claims: Empire Has Enough Heirs And No Patience for Parasites.’" He had learned in Saha not only how to be a consort and future queen but also how to manipulate media in his favor.

Trevor let out a low whistle. "That’ll do it."

Sirius finally relaxed by a single degree. "Make sure you include the word ’parasites. That’s important."

Mia hadn’t blinked once. Her voice, when it came, was steady, and anyone could see the resemblance between the siblings; she had Chris’ personality, just toned down a level.

"If she speaks to another ambassador, I want her banned from every court function for the next decade."

"She’ll be lucky if she gets to keep her passport," Chris muttered.

"I’ll notify Caelan," Dax said, already reaching for his phone. "He won’t mind the warning going public."

Lucas leaned back with a sigh. "I love it when we work as a team."

"Team implies mercy," Chris said.

"No," Mia corrected. "It implies precision."

Sirius raised his glass again, this time slower.

"To precision," he said quietly.

Chris matched the movement.

"To legacy," he added.

Mia, last of all, lifted her glass, not toward the aunt who insulted her, or the press waiting for a misstep, or the nobles calculating lines of succession, but toward the man she would marry.

"To Lucius," she said, soft and certain. "And everything they’ll never touch."