Rene gripped Solae’s hand in mute shock. Intellectually he had always known that is father might remarry. The importance of dynastic succession was drummed into aristocrats as soon as they were old enough to understand the concept. With Rene unable to inherit, and the likelihood he would die in Imperial service in any case it was natural that his father would seek to secure the family position. This might be done through adoption, usually of a promising member of one of the cadet branches rather than a commoner as Solae had promised to do with Damaris, or it might be done by the simple expedient of producing another child. It wasn’t so simple of course, the cost of producing a genetically modified child was enormous and there were lengthy and protracted legal implications for both the genetic donors, a point that made his father rapid remarriage all the more unusual.

The hologram projector whirred to produce a still image of Alric and an attractive younger woman, perhaps a few years older than Solae. She had raven dark hair and sharp features as she stood in an elaborate wedding dress of gossamer worm silk, clasped with a set of stunning fire sapphires.  Alric himself was a taciturn looking man whose lips were pulled into the slight smile which was the most Rene had ever seen from the man. He wore a tailored uniform of an Imperial Captain, with a commodores stud on the right shoulder. The background was of the summer house on Capella, far to the north in the mountainous northern ranges. It was an idyllic place in the summer though Rene had loved it year round. Reaching into the hologram field touched the empty air at the corner of the picture and a box of text appeared below it.

Alric Perseus du Quentain, Baron of the Court, and Knight of the Companions,  marries Gisella Chastain in a private ceremony. An icon appeared offering more information but Rene disregarded it, unwilling to read an article that would be more gossip than fact and doubtless mention how the noble Alric had been deprived of his original heir due to that heirs heinous murder of a handmaiden of the Empress.

“The Chastains?” Rene asked, they were an old family that had fallen out of favor during the convulsions of the last few decades before. The had enjoyed a reputation as loyal servants at the beginning of the previous regime and had been slow to abandon Phillipus Viatrente as he descended into madness and paranoia. Rene seemed to remember that they had gained considerably from the various confiscations and prosecutions of that time. It must have been rather a coup for them to land a union with the du Quentains, though it would by no means cause a scandal.

“Don’t the Chastains have connections to the Falias?” Rene asked furrowing his brow, trying to remember the tangled genealogies of the Imperial court. Like all nobles he was most familiar with his own house and their historical allies and antagonists, even genetic scholars couldn’t keep track of everything without the aid of computers. Fortunately Mia correctly interpreted this as a question for Solae and didn’t interject with whatever data she had on hand.

Rene touched another of the miniaturized holograms and it sprang into a full sized picture of Gisella cradling a newborn child. It was a stock pose that all noble mothers performed, in deliberate imitation of the Madonna of ancient legend rather than expression of actual maternal affection, something which would have been unusual in such highly designed children. Rene bought up the ledgend.

Gisella Chastain du Quentain welcomes first child, Lucrecia du Quentain.

A shiver passed through Rene, he didn’t know how to feel, certainly he had known his father would do something to ensure that the house did not pass to their distant and hated relatives but the intellectual knowledge and the actual fact were two seperate things. Could this be in some way related to the murder of Amelia and his framing for it. If so why? Certainly the marriage was a good one for the Chastains but that seemed rather a small reward for the risk of serious Imperial displeasure. Mercedez Viatrente was a good ruler in Rene’s opinion and that of his fathers, maybe a great one, but she was as hard and ruthless as a tiger shark when it came to the throne and her position upon it.

“I don’t know what it means,” Rene admitted feeling his heart thud in his chest. He wasn’t sure why he felt the way he did. It shouldn’t be dangerous to look at the files, after all, it was archival information, they weren’t actively penetrating any databases and it was hardly as though Solae could be in much more danger. Did he feel he had been replaced? His father had hardly waited to the ink was dry on his enlistment paper before he had begun the process of replacing him. Did this family have something to do with it? Or was he merely placing his anger at the situation onto a wicked stepmother.

“I don’t know,” he repeated blankly, squeezing Solae’s hand in a blind search for comfort.