December 24th
· · ─ ·☽𖤓☾· ─ · ·
Today was the day.
Aurelian was going to see Seraphina again.
Nearly two weeks had passed since the Bellafontes returned to Evelina. In that time, Aurelian had reunited with friends, attended several smaller gatherings, and made a valiant attempt to readjust to the capital’s bitter winter.
He had not, however, seen the duchess.
Seraphina had been occupied with preparations for the king’s birthday celebration. As Commander of the Royal Knights, much of the palace security fell beneath her supervision. She had been reviewing protocols, increasing patrols, inspecting guard rotations, and ensuring that nothing was overlooked before the festivities began.
Aurelian understood.
He truly did.
Unfortunately, understanding did very little to settle his nerves.
He had been given entirely too much time to think.
About her letter.
About what she intended to say when they finally spoke.
About what he was supposed to say in return.
Even reading had become difficult.
He would open a book and somehow remember the afternoon they had spent together at the bookstore.
He would come across a clever line and remember the teasing glint in her eyes.
He would read something romantic and immediately think of her smile.
Eventually, Aurelian had given up on books altogether.
And now, after days of anticipation, he stood outside a private parlor within the royal palace with both of his parents beside him.
An attendant had informed them that the room adjoined Seraphina’s personal quarters.
She had apparently requested to greet his parents before speaking with him privately.
Aurelian was not certain whether that should comfort him or terrify him.
The butler stepped forward and knocked.
“I have brought the Bellafontes, Your Grace.”
There was a brief silence.
Then came a quiet voice from within.
“Please, enter.”
Aurelian’s face immediately warmed.
Carina glanced at him.
He pretended not to notice.
The doors opened.
The moment Aurelian stepped into the parlor, his breath caught.
Seraphina sat upon one of the couches near the fire.
She was not wearing her royal knight’s uniform today.
Instead, she wore a beautifully tailored white suit embroidered delicately in gold—the colors of the Evelina royal family. Her silver hair had been drawn partially back into a loose bun, while the remainder spilled over her shoulders in soft waves.
Small earrings hung from her ears.
Rubies.
Deep red teardrops that caught the firelight whenever she moved her head.
For one strange moment, Aurelian could only stare at them.
They were nearly the same color as his eyes.
Then Seraphina looked directly at him.
Icy blue met crimson.
Every carefully rehearsed greeting Aurelian had practiced over the past several days vanished from his mind.
Completely.
He had nothing.
“It is our greatest privilege to meet you, Duchess Vaelmont.”
His father’s voice saved him.
Aurelian quickly bowed alongside his parents, hoping no one had noticed that he had been standing there like a startled statue.
“There is no need to be so tense.”
Seraphina’s voice remained calm and composed, though there was a warmth beneath it that Aurelian remembered well.
She rose from the couch and gestured with one gloved hand toward the seating opposite her.
“Please. Have a seat.”
The three Bellafontes crossed the room almost in unison.
Carina sat first, Snyder on the opposite end, and Aurelian settled between them.
The arrangement immediately made him painfully aware of just how much taller he was than both of his parents. Seated between them with his knees nearly level with the edge of the tea table, he felt less like their grown son and more like an oversized child who had been brought along for an important family meeting.
Seraphina returned to her seat.
“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Lord Snyder and Lady Carina.” Her gaze moved briefly toward Aurelian before returning to his parents. “Your son has spoken quite highly of you.”
Aurelian glanced at her, caught off guard.
He had.
Quite often, actually.
He simply had not expected her to remember.
“The honor is ours,” Carina replied. “And I would also like to apologize for what happened on the veranda.”
Seraphina’s expression softened slightly.
“There is nothing to apologize for,” she said. “I was not offended. I saw only a concerned mother looking after her son.”
Some of the tension left Carina’s shoulders almost immediately.
Beside her, Aurelian could not help the small smile that tugged at his lips.
“Your Grace,” Snyder spoke after a brief silence settled over the room. “May I impose upon you with a question?”
