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John Gaius, Emperor Undying, leader of the Nine Houses for ten thousand years, knows many things. But one thing that he does not know is why his only child and heir would choose a bride that seems to hate her. “Are you sure about this? You can always change your mind,” he says to his daughter as she stares at him, deep in thought for once.
“I’m sure Dad, don’t worry. Anyway I have an idea, me and Harrow could visit the other houses together, you know, introduce me to the houses,” Kiriona says and he frowns, clearly considering the idea. “Now are you going to do your aisle thing or not?” she questions, smiling.
“Of course dear. Now come here,” he says as he kisses her forehead. She smiles, rolling her eyes as she considers what’s about to happen and her father grabs her hands. They move away from each other to walk out of the small dressing room and into the large one on the other side of the door. Her father walks by her side as she meets her bride on the other side, one whose eyes seem to be brimming with disdain for Kiriona.
Judith and Marta watch as Her Divine Highness and her consort walk out of their shuttle. The two are an odd pair, one dressed in all white and smiling brightly, the other standing dourly in black. Everyone in the room bows as Marta watches the two and their entourage, one of the Cohort and one of the Ninth. “Your highnesses. It is a pleasure to welcome you all to the Second House,” Judith’s father says.
“It’s a gift to be here,” Kiriona responds as she gestures for them all to rise. She exchanges a few pleasantries with Judith’s father as her wife watches in silence by her side. But eventually she turns towards Marta and Judith, smiling widely as the Reverend Daughter trails along. “So I hear that you’re an expert swordswoman and I would like to propose a duel,” she starts as her wife glares dourly.
No one in the system of Dominicus and beyond understands why Harrowhark Nonagesimus, scion of the Ninth House was chosen as a bride by Her Divine Highness Kiriona Gaia. They are by far one of the poorest houses and while they may have needed this marriage the First did not.
“So I’m curious, what about Harrowhark caught your eye?” Coronabeth Tridentarius asks Kiriona as she leans forward on the table. Her sister Ianthe and Harrow are off discussing necromantic theorems somewhere, leaving the two alone to eat brunch together.
“She treated me like a human instead of some deity. Also she’s cute when she’s angry,” Kiriona says and Corona frowns, that can’t be true, at least the first part. From what she’s seen of the Ninth she is the most devout worshipper of the Emperor that she’s ever seen. But Kiriona seems genuine so she just nods and wonders what’s going on with the Princess and her consort. Ianthe must be digging into whatever’s happening with them too, she better be.
“Well I’m happy for you. Now I saw your bout with Naberius earlier and I have to say it was quite impressive,” Coronabeth starts as Kiriona smiles proudly. They start discussing their favorite duelists as Kiriona watches her with interest, her smile nearly growing into a smirk. For a reason Corona can’t quite explain, she gets the feeling that the other woman knows something that she shouldn’t, the feeling is as worrying as it is intriguing.
Isaac and Jeannemary watch as Harrowhark pulls her wife to another room and glance at each other. They walk in unison towards the door, trying to be as quiet as they can. Inside they can hear Harrow speaking in hushed tones, “Why do you insist on making such a fool out of yourself?”
“God forbid I have fun. If you think I’m annoying you’ll hate life on the Mithraem. It’s just me and my dad trying to get a rise out of Gideon all the fucking time,” Kiriona retorts. Jeannemary frowns, they knew that the Ninth was an odd choice but from the sigh Harrowhark lets out they know that there has to be something more going on. The woman is being so disrespectful to Her Divine Highness who despite being fun is still royalty.
“You know I could not turn down your offer. The Ninth needs this more than any of any of the other houses know,” she exclaims and Isaac, the fool, lets out a shocked gasp. The two quickly start to run but it’s not before at least Kiriona can catch sight of them, all they have are more questions than they started with and knowing Harrow, a very pissed off nun.
“So what’s your dad like?” Magnus asks Kirona as she practices with her rapier, moving with perfect precision. He’s watching and trying to hide his awe, she seems almost bored doing this. Kiriona considers his question as she puts her blade in its sheath, before turning to Magnus and meeting his gaze. She seems to be looking for something in him, he isn’t sure what but he knows that this is a test or judgement of sorts.
But finally she answers, “He’s weird. I take after him a lot but according to Gideon I just look like my mother, I don’t see it though. Apparently he was different before I was born but I wouldn’t know.” Her statement doesn’t tell Magnus much but her tone does, she seems to resent the resemblance to her father.
