Location: Ballroom
Mention: @Remram Askel @Tae Ranya
Hafiz had found Duchess Victoria beside one of the ballroom’s marble pillars, observing the dancers with languid disdain.
“Duchess Victoria.”
She turned, her gaze passing over him with frank approval.
“Grand Vizier...” A curt laugh escaped her lips as she fanned herself more briskly. “At last, someone dressed as though they possess taste.”
“Given the conduct of certain guests, I fear taste is a rare commodity this evening.”
Her fan slowed beneath her chin, and her eyes brightened with interest. “Oh? Do you mean Duke Vikena nearly punching the King after offering his own daughter for the night?" Victoria questioned with a cruel laugh.
"Not that, though I drew no surprise from such a notion."
That made her grin. “Has someone else... embarrassed themselves?”
Hafiz’s attention drifted toward Prince Askel, though only long enough for a perspicacious woman to follow it.
And that perspicacious woman did so immediately.
“Several people have taken it upon themselves to warn me about that prince.”
“Really? I had never heard much about Prince Askel.”
“They claim he has acquired an unfortunate reputation in recent years.”
“For what?”
Hafiz hesitated purposefully for a long moment before answering.“For becoming a rake.”
Victoria’s brows lifted. She watched him dance with the Alidasht princess for a long moment.
“Well... he certainly has the shoulders for it.”
Hafiz did not smile at her quip. “Ordinarily, his indiscretions would be of no consequence to me... Unfortunately, I have reason to believe he has directed his attention toward my niece.”
Victoria’s gaze remained upon Ranya. Even beneath her veil, the princess’s fascination was obvious; her face had inclined toward Askel as naturally as a flower following sunlight.
“Oh, she certainly fancies the boy.” She observed and then let her eyes slide to watch the tension in Hafiz's expression with some amusement as he continued.
“Ranya possesses a generous nature. She has also lived a sheltered life. Such women may mistake seduction for tenderness and flattery for emancipation.”
“So she's not very bright.” Victoria concluded without much care.
Hafiz held her gaze with some irritation. “...I am told she has already begun disregarding counsel in his favor. Seeking him out, finding reasons to escape her attendants, and defending him with a fervor rather disproportionate to the length of their acquaintance.”
Victoria’s pupils dilated, and with a swing of her wrists, she snapped her fan shut. “Has she—?” She glanced toward the dancing pair with scrutiny. “They have known one another for what—several days?”
“Scarcely that... But perhaps the accounts are exaggerated. Yet several people have independently described the prince as a man who delights in conquering women.” He lowered his voice. “My concern is that her infatuation may have progressed beyond lovesick glances.”
Victoria turned her head slowly. “And to...?”
Hafiz allowed silence to answer, and the music continued around them. Victoria watched Ranya smile at the prince, and the amusement in her expression subsequently gave way to genuine surprise. “You believe she has given herself to him.”
“I believe a young woman intoxicated by her first taste of rebellion may act foolishly... I would prefer if the possibility were too absurd to entertain.”
“Naturally.”
“Were I to caution her directly, she would dismiss it as an attempt to control her... Sometimes a young woman must hear what others have begun to perceive before she recognizes how publicly she has surrendered her good sense.”
Victoria’s smile emerged slowly. “You want her to overhear that the court believes she has lost her mind over him.”
Hafiz said nothing.
“And perhaps considerably more than her mind.”
Still, he offered no correction.
Victoria reopened her fan, and it resumed its languid motion. “You came to me because I am notoriously indiscreet.”
“I came because you are influential enough that others respect your conclusions.”
His gaze darkened. “She is to appear besotted, reckless, and humiliatingly eager to surrender whatever he requested of her.”
Victoria understood at once and regarded him with open suspicion. “What's in it for me?"
At last, Hafiz smiled, though there was nothing pleasant in it.
“Name your desire when the time comes. Influence, information, the removal of an inconvenience…” His expression twisted into something so openly wicked that it was truly the kind of malice that only the Grand Hafiz could conjure. “You may find there is very little I cannot place within your grasp.”
She held his gaze and said finally, “By morning, they will wonder whether the veil is the only thing she allowed him to remove.”
Victoria crossed the ballroom and immediately entered a nearby gathering of noblewomen. “Have any of you noticed how strangely Princess Ranya has been behaving around Prince Askel?”
Behind her, Hafiz watched his niece with the prince. Soon, every glance she gave him would be interpreted as a confession of her dark deed.
Hafiz remained only long enough to watch Victoria’s words find their willing audience. Then he subsequently withdrew from the ballroom. The swell of strings grew quieter behind him as the doors closed.
Three members of his staff awaited him farther down the corridor.
The eldest, Rashid, bowed first. The other two followed without speaking.
“Duchess Victoria has been made aware of Prince Askel’s purported reputation.”
Rashid’s gaze remained lowered.
“And Her Highness?”
“Will become the more compelling half of the story.”
He folded the glove neatly across his palm.
“By the conclusion of the evening, there should be no corner of this palace in which her infatuation has gone unnoticed. She has lost her discernment. She seeks him out. She evades her attendants. She has known the man scarcely several days and already behaves as though the obligations of Suna’s Chosen are trifling beside his attention.”
One of the younger attendants shifted almost imperceptibly, and Hafiz noticed.
“The charitable may say she has merely become enamored. The less charitable will wonder whether she has already granted him liberties no respectable woman would surrender before marriage.”
Rashid inclined his head.
“We will place the appropriate conversations among the servants.”
“Not merely servants.”
Hafiz’s eyes moved over them.
“A lady’s maid should remember seeing the princess return flushed and disordered. Another servant may recall that she disappeared shortly before the prince. Someone attached to the Varian delegation might remember hearing him speak with vulgar amusement about how little persuasion was required.”
“Even if they presently recall no such thing?”
Hafiz looked toward the man who had spoken.
His expression remained tranquil. “Memory is an imperfect faculty. People occasionally require assistance distinguishing what they witnessed from what they failed to comprehend at the time.”
Rashid's expression changed as he understood what was being implied.
“Begin with coin and vanity. Most people may be persuaded through one or the other. Use obligation where coin would prove indelicate. Use fear where obligation is insufficient.”
“And where fear proves insufficient?”
“... By midnight, they must believe Princess Ranya has become so thoroughly consumed by Prince Askel that she has discarded decorum and perhaps her virtue with it.”
The attendants remained silent.
“Use whatever means are necessary.”
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