CHAPTER 263: THE BEGINNING OF THE END

ERIS

I woke to pale winter light filtering through windows I didn’t recognize, momentarily disoriented before memory caught up.

Soren’s chambers. His bed. The scent of ice and pine surrounding me like I’d been wrapped in winter itself.

Maids entered quietly, bringing breakfast and fresh clothes... a deep burgundy gown today, practical but elegant, appropriate for meetings without screaming formality.

They helped me dress with efficient hands, their eyes carefully averted, speaking only when necessary.

"Where’s Mira?" I asked as one maid finished braiding my hair.

Silence answered me. The kind that meant uncomfortable rather than ignorant.

"I said, where is Mira?" My voice sharpened. "My personal maid. The one who came with me from Solmire. She should be here attending me."

The eldest maid, gray-haired and competent-looking, spoke carefully: "We haven’t seen her since yesterday morning, Your Majesty. Before the Star-Shard ritual. She complained of stomach pains and remained behind."

Something cold slid down my spine that had nothing to do with Nevareth’s temperature.

"Find her," I ordered. "Search her quarters, the servants’ wing, everywhere. I want her located within the hour."

They scattered like birds before storm, leaving me alone with breakfast I no longer wanted.

Mira had been with me since Solmire. Shy, quiet, utterly loyal in ways that went beyond duty or fear. She’d chosen to follow me here, had left everything familiar for foreign empire and ice-bound palace. She wouldn’t simply vanish without word.

A knock interrupted my spiraling thoughts.

"Enter."

Ryse stepped in, looking tired but alert, already dressed in full uniform despite the early hour. He bowed slightly.

"Your Majesty. As per your orders, I wanted to update you on the relief efforts. We’ve distributed food and blankets to all temporary housing. Medical teams report the wounded are stabilizing... no new deaths overnight. Construction materials arrived this morning for emergency repairs."

I nodded, gesturing for him to continue while I picked at bread.

"Duke Konstantin has pledged additional funds from his merchant houses. Duke Elian is organizing volunteer labor from his territories. Even some of Vetra’s faction... " he paused, mouth twisting slightly, "... are making public shows of generosity now. Covering their positions in case the political winds shift further."

"Smart," I murmured. "Cowardly, but smart."

Before Ryse could respond, another guard burst through the door with less ceremony than protocol demanded.

The guard stopped just inside the doorway, boots scuffing like he wanted to back out already. "Commander. Your Majesty. We have a problem. Mira, the servant girl. She seems to be nowhere. Her quarters are untouched. She is not in any work rotation. No one has a clue where she went."

I froze.

Ryse straightened, shoulders pulling tight as if braced for a hit. "Mira came up to Aldric and I last night. In the courtyard. She asked about you." His tone thinned, not quite steady. "Aldric told her to return to her duties. That was at sunset."

The guard nodded once. "Yes, sir."

Ryse’s jaw locked, and that quiet look said something snapped out of alignment settled over him. "Then she vanished within the hours after she left us."

"We’re questioning everyone who was in the servants’ quarters last night," the guard reported. "So far nothing. It’s like she gone."

I stood, breakfast forgotten. "Initiate palace-wide search. Check every room, every corridor, every storage space and cellar. Question every guard who was on duty last night. Someone saw something."

"Your Majesty... " Ryse began.

"Now, Commander." My voice came out cold enough to frost the air. "Mira wouldn’t disappear willingly. Which means someone made her disappear."

Understanding flickered across his expression. "You think this is connected to... "

"We can’t come to any conclusions yet." I met his eyes directly. "Find her. And inform His Majesty immediately."

Ryse bowed and left at speed, already barking orders to the guard who’d brought the news.

By afternoon,

Duchess Maren Kristoff arrived precisely on time, dressed in military-style riding clothes rather than court finery.

I received her in one of Soren’s private sitting rooms, intimate enough for confidential conversation but formal enough to maintain proper distance. Tea sat untouched between us.

"Your Majesty." Maren’s bow was crisp, respectful without being servile. "Thank you for seeing me."

"You’re taking significant risk coming here," I observed.

"I’m aware." Maren settled into her chair with the ease of someone who’d made their choice and accepted consequences. "Which is why I need to speak quickly and require protection in exchange for what I’m offering."

"Information?"

"Evidence." Her smile was sharp. "The kind that destroys power if used correctly."

I leaned forward slightly. "I’m listening."

What followed was systematic destruction of everything Vetra had built.