“You may.”
Snyder’s expression remained respectful, though Aurelian could hear the concern beneath his father’s careful tone.
“May I ask why my son?”
Aurelian stiffened.
Snyder continued before he could protest.
“I do not doubt your judgment of character, Your Grace. But I am his father, and I would be lying if I said I was not concerned.” His gaze remained steady on Seraphina. “Your position brings a great deal of attention. Some of it dangerous. If you intend to court my son, then I need to understand why you have chosen him.”
Seraphina regarded the older Bellafonte quietly.
She said nothing long enough for Aurelian to feel tension gathering in his shoulders. Carina sat perfectly still beside him, and even Snyder seemed to wonder whether he had overstepped.
Then Seraphina answered.
“His warmth.”
Aurelian’s eyes widened.
Of all the answers he had imagined, that had not been one of them.
“Among other reasons,” Seraphina continued, “but that is the quality I find myself unable to let go of.”
She rose from her seat.
The Bellafontes watched in surprise as Seraphina straightened and placed one gloved hand over her chest, her posture shifting into the formal salute of the Commander of the Royal Knights.
Even Snyder seemed taken aback.
Seraphina held his gaze.
“I will protect him.”
Aurelian stared at her.
For once, he could think of absolutely nothing to say.
· · ─ ·☽𖤓☾· ─ · ·
The conversation mellowed considerably after Seraphina’s bold declaration.
Her promise seemed to put Snyder more at ease, while Carina looked almost suspiciously pleased by the entire exchange.
Before long, however, the approaching ball demanded their attention. The elder Bellafontes soon took their leave, offering Seraphina their respects before departing for the ballroom.
And then the door closed behind them.
Leaving Aurelian alone with Seraphina.
Just the two of them.
No parents.
No attendants.
No convenient third person to fill the silence.
Aurelian swallowed.
His mouth had suddenly gone dry.
For several uncomfortable seconds, neither of them spoke.
Seraphina was the first to break the silence.
“It has been a while, Lord Aurel.”
That nickname.
Aurelian felt his heart pick up almost immediately.
He had seen it written in her letters over the past several months, yet somehow that had never affected him quite like this. Ink on paper could not compare to hearing the name spoken in her cool, familiar voice.
His stomach gave an embarrassing little flutter.
“Yes,” he managed. “Have you been well?”
“As well as I can be,” Seraphina answered quietly.
Aurelian released a slow breath.
He needed to focus.
There was a reason they were here.
He steadied himself, and when he looked at her again, the nervousness in his expression had given way to something more serious.
“Your proposal,” he began. “Were you serious?”
Seraphina did not hesitate.
“I am not one to joke about matrimony.”
Her icy blue eyes remained fixed upon his.
“I was serious.”
Seraphina rose from her seat and crossed toward a small table beside one of the bookshelves. Aurelian watched as she picked up a neat stack of papers before returning to him.
Except she did not return to the opposite couch.
She sat beside him.
Aurelian’s breath hitched.
Seraphina heard it.
The sound nearly made her smile.
He immediately shifted to the side to give her more room, though she hardly seemed bothered by their proximity. She calmly placed the papers upon the table before them.
“Let me begin with this,” she said.
Then she turned toward him.
They were close enough now that Aurelian became acutely aware of the narrow space between them.
“I do not expect you to already love me,” Seraphina said. “Do not lie merely to please me.”
“I would never lie to you, Lady Sera.”
“I know. This is merely a disclaimer.”
Seraphina studied him for another moment.
His face had begun turning red again.
This time, she did smile.
“It seems your nickname as the Blushing Baron is rather accurate.”
Aurelian blinked.
“I’m sorry?”
He had never heard that one before.
When had that started?
Had the capital invented another name for him after he left? Who had started it? More importantly, how many people were calling him that?
Seraphina could practically see the questions racing through his mind.
She spared him by looking back toward the papers.
