Sebastian

~"A Measure of False Wine"~ ||| ~"When Banners Whispered"~ || ~"Silks and Scapegoats"~ || In an age when banners spoke louder than words and dynasties were weighed by coin and steel, the Duchal House of Blackwood reigned supreme. Its name was both blessing and threat; reputation there was tended as a jeweller tends a platinum thread. At its head stood Duke Sebastian Blackwood—twenty-seven, carved as if from marble, handsome beyond princes, and a man whose honour was kept like an heirloom. Opposite him rose House Ellor; its twenty-year-old daughter, Lady Elena, moved with flame-red hair, hazel eyes, and a mind schooled in politics, sword and hunt. Society whispered she might become empress or Duchess of Blackwood. She had long adored Sebastian in silence. At a lavish debutante ball, a poisoned cup intended for the crown prince was mislaid; Elena and Sebastian, seated together by fortune and treachery, were drugged and spent a night they had not chosen. Morning turned private ruin into public scandal. Rumour devoured restraint. To settle the noise and safeguard advantage, they were forced into a grand marriage. At Blackwood Manor, splendour masked a colder truth: Sebastian spoke not, and blamed Elena in private; her protests met only silence. Tied by duty and disgrace, they shared roof and ritual but remained strangers. Thus began a gilded union, its delicate thread of honour knotted and frayed by a single, poisoned cup.