CHAPTER 437: CHAPTER 447: BACK IN BUSINESS

The chandeliers glittered like a challenge overhead.

Gold filigree, crystal stems, and floors so polished the Empire could’ve seen its own ego reflected in the marble, Lucius and Mia’s engagement party was many things, but modest wasn’t one of them.

Lucas stood near the edge of the main ballroom, champagne in hand, Trevor at his side. Both were dressed in midnight tones with subtle gold accents. Enough embroidery to remind the room that the Grand Dukes of Palatine had returned, fully and unmistakably present.

Technically, Lucas’s title was still "Grand Duchess" in most official documents, a leftover from archaic registries and the Empire’s inability to update itself faster than a glacier, but no one dared call him that to his face anymore. Not unless they wanted a lawsuit or a lifetime of bureaucratic delays.

"Another rose crest over there," Trevor muttered, lifting his glass without sipping. "Third tonight. Betting pool says they’ll try to propose a trade deal before dessert."

Lucas smiled without warmth. "Do they know we can read lips?"

"They don’t care," Trevor said, tilting his glass slightly. "They think you’re too pretty to pay attention."

"I’m married."

Trevor looked amused. "To me. That means you are alive, but they might be dead if they try anything."

Across the floor, a new wave of guests arrived, trailing influence behind them like perfume. Titles whispered. Cameras blinked. Someone curtsied too low. Someone else tripped trying to copy it.

It was chaos in silk.

And at the edge of that chaos, seated like judgment in heels and silver-threaded gowns, were Cressida and Serathine.

Cressida had one arm elegantly resting along the back of the settee, her champagne untouched and clearly beneath her. Serathine was holding hers like a blade.

Lucas and Trevor made their way toward them, the crowd parting with just enough awareness to be obvious.

"Late," Cressida said, arching a brow before Lucas even sat.

"Fashionably," Lucas replied, lowering himself into the open seat beside her with the confidence of a man who had signed a national policy into law before breakfast.

Trevor leaned against the armrest behind him, sipping from Lucas’s glass like it was his own.

Serathine gestured vaguely toward the ballroom. "They’ve been awful."

"Who is awful?" Trevor asked.

Serathine didn’t hesitate. "Everyone with a title and no manners."

Cressida’s smile was razor-thin. "Which is to say, the entire right half of the room."

Lucas took a slow sip of his champagne, eyes scanning the crowd like he was measuring them for trial. "That bad?"

"A woman tried to pet me," Serathine said flatly. "Not speak to me. Pet me. Like I was a cursed heirloom she’d found in a ruin, and she was wondering if I’d snap."

Trevor arched a brow. "Did you?"

"I smiled," Serathine said. "She left with a nosebleed. It was poetic."

Lucas looked faintly impressed. "You’re mellowing."

Cressida’s voice was dry as toast. "She’s saving it for the afterparty. I’ve already called in an air purifier for the seating wing. Too much fake perfume and not enough actual power."

"I think one of them tried to sell me a mining province," Trevor added. "He thought he was being subtle. Used the phrase ’fertile in both resources and temperament.’ I told him I already had a husband and a coastline."

Lucas snorted. "You didn’t."

"He blushed," Trevor said, sipping again. "I think he liked it."

Serathine tilted her glass toward them. "You two being seen together again is throwing the hierarchy into cardiac arrest."

"Good," Lucas said. "They deserve to sweat. We bled for this."

"And now you rule from the velvet lounge section," Cressida observed, her gaze flicking across the room. "Fitting."

Lucas’s expression sharpened slightly, but he didn’t argue. He never did when she was right.

A burst of laughter erupted near the inner circle of nobility. Lucius’s voice carried faintly above the crowd with his usual calm but bored royal tone. Mia’s smile was as sharp as her emerald earrings. No one stood too close.

"They look like they’ve already won," Trevor murmured.

"They have," Lucas said. "And they should thank me. Mostly Lucius; otherwise, he would have his ex-fiancée with her meditation incense and treason tendencies."

"Well... They failed spectacularly at poisoning me and Dax got to know Christopher. All good for us in the end."

Serathine hummed. "If that’s your definition of ’all good,’ I’d hate to see you happy."

Trevor smirked. "You’ll know I’m happy when I start buying islands and naming them after Lucas’s expressions."

Lucas didn’t look up. "The first one would be called ’Murder in Progress.’"

"And the second?" Cressida asked, sipping for the first time.

Lucas’s smile curved like a blade. "Pending legislation."

Across the ballroom, someone dropped a glass. The sound was sharp and brittle. No one moved to help.

Trevor tilted his head slightly. "That one’s trying to get Mia’s attention. He’s been orbiting her for the last fifteen minutes.

"He’ll regret it," Serathine said mildly. "She doesn’t like being courted. She likes being consulted."

"I like her," Cressida said. "She reminds me of me. But with a more expensive jewelry collection and less patience."

"She earned that jewelry," Lucas said. "You should see the archives Lucius had her read before he proposed. She passed more tests than half his advisors."

"She made him wait," Trevor added. "That’s power."

"She made him think she might say no," Lucas corrected, proud and smug in equal measure. "That’s art."

Another ripple of movement rolled through the ballroom. A minor lord passed too close to their seating area and immediately changed course, as if sensing something sovereign and carnivorous in the air. Smart man.

"I missed this," Serathine murmured. "Being feared in public with friends."

Trevor clinked his glass softly against hers. "We’re back. Let them tremble."

Cressida watched the room, gaze colder now. "They’re not trembling yet. But they will. Lucius and Mia are part of the crown. You two are the reminder that power doesn’t always come dressed in a throne."

Lucas raised his glass, calm and unbothered. "To the reminder, then."

Trevor’s voice was low but sure. "And to the storm coming."

They drank.

And across the ballroom, Lucius caught Lucas’s gaze and offered the barest nod.

Mia didn’t look at them at all.

She didn’t have to.

She knew which side they were on and which side always won.