“Our time together has been brief,” she continued, her tone becoming more serious. “And marriage to me would change your entire life.”
There was no attempt to soften the statement.
That was Seraphina.
Direct. Blunt. Never one to hide an uncomfortable truth beneath pretty words.
She wanted him to understand precisely what she was asking of him.
“I do not want you to accept simply because I am someone you believe you cannot refuse.”
Aurelian looked down at the papers resting upon the table.
“So…” He hesitated. “What exactly are you proposing?”
“A one-year engagement.”
His eyes snapped back to hers.
“One year?”
“One year,” Seraphina repeated.
She reached forward and took the first page from the stack.
“We would announce our engagement publicly. During that time, we would court properly—both within society and privately when circumstances allow.”
Aurelian listened carefully.
“You would spend time with me in the north,” she continued. “Not merely as a guest for several days. Long enough to understand the territory, the climate, the people, and what would be expected of you if we married.”
The north.
Aurelian had heard enough stories about Vaelmont lands to know that cold was an inadequate description.
His expression must have betrayed him.
“You look frightened.”
“I am thinking about snow.”
Seraphina’s mouth twitched.
“There is a great deal of it.”
“That was precisely what frightened me.”
For a brief moment, some of the tension between them eased.
Then Seraphina continued.
“In return, I would spend time in Bellafonte.”
Aurelian blinked.
“You would?”
“Yes.”
The answer came so naturally that he almost laughed.
“You would come south?”
“I believe that was the invitation.”
Aurelian’s cheeks warmed.
“I suppose it was.”
“I intend to collect on it.”
That finally pulled a quiet laugh from him.
Seraphina waited until he settled before returning her attention to the papers.
“I do not believe marriage should require you to abandon Bellafonte, nor do I intend to abandon Vaelmont. We both have responsibilities that cannot simply be discarded.”
Aurelian’s smile faded as he listened.
“So the year would give us time to determine whether those responsibilities can exist together.”
“Yes.”
She placed the page down.
“We would learn how our territories might function alongside one another. How often either of us could reasonably travel. What duties could be shared and which cannot. Whether you can tolerate the north.”
Aurelian frowned slightly.
“That seems to be a recurring concern.”
“It should be.”
“I own coats.”
“One coat will not save you.”
“I own several.”
Seraphina gave him a look.
Aurelian decided not to argue further.
Her gaze lowered again.
“And beyond our territories,” she said, “we would determine whether our lives fit.”
The humor left his expression.
Seraphina’s voice remained composed.
“You know me only in pieces, Lord Aurel. You have seen me at court. At a bookstore. Over tea. You have seen me perform my duties within the palace and heard whatever stories society has decided to repeat about me.”
She paused.
“You have not lived beside me.”
Aurelian remained quiet.
“You do not know what I am like after weeks spent near the border. You do not know how often my duties will interrupt plans. You do not know whether you could be content with someone who may disappear from the dinner table because a messenger has arrived from a fortress.”
Her eyes met his.
“And I do not yet know what it would mean to share a life with you.”
Something about that admission softened him.
Not because she doubted him.
Because she was acknowledging that she did not know everything.
Seraphina Vaelmont, who seemed so certain of nearly everything she did, was sitting beside him and admitting that marriage contained questions even she could not answer beforehand.
She slid another page toward him.
“The engagement would formally begin today.”
Aurelian looked at the document.
“And it would end one year from today?”
“If you choose for it to.”
His gaze lifted slowly.
Seraphina continued before he could ask.
“On the king’s birthday next year, you may end the engagement.”
Aurelian stared at her.
“If, after one year, you do not love me, or if you decide that you cannot envision a life with me, you may withdraw.”
He did not speak.
“You will owe me nothing.”
Her voice was steady.
“There will be no retaliation against you. None against your parents. None against your brother, his family, or any member of House Bellafonte.”
Aurelian’s expression changed.
Seraphina continued.
“I will not interfere with your trade agreements. I will not use my position within the royal family against you. I will not allow anyone under my authority to punish Bellafonte for your decision.”