It’s the first time that he’s heard of Her Divine Highness’ mother though. In all the years he’s been in power the Emperor has never taken a consort. While Magnus has heard stories of his risque adventures from his friends who were in the Cohort, none of them resulted in a child as far as Magnus knows, he could be wrong though.
“Why did your father set up this whole bride thing?” Camilla asks as she wipes the sweat from her forehead. Kiriona laughs and she frowns, there is definitely something she doesn’t know which in Camilla’s opinion is the worst feeling ever. Like her necro, Camilla craves knowledge with a voracity a black hole would be jealous of.
“He didn’t. I was bored and I decided to suggest it to my dad. I didn’t know that it would work out though,” she explains and Camilla tilts her head. It makes sense from what she knows of Kiriona that she would do just about anything to escape boredom but this seems excessive.
“You are one strange person Your Highness,” Camilla says in her usual monotone. Harrowhark and Palamedes return from their little quest and Camilla gestures for her cousin to come close. His eyes light up with excitement, he already knows that she has a puzzle to solve and he is extremely excited. The two have cracked every case they’ve worked on and they know that this one will be the most interesting one yet. It will probably be the most dangerous and difficult but they’re prepared for any challenge they may face.
Kiriona and Protesilaus walk through the rose gardens of the Seventh House in silence before a yell breaks through. “Dad!” a young boy yells as he runs towards Protesilaus and leaps into his father’s arms. Protesilaus’ austere expression cracks, being replaced with a bright smile as he twirls the child around. “Oh, is that the Princess? Sorry!”
“Don’t worry,” Kiriona says as she watches the pair and he introduces himself as Ptelemos Heptillis and she smiles, waving away his attempt to bow to her. “Please, I get enough of that as it is. There’s no need for formality around me.” Ptelemos glances at his father who nods encouragingly before the boy glares at him, making Protesilaus chuckle.
“Ptelemos here wants to join the Cohort someday,” his father says proudly while Kiriona stares at them. Neither can decipher what she’s thinking but her jovial demeanor has soured and it’s worrying. Still she listens to Ptelemos try to stop his father from embarrassing him with stories of his attempted duels and smiles wistfully. Protesilaus wonders if he should say something to Kiriona but she seems perfectly content to listen to their tales despite the odd look on her face, it’s probably nothing.
Colum and Silas stare at Kiriona as Silas gestures for his nephew to get him a cup of tea, cold of course. She walks over to them and sits down at the table with them, ignoring Silas’ expression which is a mix of terror, disgust and awe. “So I hear that you’re being a dick to my wife,” she says as she leans back in her chair.
“My apologies if my intentions have not come across clearly. I may disapprove of your choice in a bride but I would never purposefully disrespect you, Your Highness,” Silas apologizes as Kiriona smiles to herself. In reality it’s more of a cocky smirk but neither of them would ever accept that was what Her Divine Highness was doing, something so arrogant from someone almost as holy as the Emperor.
“Trust me I chose Harrow for a reason, one that’s too far too big for your little peabrain to understand,” she coos and Silas’ eyes widen. Colum smiles slightly as he pretends to cough, something that no one notices. He may be shocked by how cruel Her Divine Highness is but this might be what Silas needs to finally realize how pretentious and stuck up he has been.
After the welcoming dinner Kiriona drags Harrowhark into the back corner of the room. Everyone assumes that the newlyweds are simply discussing something and they would be right, even if they could never guess the nature of what it was. “Why do you want to know where the Tomb is?” Harrow questions as Kiriona shrugs, glancing around to see if anyone’s listening. “You need me for whatever it is you’re planning. I will tell you nothing if you refuse to explain yourself to me.”
“Fine but you have to promise that you’ll never tell anyone. I mean, you know that no one would ever believe you,” she says and Harrowhark looks like she’s about to say something but changes her mind. “I want to break into it. I have my reasons but I need to find out what’s inside.”
Harrowhark frowns before realizing that she really has no choice in the matter, after all the Ninth House needs to remain in the Emperor’s favor. Despite her loyalty to the Necrolord Prime she must do something that could doom him, all because of the woman she had no choice but to marry. Kiriona has been kind to her despite her general foolishness, this might be worth it.