**Warriors of Eternal Sky—Federico Corradini**
Serpentine
Serpentine would have loved to say that the sight of her husband's thunderous expression as her beloved, fainted wife was carted away gave her a bit of joy. But she was not nearly that easy to please.
The only thing that would assuage the thumping rage in her heart was not the sight of a pathetic mistress performing the act she was born for. It would be the day she watched who poisoned her Elara crawl into the gates of hell personally. And to enact that kind of revenge, a grand play was needed.
Serpentine wasn't delusional. She knew she was just a woman. That role alone were shackles on her hands and feet. As Queen consort, her role was a limited one indeed.
Which was why she must sharpen another to enact the revenge she couldn't possibly have in her role as just a 'queen consort'.
And that person had to be Ember, the girl who was now her daughter, Elara.
Serpentine had thought long and hard about it. Ember was certainly smart enough. Rough around the edges, but that could be taken care of. It would take them some years, but Serpentine would make sure to train her to become a contender for the throne.
Not just any kind of contender, but the kind that would reel out the enemy that had poisoned her daughter. It was only fair after all, seeing as the reason Elara died was probably because of power.
That fateful night when her daughter had been born, she held her little hands and felt all her grievances dissipate into thin air. That moment, she felt such great contentment that she was willing to leave all the pain of her marriage behind….
…yet they took her away from her.
"This session is over." Her husband gritted, glaring at her, "Prince Cassian will be my heir because no matter the rules you read out so flamboyantly, he is the only one fit enough.
"Elara has been drifting all her life. She knows nothing of our culture and our ways. Does she know anything about the true way of the huntsmen and how to hunt? Is she a warrior fit to carry on the mantle of the midnight panther?! As far as I can see all I see is a weak, little girl that has just recovered from an illness worth a decade!" Her husband finished with a growl that caused Ember to flinch visibly from the crack of his words.
Honestly, his words weren't unexpected. But they stung unexpectedly.
Now, Serpentine understood why even on her dying bed, Elara never called out for her father. Perhaps the little girl understood the man's cruelty more than she could ever do.
"Fine." she easily acquiesced much to the astonishment of the high nosed nobility in the grand room that were all waiting for her to put up a tough protest. "Prince Cassian should be your heir. He is your only son, and the most suitable I guess." She finished, each word that rolled off her tongue causing the guests to grow more confused.
Serpentine was no fool… she knew very well that her husband and mother-in-law wouldn't crown a woman as scion to the throne, much less her daughter. The only reason she had made that dramatic display was because deception was more often than not the best form of a political war.
Serpentine wasn't gunning to place Ember directly on the throne… yet. She had a different purpose in mind,
"But since you're defiling the rules to make your own son heir," Serpentine drawled, playing her hand, "it's only right that you make Elara Princess Royal. Consider it a gift to thank her for coming back from the cusp of a deadly illness."
The room stilled, her husband now the center of attention as he obviously struggled with the tight corner that Serpentine had been cornered into.
A vein threatened to burst from his neck. "You… you want me to make a mere ten year old girl Princess Royal?"
Her mother-in-law's expression was murderous though. "No wonder you were silent when I proposed to make Thalara High Consort. So you've long had in mind to make your daughter the second most powerful only after you?!" She gritted.
Serpentine ignored her, stepping closer to her husband until no space stood between them. Many said that her beauty was enough to ruin men, but no one took into consideration that they were men who were stone hearted. And such a man was Giovanny.
"Listen carefully to me, husband," she whispered only to his hearing, "asides your unqualified son and my daughter that you've cruelly spurned, they're two more people who are qualified to be your heir."
She paused dramatically, staring into his dark eyes. "You know I mean your two younger brothers." She whispered with a lascivious smile that contrasted with the rage bubbled in her heart. But her words were enough to tip her husband into unbelievable anger.
The guests grew uncomfortably, probably wondering what they were whispering about.
"Don't think for a moment that I'm incapable of raising that point, Giovanny. We can all put this to rest once you agree that Elara should be princess royal. By all rights, she is the eldest royal daughter after all."
"Serpentine…." He growled, eyes molten flame.
"Do you think I'm unaware of your ambitions?" She pressed forward, gunning for a deadly threat, "a little bird told me your soldiers have been discreetly patrolling the borders of the mountain men. Should they learn you plan to invade them, I can only imagine how much your reign will suffer before it even starts."
She made a show of arranging the collar of his velvet cloak. At that moment, they looked intimate, even.
"Not to mention Thalara. I'm sure she believes you love her more than the world. Enough to ignore your very beautiful princess wife from the Andals. What if she learns that all along she has been a little pawn on your wood pecked board in a game you've been playing since you were twenty and confessed that she was the most beautiful woman you have ever laid your eyes on?
"What if she learns that you've only been using her for one goal, which is to use her father's influence and army to infiltrate the mountain men…."
"Enough!" He whisper-screamed with finality, breathing hard at just how much she knew.