“Your Grace…”
“And if society attempts to damage your reputation because the engagement ends, I will make it publicly clear that the decision was reached without wrongdoing on your part.”
Aurelian could only stare at her.
She had thought of everything.
Not merely what their marriage might become, but what would happen if he chose to walk away.
She had considered consequences he had scarcely allowed himself to imagine.
Aurelian looked down at the papers again.
“You did all of this for me?”
Seraphina was quiet for a moment.
“I wanted you to have a choice.”
The simplicity of the answer struck him harder than anything else she had said.
Aurelian swallowed.
All his life, his parents had protected him.
Sometimes excessively.
They had sheltered him from court because they feared what people might do to someone as trusting as him. They had worried over nobles, merchants, political marriages, contracts, and anyone who might see Bellafonte’s gentle second son as someone easy to manipulate.
And Seraphina—
Seraphina had been handed more power than nearly anyone in the empire could possess.
Yet the first thing she had done with that power was make certain he could walk away from her.
His eyes lowered again.
“That is very kind.”
Seraphina’s expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
“I was not attempting to be kind.”
Aurelian looked at her.
“I know.”
He smiled faintly.
“That somehow makes it kinder.”
She stared at him for a second before looking away.
Aurelian suspected she was choosing not to respond to that.
His fingers brushed the edge of the contract.
Then another thought occurred to him.
“What if you change your mind?”
Seraphina turned back toward him.
“What?”
“You have given me a year to decide whether I wish to marry you.” He shifted slightly so that he faced her more fully. “But what happens if you decide you no longer wish to marry me?”
For the first time since they had begun discussing the arrangement, Seraphina seemed genuinely caught off guard.
Aurelian continued.
“It would hardly be fair if I were the only person allowed to reconsider.”
“You believe I require protection from you?”
“No.”
He answered too quickly.
Her brow lifted.
Aurelian corrected himself.
“I mean—I would hope not. But feelings change.”
Seraphina watched him.
“People learn things about one another that they did not know before. Perhaps you will visit Bellafonte and discover that I am insufferable.”
“I doubt that.”
“You have never watched me argue with my father about irrigation.”
“I have seen you argue with nobles.”
“That is different.”
“How?”
“I like my father.”
A faint amusement passed through her eyes.
Aurelian smiled before continuing.
“My point is that you should have the same choice.”
Seraphina considered him for a moment.
Then she leaned back slightly.
“If I decide that I no longer wish to proceed with the marriage, then I will tell you.”
“Good.”
“But.”
Aurelian paused.
Seraphina held his gaze.
“I do not expect that to happen.”
Something in her voice made his heart stumble.
There was no teasing in her expression now.
No dry amusement.
Only certainty.
Aurelian felt heat creep slowly into his face.
Seraphina did not look away.
Neither did he.
For several seconds, the room seemed unusually quiet.
“You sound very sure,” he finally murmured.
“I am.”
That was all she said.
It was somehow worse than if she had confessed anything outright.
Aurelian looked down before she could watch his face become any redder.
The Blushing Baron indeed.
He would have to find whoever invented that name and have a very stern conversation with them.
Eventually.
Perhaps.
Probably not.
He took another slow breath.
“So for one year, we would truly court.”
“Yes.”
“You would come to Bellafonte.”
“Yes.”
“And I would visit Vaelmont.”
“Yes.”
“Where there is an unreasonable amount of snow.”
Seraphina sighed.
“Yes, Lord Aurel.”
“And at the end of the year, if either of us believes marriage would make us miserable, we may end the engagement.”
“Yes.”
Aurelian was silent.
Then his expression became serious once more.
“I do not want to agree to this as an empty arrangement.”
Seraphina watched him closely.
“If I accept,” he continued, “then I want to actually try.”
A small crease appeared between her brows.
Aurelian placed his hands together in his lap.
“I do not know if I love you.”
