Orindor

The royal chambers of Aetherion were quiet until the doors opened and Crown Prince Irvin entered with an unexpected guest.

"Father, I’ve brought you a trespasser."

King Orindor Lamont looked up from the reports on his desk, his expression betraying mild displeasure.

"A trespasser? How fortunate. I was beginning to suspect the royal forest had become so well protected that my guards had forgotten their purpose."

Irvin explained that he had discovered an unfamiliar woman wandering through the enchanted Forest of Verein, within a restricted area. After watching her struggle against the forest’s magical defenses, he had intervened and decided to bring her before the king rather than release her without answers.

Orindor listened in silence.

"You encountered an intruder and decided this required my personal attention?" he asked dryly. "I trust this isn’t another attempt to demonstrate that the kingdom would collapse without your tireless intervention."

Setting his papers aside, the king turned his attention to the stranger.

His icy blue gaze studied her with the measured scrutiny of a ruler accustomed to judging people and situations. She had trespassed into a protected forest and somehow ended up in the royal palace. Neither circumstance inspired immediate confidence.

"Well," he said, his voice calm and authoritative, "you have managed to enter one of the most heavily guarded forests in my kingdom and find yourself before its king in the same day."

He folded his hands behind his back.

"Perhaps you would care to explain what brought you into my forest before my son decides to award himself a medal for capturing you?"