"Do you wish to bring your own vows or proceed with the standard ones?" the priest asked.
"I will bring my own," Roxanne replied.
"You may proceed."
Roxanne turned to face Vangelis fully. The crowd settled into an attentive silence as she drew a breath.
Then something changed.
It was subtle at first, a shift in the weight of the air, a stillness that had no natural cause. Then it deepened, pressing down over the entire square like the moment before a storm commits to arriving. No one in the crowd could name what they were feeling but every person present felt it.
Behind Vangelis, visible only to Roxanne, a shadow formed. Dark and shapeless at first, then gradually taking presence, hovering just beyond his shoulder like something that had been waiting a long time for this exact moment.
Roxanne did not react to it. Her expression remained composed and her voice when it came was steady and clear.
"Repeat after me, my lord."
Vangelis held her gaze and nodded.
"I promise to protect you in all ways," she began. "I will always stand beside you in every decision. I will aid those who protect you and oppose those who stand against you."
Vangelis repeated each line after her, his voice carrying across the silent square, word by word, binding himself to what she had written without knowing the full weight of what he was agreeing to.
The moment his final word left his mouth the shadow moved.
It slipped forward without sound and entered him, dissolving completely beneath his skin as though it had always belonged there. Vangelis blinked once. Nothing more.
Roxanne looked at him calmly.
"This brings us to the close of the ceremony," the priest announced, lifting his voice to the crowd.
The applause returned but Roxanne was already moving. She crossed to where Fiona sat on the elevated platform and lowered herself into a deep and unhurried bow.
Fiona rose.
She lifted the crown, smaller than her own, forged in silver and set with blue gems that matched the gown Roxanne wore, and placed it upon her head with hands that did not tremble.
The two women looked at each other."May your reign last forever and only good fortune should come to you," Fiona said, her voice carrying a measured warmth.
"Thank you, my Queen." Roxanne bowed her head slightly. "It is a great honour to serve as Duchess under your reign."
Fiona held her gaze for a moment longer than necessary. "I would like to see you in my chambers tonight."
Then she turned and walked away, her maids folding in around her like a closing curtain.
Mrs. Valeria stepped forward, filling the space Fiona had left.
"These will be your maids from this day forward." She gestured to each in turn. "Anna. Freda. Nelly. And Lisa." Each girl dipped into a bow as her name was called. "I am so glad to have you back where you belong, my dear. Rest well. You have earned it today."
"You may all leave," Roxanne said. "I will bathe myself."
The maids bowed and filed out without question.
Hours passed.
Roxanne changed into her nightgown and unbraided her hair slowly, letting it fall loose around her shoulders. She moved to the window and stood there, letting the night air find her face, cool and unhurried against her skin.
The city below her was quiet. The palace behind her was still.
"My first plan is already in motion," she said softly to the dark. "And my revenge knows no boundary."
A knock at Fiona's chamber door.
"My Queen, Duchess Roxanne is here to see you," the maid reported from the other side.
Fiona did not look up immediately from where she sat.
"Let her in."
Roxanne stepped inside.
Fiona was already at ease on her bed, her nightgown light and loose around her, the swell of her pregnancy visible beneath the fabric. She looked softer without the crown, younger somehow, and considerably paler than she had appeared at the ceremony. The grandeur of the day had cost her something.
She smiled when she saw Roxanne and rose carefully, moving to the small table set beside the window.
"You came. Sit with me. I had sweets brought up."
Roxanne settled into the chair across from her and the two women sat together in the quiet of the night, the city below them long since dimmed to stillness.
Fiona reached for a sweet and held it thoughtfully before speaking.
"I want you to know that I am genuinely grateful," she began. "I always knew that sooner or later Vangelis would take a Duchess. It was inevitable. And I spent a great deal of time afraid of who that woman might be. Someone who would look at my throne and decide it suited her." She looked at Roxanne directly. "But you are different. And the moment you changed those vows, the moment I heard you speak only of protection and nothing of love, I knew." She exhaled slowly. "My son is safe. My throne is safe."
She paused, turning the sweet between her fingers.
"And yet." Her eyes remained gentle but sharpened at their edges. "I cannot shake the feeling that what you carry into this palace is larger than what you have told anyone. That there is an agenda beneath the surface of all of it."
"You are right," Roxanne said simply. "There is."
Fiona was quiet for a moment. Then she smiled, slow and certain, and bit into her sweet.
"I hope it brings no harm to anyone in this palace." Her voice was light but her eyes were not. "Especially not to me. Because if it does, I promise you, your stay on this earth will be a brief one."
Roxanne held her gaze without flinching.
"You have my word, my Queen. My agenda concerns my own protection. Nothing within these walls will be touched by it."
Fiona studied her for a long moment.
Then she offered her the bowl of sweets.