He forced himself to say the words plainly.
Seraphina did not flinch.
“But I care about you.”
Her expression softened.
“More than I realized before leaving Evelina.”
He gave a small, embarrassed laugh.
“I missed you terribly in Bellafonte, which was inconvenient.”
“Inconvenient?”
“I was trying to write.”
Seraphina’s lips curved.
“And then your letters arrived, and that certainly did not help.”
“I apologize.”
“You do not sound apologetic.”
“I am not.”
Aurelian smiled despite himself.
Then he looked at the contract again.
“I want to know you better,” he said. “Not because you are a duchess. Not because everyone in the capital has apparently decided what our relationship is before either of us could.”
His fingers curled slightly against his knee.
“I want to know you.”
Seraphina went very still.
“And if we are going to do this, then I want to give you the same opportunity to know me.”
Aurelian lifted his gaze.
“Honestly.”
Something passed through Seraphina’s expression.
It disappeared almost immediately, but Aurelian caught it.
Warmth.
Relief.
Perhaps even something more.
“Then we understand one another,” she said.
“I believe we do.”
They spent the next several minutes reviewing the formal contract.
The wording was far more precise than Aurelian expected. Every arrangement Seraphina had explained was accounted for, with additional provisions addressing circumstances he had never considered.
One section concerned publicity.
Aurelian read it twice.
“The terms of the engagement remain private?”
“Yes.”
“But the engagement itself does not.”
“No.”
He glanced at her.
“So everyone will know?”
“Everyone.”
Aurelian slowly lowered the page.
The court.
Echo.
Varian and Evelyne.
Lady Lockwood.
Marquise Beaumont.
The Primroses.
Countess D’Aubrey.
Adrian.
Every tea salon, drawing room, and bored noble with ears.
Aurelian felt faint.
Seraphina noticed.
“You have gone pale.”
“I am imagining when the news breaks.”
“Do not.”
“That is excellent advice.”
He stared down at the contract.
“They will not know about the one-year agreement? Or that I may withdraw?”
“That remains between us, our families, and the necessary legal representatives.”
Aurelian nodded slowly.
He understood why.
An engagement to the queen’s sister would already become the greatest source of gossip in Evelina.
If society learned that Seraphina had essentially given a country baron one year to decide whether he wished to marry her, the capital might collapse beneath the weight of its own speculation.
Seraphina slid the final page toward him.
Her signature was already there.
Seraphina Vaelmont.
Written in dark ink with elegant, decisive strokes.
Aurelian stared at it.
This was real.
Months ago, he had stepped onto a veranda because he was overwhelmed by a ballroom.
He had spoken to a woman he did not recognize.
He had called her Lady Sera.
Invited her to Bellafonte.
Talked about books with her.
Shared tea. Danced with her.
Written letters to her from home.
And somehow all of those small moments had led here.
To a private parlor in the royal palace.
To Seraphina sitting beside him.
To his name waiting beneath hers.
Aurelian picked up the pen.
He hesitated.
Not because he wanted to refuse.
That realization surprised him most.
He was afraid.
Terribly afraid.
Of the attention. Of whether their lives truly could fit together. Of what loving someone like Seraphina might eventually demand of him.
But none of that made him want to walk away.
Aurelian dipped the pen into the ink.
“One year,” he murmured.
“One year,” Seraphina agreed.
He looked at her once more.
“And we do this properly.”
Her icy eyes softened.
“Properly.”
Aurelian lowered the pen.
Beneath Seraphina’s name, he carefully wrote his own.
Aurelian Bellafonte.
He set the pen aside.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Aurelian simply stared at the two names resting together upon the page.
Then the full weight of what he had just done finally settled over him.
He was engaged.
To Duchess Seraphina Vaelmont.
The Moon of the Empire.
Aurelian slowly looked up at her.
Seraphina was already watching him.
And this time, when she smiled, there was nothing restrained about the warmth in her eyes.
Their engagement had begun.
Chapter discussion