Breakfast felt less like breakfast and more like the last meal before a war where everyone was pretending not to look at the knives.
The private dining room was full, but too quiet.
Aliyah sat close to Sarisa, her little shoulder pressed against her mother's side as if she had decided physical contact was now a legal requirement.
Neris sat beside Lara, eating slowly, watching everyone with wide, careful eyes.
Kaelith, normally incapable of silence for longer than ten seconds, had sensed the mood and was pretending very hard to be mature while still sneaking sugared fruit from the platter whenever Elysia looked away.
Lara had barely touched her plate.
Sarisa noticed.
Of course she noticed.
She reached beneath the table and squeezed Lara's hand. Lara squeezed back at once, a little too tightly, then loosened her grip with a silent apology.
Across the table, Malvoria set down her cup.
The sound was small.
Everyone heard it.
"There are only two hours left," she said, voice calm but edged in steel, "before the queen reaches the destination we gave her. You all know how this is going to go."
The room changed.
Even the children stilled.
Malvoria leaned back in her chair, dressed in black and gold, every inch the Demon Queen now. Not the teasing sister.
This was the ruler who had survived wars and walked into them smiling because fear had better things to do than bother her.
"The queen believes she is coming to negotiate Sarisa's recovery," Malvoria continued.
"She thinks we have information. She thinks she can control the room. She will arrive with guards, advisors, and enough arrogance to perfume the building."
Raveth snorted into her tea. "Accurate."
Veylira sat with perfect poise, hands folded before her.
"The border hall is prepared. Witnesses have arrived or are arriving now. Celestian nobles from three houses. Two human envoys. Demon council representatives. Priests from both realms. All documents have been copied and sealed."
Elysia added, "If the queen tries to destroy the evidence, copies will be released immediately to every witness present and to the major houses."
Lara's expression was unreadable.
That worried Sarisa more than visible rage would have.
Neris looked down at his plate.
Lara noticed, because she had been noticing him all morning with the fierce, awkward attention of someone who wanted to protect without frightening him. She reached over and placed a piece of buttered toast near his hand.
He looked at it, then at her.
"You don't have to eat," Lara said quietly. "But it's there."
Neris nodded once and took it.
Sarisa felt her chest tighten.
Aliyah looked at Malvoria. "Can I come?"
"No," said almost every adult at the table.
Aliyah scowled. "I didn't even finish asking."
"You didn't need to," Lara said.
Kaelith raised a hand. "Can I come?"
"No," Elysia said.
Kaelith lowered her hand. "Rude."
Malvoria pointed at both girls. "You three will stay in the protected children's wing with trusted guards and two of my personal mages."
Aliyah crossed her arms. "What if Mama Sarisa needs me?"
Sarisa softened at once. She brushed Aliyah's cheek with her fingers. "I need you safe."
Aliyah's mouth twisted, unhappy but listening.
"And I need you to stay with Neris and Kaelith," Sarisa added. "Can you do that for me?"
Aliyah looked at Neris, then at Kaelith.
Kaelith nodded solemnly, as if accepting command of a battlefield.
Neris whispered, "I don't want to go there."
Lara's whole body went still.
"No," she said immediately. "You're not going there."
Neris swallowed. "But if they talk about me…"
"They can talk about what was done," Sarisa said gently. "Not about you like you're an object. Never again."
His eyes lifted to hers.
Sarisa held his gaze, steady and soft. "You are not evidence, Neris. You are a child. Their crime does not define you."
For a moment, no one moved.
Then Neris nodded, very small.
Raveth looked away first, jaw tight.
Malvoria's voice, when she spoke again, was quieter. "Good. That is decided. Children stay here."
Kaelith looked deeply offended by the word children but wisely remained silent, which proved miracles still happened.
Veylira turned toward Sarisa. "At the hall, you will wait in the side chamber until the queen is seated and the accusation framework begins. You do not enter immediately."
Sarisa nodded. Her stomach felt cold, but her voice stayed steady. "And when I enter?"
"The room will shift," Elysia said. "The queen will try to rush toward you, most likely to reclaim the emotional narrative."
Raveth smiled without warmth. "She'll play mother first."
Sarisa's fingers curled against the table.
Mother.
That word felt uglier now.
Lara's hand found hers again.
Malvoria looked at Sarisa carefully. "You do not have to let her touch you."
"I won't," Sarisa said.
The answer came so quickly it seemed to surprise even her.
But it was true.
Her mother had touched her life enough.
Veylira continued, "Lara will stand beside you, but not in front of you unless there is danger. The point is not to make you look sheltered. The point is to make you look protected by choice."
Lara's jaw worked. "I can do that."
Raveth lifted a brow. "Can you?"
Lara shot her a look. "I said I can."
"You also threw Vaelen through a wall."
"That was emotional context."
Sarisa exhaled a laugh despite herself.
It helped.
Only a little, but enough.
Malvoria leaned forward. "Vaelen will be there."
The room hardened again.
Lara's magic flickered once under her skin, yellow light moving faintly through her fingers before she forced it down.
Sarisa looked at her. "Lara."
"I know."
"Do you?"
Lara turned to her, eyes burning. "I won't touch him unless he deserves it."
"That is not reassuring."
"It's the best I can promise right now."
Raveth murmured, "Honest, at least."
Elysia gave Lara a measured look. "If Vaelen did not know, we use him. His shock becomes evidence. His denial becomes pressure against the queen."
"And if he knew?" Lara asked.
Malvoria smiled slowly. "Then he destroys himself in public."
Lara breathed through her nose.
Sarisa could feel the storm in her through the bond. Lara wanted to fight.
Wanted something simple enough to break with her hands. But this would not be simple. This would be politics, evidence, timing, restraint.
It would be Sarisa standing before the woman who raised her and naming her crimes.
That was its own kind of battle.
Veylira placed a small crystal on the table. It glowed with faint silver-blue light.
"This will be on your person," she said to Sarisa. "If at any point you wish to leave, press it. You and Lara will be removed instantly."
Sarisa stared at the crystal.
Then she took it.
"Thank you."
Veylira's gaze softened by one delicate degree. "You are not trapped anymore."
The words almost broke something in her.
Sarisa closed her hand around the crystal and nodded.
Breakfast did not really continue after that. People ate because bodies were inconvenient and needed fuel, but the meal had become preparation. Plates emptied slowly.
Tea went cold. Malvoria reviewed timing once more.
Elysia checked witness order. Raveth made one last comment about wishing she could hang the queen upside down from the border hall ceiling, and Veylira said only if diplomacy failed, which made Kaelith whisper, "Diplomacy sounds fun."
"No," Elysia said immediately.
At last, Malvoria stood.
"So," she said, looking around the room. "Two hours. We dress, gather the evidence, and move."
Aliyah climbed into Sarisa's lap without asking.
Sarisa held her tightly.
Lara rested one hand on Neris's shoulder, careful and light.
For one final moment, the room was only family.
Strange, furious, wounded, impossible family.
Then Malvoria smiled, sharp as a drawn blade.
"Let's go ruin a queen."