Maren laid out fifteen years of embezzlement through Marquess Theron... imperial treasury funds diverted to secret accounts, disguised as legitimate expenses, detailed in ledgers Vetra kept hidden in her private study. Millions in gold, enough to fund private armies or buy entire noble houses.

"She’s been preparing," Maren said flatly. "Building resources for... something. I don’t know what. But the scale suggests more than just maintaining political power."

I said nothing. Just simply listened as she poured everything out.

"There’s more," Maren continued, and her expression turned truly grim. "Vetra has been experimenting with dark ice magic. On prisoners. In secret dungeons beneath the palace... chambers most people don’t know exist. I witnessed it once, years ago, stumbled upon something I shouldn’t have seen. She’s been blackmailing me with it ever since. Threatened to claim I was the one performing illegal magic if I ever spoke."

She leaned forward. "I can show you where those chambers are. And I can give you names... every noble Vetra is blackmailing, what she has on each of them, where she keeps the materials. There’s a hidden vault in her wing. Behind a false panel in her dressing room. Everything is there... letters, documents, evidence of affairs and embezzlement and treason."

I absorbed all of this, mind already working through implications, calculating how to use each piece effectively.

"Why now?" I asked. "You’ve kept these secrets for years. Why betray her today?"

Maren’s smile turned bitter. "Because yesterday in that council chamber, I watched her try to destroy an innocent woman and didn’t care how many citizens died in the process. And... Because I’m tired of being afraid." She met my eyes directly. "And because you’re going to win. I’d rather be on the winning side when everything comes crashing down."

Honest, at least.

"What do you want in exchange?"

"Protection. For myself and my household. Guards loyal to the Emperor, not Vetra. Immunity from any crimes she might try to pin on me in retaliation." Maren’s voice hardened. "And when this is over, when she’s arrested or exiled or executed... I want to watch."

I smiled despite everything. "Done. You’ll have full protection starting today."

The door opened and Soren entered, clearly summoned by message I’d sent earlier. He took in the scene... Maren’s presence, the documents spread between us, my expression... and understanding flickered across his face.

"Duchess Kristoff has brought us gifts," I said simply.

By the time Maren left under heavy guard escort, we had tangible evidence to build a case that would destroy Vetra completely.

"Five days," Soren murmured, staring at the documents. "We have five days before the wedding. Think we can dismantle twenty years of corruption in five days?"

"We don’t need to dismantle all of it," I replied. "Just enough to remove her power and ensure she can’t strike back. The rest can be cleaned up after."

He nodded, but something in his expression seemed distant. Like part of him had retreated somewhere I couldn’t reach.

By sunset,

The search for Mira came up empty.

Every corridor checked. Every room searched. Every servant questioned. Guards interviewed, schedules reviewed, patrol routes examined for gaps.

Nothing.

She’d simply vanished sometime between sunset and midnight, in a palace filled with hundreds of people, as though she’d never existed at all.

I stood at the window in Soren’s chambers... had returned here rather than my own guest quarters, too exhausted to care about propriety... staring at snow-covered gardens below.

Something was deeply wrong. I felt it in my bones, in the way Pyronox stirred restlessly inside me, in the cold certainty that wouldn’t let go.

Mira was in danger. Or already dead. And I couldn’t find her, couldn’t help her, couldn’t even locate her body to give her proper burial.

Hands settled on my shoulders from behind. Soren’s presence, warm despite his ice magic, solid despite everything crumbling.

"We’ll keep searching," he said quietly. "Ryse has teams working through the night. If she’s in the palace, we’ll find her."

But his touch felt different. Slight distance in it, like he was holding back something he’d normally give freely. The comfort was genuine but... restrained. Careful.

I noticed. Of course I noticed.

First hint of Soren pulling back emotionally, subtle enough that most wouldn’t catch it. But I’d spent two lifetimes reading people, detecting micro-expressions and tiny shifts in behavior.

He was retreating from me.

Just slightly. Just enough.

And I didn’t know if it was because of the political chaos, or something else entirely.

"You should rest," he said, hands dropping away. "Tomorrow will be difficult."

Then he left me alone in his chambers, in his bed, surrounded by his scent but missing his presence.

I stared out at the snow and wondered if this was how it started... the slow withdrawal, the careful distance, the love that cooled degree by degree until nothing remained but ice.

Don’t, I thought desperately. Don’t do this. Don’t pull away now.

But I didn’t call him back.

Didn’t know what to say if I did.

So I stood there alone while snow fell and Mira remained lost and Soren retreated into whatever space he’d decided was safer than staying close.

And I remembered Caelen doing the same thing, years ago in another life.

The beginning of the end always looked like this.