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[center][sub]Interacting with: [@PrinceAlexus][/sub][/center]

[color=lightgray]Daphne’s hand found Katherine’s, her grip firm but gentle as she guided her toward the bench. Katherine let herself be led, her legs unsteady beneath the weight of too many emotions. With the slightest pressure from Daphne’s touch, she sank down and exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Daphne stayed close, her presence providing that familiar sense of safety despite the darkness that coursed through Katherine’s veins.

Following Daphne’s advice, Katherine resumed her breathing exercises for a moment and tried her best to let the waves of calm wash over her. With every passing moment, she could feel the tight spring of worry and stress in her chest begin to slowly unwind itself as the squire’s warm, soothing words fill her mind.

Grateful to have the topic changed, the priestess smirked at Daphne’s question with a quiet laugh. [color=19CACA]“I’ll take you up on the offer of your lap when we’re both free of our armour,”[/color] she grinned before leaning against the squire’s sturdy shoulder.

Her mind wandered back to Daphne’s original inquiry to her life in the capitol. It was a question she’d have to answer carefully, as no one in Dawnhaven knew the true nature of her presence here. [color=19CACA]“I don’t know you well enough to provide all of the details, but the clergy is the only reason I still draw breath. I’ve been with them for…”[/color] she paused, reaching to the depths of memories she’d long-since archived, [color=19CACA]“Four or five winters now. I remember the day that Seluna took me as one of her chosen like it was yesterday, though. Hard to forget being saved from death’s door.”[/color]

[color=19CACA]“I was raised in the castle, however. My family’s name is not as well-known as some, but my father is a prominent figure in the King’s Eye; Master Alexander Sorrowind.”[/color] She said the name with more than a hint of disdain. She held no respect or love for the man, not anymore.

To those who spoke his name in the King’s court, Master Sorrowind was a man of unwavering honor, a pillar of integrity whose word carried weight among nobles and advisors alike. He was composed, measured—respected. A man whose loyalty to the crown was unquestioned. But beyond the grand halls and watchful eyes of the realm, within the cold walls of his own estate, he was something else entirely.

Behind closed doors, his honor turned to iron-fisted control, his measured words to sharp-edged cruelty. He ruled his home as he did his affairs—with precision, with dominance, with no tolerance for weakness.  And to him, Katherine was never simply a daughter—she was a tool, a blade to be sharpened, a weapon to be wielded in service of the crown. From the time she could walk, he molded her into something useful: trained to listen, to deceive, to slip between shadows and extract secrets from their enemies. He forged her into an instrument of espionage, carving away softness, breaking down innocence, replacing them with cold calculation and the expectation of obedience.

[color=19CACA]“He’d wanted me educated like a lady of the court, to be involved in politics and military strategy like he was,”[/color] she lied, though without falter as the practice had become nearly second nature to the Inquisitor, [color=19CACA]“And I wanted none of it. Truth be told, I don’t know what I wanted.”[/color] This time, the truth.

[color=19CACA]“All that to say, unless you were regularly in the castle corridors, I’m not sure if we would’ve ever crossed paths. Though now, I wish to Seluna we had.”[/color] She shot a cheeky grin to Daphne, her innocent brown eyes briefly showing some mischief.[/color]