The letter crumpled in Roxana's grip as tears streamed down her face. Her breathing came in short, sharp gasps.

"Professor?" Astrid's voice cut through the fog. She'd stood up, genuine concern on her face. "Is everything alright?"

Roxana couldn't speak. She just stood there, crying, the letter shaking in her hands.

Astrid gently touched her arm. "What happened?"

"My... my sister..." Roxana's voice cracked. "Queen Sylvie. She's... she's on a suicide mission. She's throwing her life away for a stupid kingdom. She's going to die and she KNOWS it and she's doing it anyway!"

"Queen Sylvie?" Astrid's eyes widened. "What? Throwing her life away? What's happening?"

"War," Roxana choked out. "Invaders. She can't win. She knows she can't win. But she's fighting anyway. She's—" Her voice broke completely.

Everyone at the table looked sympathetic. Confused, but there was one bastard who wasnt familiar with these kind of words.

"So the gods made a mistake again," Jax said, his voice casual as he slurped his noodles. He wasn't even looking at her, just staring into his bowl like he was talking to himself. "Taking away the wrong sister. I bet the Queen and this professor look alike. Gods and their justice, always taking the good person instead of the evil one. Tale as old as time, really."

The words hit like a slap.

Astrid's hand shot out, reaching for Jax's collar.

Her fingers had barely brushed the fabric when there was a sharp crack.

Jax had moved so fast it was barely visible. The two wooden chopsticks in his hand were now pressing against Astrid's index finger, bending it back at an unnatural angle. Not enough to break it. Just enough to show her exactly how easily he could.

Just enough to show dominance.

Astrid cried out in pain, her face twisting, but the anger didn't leave her eyes. She looked ready to tear him apart with her bare hands.

Seris was already rising from her seat, power crackling around her fingertips, ready to blast him into next week.

"Excuse me!" The courier's voice cut through the tension like a knife. "I'm so sorry to interrupt again, I truly am, but I'm absolutely swamped with deliveries today." He was holding two bags stuffed with letters and packages. "Princess Seris, I have something for you. Unknown sender, could be a fan, could be an enemy, but it's my job to deliver regardless."

He held out another envelope.

Seris snatched it from his hands, still glaring at Jax, and tore it open.

Her eyes moved across the page.

Then she collapsed to her knees.

Tears poured down her face instantly, her hands shaking so badly the letter almost fell.

"Seris?!" Astrid forgot about her throbbing finger and rushed to her side. "What happened? What's wrong?!"

Seris looked up at her, eyes wide with horror, face drained of all color.

Her voice came out as a whisper.

"My father... is dead."

Complete silence fell over the stall.

Every conversation stopped. Every fork froze mid-bite.

Almost everyone looked shocked, sympathetic, horrified.

Again 'almost' had excluded one bastard.

'Adelina is a widow now,' Jax thought, his heart rate picking up. 'And the only obstacle is gone. Dead. Rotting in the ground where he belongs.'

He looked at Seris's tear-stained face. "Wait, he's like... gone gone? As in actually dead?"

Seris didn't answer. She didn't need to. Her expression said everything.

'The path is clear. The path is FUCKING CLEAR.'

Jax stood up from his seat, unable to contain the pure joy flooding through his system. His face lit up like a kid on his birthday.

"In honor of some special occasion," he announced loudly, spreading his arms wide, "for the rest of the hour, all food is on me! Eat, drink, be merry! Give me your blessings for my bright future!"

The stall went dead silent again.

Astrid's face twisted with pure hatred. Even Roxana, still reeling from her own crisis, looked at him with disgusted rage.

"YOU BASTARD!" Astrid charged at him, fist raised.

"Leave him, Astrid." Seris's voice was quiet, broken, but it stopped Astrid in her tracks. "He doesn't have a heart. He'll never understand loss. He only knows how to mock people, even when they're dying... or when they want to die."

Jax barely processed her words. His mind was already racing ahead, planning, calculating.

"So, Seris, when are you leaving for the funeral?" He tried and failed to keep the excitement out of his voice. "Or whatever it is you royals do when someone kicks the bucket? The wake? The ceremonial burning? The week of mourning where everyone pretends they're sad?"

No answer. Just clenched fists.

"Oh, come on!" Jax grinned. "Tell me! I need to prepare. Get some good clothes. Maybe a black suit? Is that appropriate? I'll need to come with you, obviously."

Still nothing from Seris. But Astrid and Roxana's fists were trembling with barely restrained violence.

"Fine, fine." He waved a hand dismissively. "I get it, I'm not being sympathetic here. My bad. But seriously, where's Adelina right now? She must be devastated, poor thing. After all, her husband just died." A laugh escaped his lips before he could stop it, hidden poorly behind his hand. "Sorry, sorry, I just... the irony is funny, you know?"

That's when Seris snapped.

She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes blazing with rage. "She's in PRISON, you heartless monster! In the same castle she used to rule! Her own guards threw her in the JAIL the moment my father died! I don't even know if she'll SURVIVE until I get there!"

Then she broke down completely, sobbing.

What happened next was like watching a storm materialize out of nowhere.

The air itself seemed to crack.

A surge of wind exploded outward from Jax's position, strong enough to make everyone's hair whip backward.

In the next instant, the courier was slammed against the ground, Jax's hand wrapped around his throat. The man's bags were torn apart, letters scattering everywhere like frightened birds.

The wooden tables Nyara had lovingly maintained for years? Shattered. Obliterated. Reduced to splinters as Jax had crossed the distance to the courier in a single burst of speed.

The stone path where his feet had landed? Cracked. Deep shoe-shaped impressions pressed into solid rock like it was wet clay.

The temperature around him seemed to drop.

His face had transformed into something terrifying. Not angry. Not cruel.

Murderous.

If pure rage had a physical form, it would look like Jax in this moment.

His voice came out low, controlled, each word dripping with lethal promise. "Where. Is. Adelina."

The courier's eyes bulged from his skull. He tried to speak, but Jax's grip was too tight. His lips moved uselessly.

"WHERE?!" Jax's voice cracked like thunder.

The man's mouth worked desperately, trying to form words, but only strangled gasps came out.

"I... I d-don't... k-kno—"

The words came out broken, barely human, the pathetic sounds of someone whose throat was being crushed.

"I d-don't... know..."

Jax's eyes burned with something beyond anger. Something that said if anything happened to Adelina, he would tear through gods, devils, and everything in between to bring her back. And then he'd make every single being who caused her pain understand what true suffering meant.

The courier's vision was starting to fade, darkness creeping in at the edges.

"I don't... know... s-sir... please..."

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