It was early in the day and already she had received a summons by her Commander. He was the only one who could elicit any real response in her otherwise stony exterior. Just reading his signed name at the bottom of a parchment made her skin start to warm with a growing familiar tingle along her skin. Not that she ever expressed anything outwardly about it. She was every the professional, as always.

As she stepped into that office those feelings were only added onto when she saw the state that he was in. She had gotten really good at reading him during their time together in the navy, not that it was hard to read him now, but she could nearly physically feel the fury that was burning inside of him. She tried not to think about what it would feel like if he released that fire on her.

Instead she pulled her hands behind her back, clasping them together as she stood tall and addressed. "Commander," she said with a decline of her head in his direction. "What can I do for you?" Anything. Name anything.

“Have a seat.” Hadrian’s tone was not terse but certainly did not contain its usual easy charm. His eyes, which had been gazing with unfocused anger at the wall, were now fixed on Vesper, swimming with thoughts. The commander was clearly conflicted, and whatever it was had him stroking his beard and furrowing his brow as he looked at the woman before him.

Unless Vesper spoke again, a long moment of silence would settle between them. Eventually, Hadrian would break it, his voice low as if the walls might be listening.

“There are very few people in this world I trust implicitly—and that number seems to dwindle every day. You, Vesper, are one of them.” He took a deep breath, leaning forward with his fingers laced together on his desk. “A very serious matter has been brought to my attention. You are the right woman to help me handle it—I have no doubt—but pursuing this matter has the potential to put us at risk. I would never do that without your full knowledge and consent. So…” He sighed, “Hear what I have to say. If you wish not to be involved, I will not speak on it any further. But if that is the case, I ask you to keep what I have to tell you to yourself. Can you do that?”

Hadrian was naturally very charming, and who wouldn't like that? But Vesper didn't need charm from him. She was equally, if not more, intrigued by him when he let the charm fall to the wayside in favor of other emotions, ones that were real and raw. His anger did that and she was sure he had no idea how much it made her feel buzzed and alive to be around him when he let those emotions show.

The words of his trust, and not simple trust but impicit trust, filled Vesper with warmth. It wasn't something given easily but had been earned over many years and many trials of that trust. Though it was unspoken in the moment, her gaze expressed both gratitude and a returned feeling of said trust, but she wasn't about to interrupt his train of thought by saying so aloud just now.

Her brows pulled together lightly as he went on. She honestly had no idea what this might be about and the idea that it would "put us at risk" was what caught her attention the most. What kind of risk? And why would he be at equal risk for whatever this matter was? Whatever it was, he was clearly seriously troubled by it.

She didn't speak immediately, she let a moment of thoughtful silence pass between them because she needed him to know that she didn't take this lightly. "Your trust means more to me than words can express, Hadrian, and the sentiment is returned. If there anyone I would trust to open whatever door this is, anyone to walk through the fire with regardless of what happens, it would be you. Please, continue and tell me what it is that troubles you."

Hadrian didn’t need to be reassured, but he felt reassured all the same. He looked across at Vesper with gratitude, with an irreplicable bond built over years of service. He almost said something, but he found no words that could quite capture the feeling that swelled in his chest. Hadrian let the look in his eyes be enough before he nodded and opened that metaphorical door for them to walk through together.

“A little more than a week ago, Regan Lassiter attacked Alys Delaney in what can only be described as an attempted murder. For reasons I have yet to understand, the king knows of Lassiter’s crimes but still allows her to walk free. To stay at his side. Alys wants me to do nothing but after Brekker…” Hadrian grimaced, shaking his head, “I can’t take any chances. I need to know why the king is protecting her, and what can be done to see justice is served.”

While Vesper was typically one to not let her emotions show on her face, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in surprise at this news. Regan had attacked Alys? How was this not bigger news?! The new King's Huntsman and attacked the long standing King's Witch and nothing had been down about it. Not even just attacked but attempted murder!? Vesper's lips had parted slightly as she took in the information with what could only be described as shock. Sure, she knew that Regan was a wild card but she hadn't expected anything this...bold.

She blinked away the surprise after a moment, not understanding why Alys wouldn't want anything to be done. She sat a little taller, lifting her chin slightly in determination. "Tell me what to do and it will be done, Hadrian." She wouldn't hesitate to do anything he asked of her. This matter was too serious and there was too much at risk not to. He was right, this was a very serious situation.

“I need her watched. Carefully, quietly, but I want eyes on her at all times. I have the names of a few trusted soldiers that I can give you that would be entirely at your disposal. I want to know her habits: where she goes, who she sees. Any correspondence she sends, I want it intercepted and read. I want everything. And if she goes anywhere near Alys,” Hadrian grimaced, “I want to be notified. Immediately. And if possible, I want Regan kept from her until we arrive.” The commander was silent for a moment, rumbling with anger. His next words were chosen carefully.

“I want to develop a contingency plan…if there is a need to make Regan Lassiter disappear. The king can never know. I think…” Hadrian spoke slowly, “I need to know more about @katerina. Who she is, whether she’s had any contact with the huntsman. Her power might prove useful.”

Vesper could have tried to guess what Hadrian wanted to do about the Hunstman and having her followed would have been on the list of possibilities, sure. Reaching out to Katerina would not have crossed her mind and it was further proof that he was the right man for the job he now held. She had heard of Katerina and knew of her power but it would have taken her quite a bit longer to include that power in any plan that had to do with the huntsman.

The inquisitor nodded in confirmation when he spoke of tracking Regan. That was an easy yes and with the help of other trusted soldiers she would be sure that nothing slipped through unnoticed. Lucky for them, Katerina had not been one of the soldiers sent to Coheed or Cambria. "Would you like me to find an opportunity to get to know her more or would you rather speak to her yourself, Commander?" she asked, professionalism her top priority in the moment.

“Do not approach her just yet. Ask around, but do it quietly. I want as much information on both of them as possible, but make Lassiter your priority.” Acting too soon to approach Katerina Winters could be disastrous. Hadrian wanted to know who he was working with first—most importantly, where her allegiances were.

He considered Vesper, saying quietly.

“I don’t know what to do about Alys,” Hadrian was more vulnerable than he’d allow himself in front of others, looking more a man adrift than a certain commander, “Logan’s death, this attack…I fear she’s crumbling. The last time we spoke she seemed…” His brow furrowed, trying to find the right word, “Unsteady.” He sighed, shifting in his chair.

“She insists she can handle Lassiter—can protect the king—but I’m less certain. I’ve asked her to stay at my estate for the time being, and she agreed. She needs to heal; not just the physical. It runs deeper than that…” Hadrian was quiet for a time more. “I’d like to find a way to get her to Lorendale or Arynn Frey. Anywhere that’s not here, near the king and the huntsman. I just…have to figure out how.”

Vesper nodded in understanding to his direction and was already making mental notes on what she would do once she left his office. However, it was the shift in his expression and his tone that caught her attention and left all those thoughts flutter to the wayside for the time being.

She knew that he and Logan had been close, it wasn't exactly a secret. It made sense then that he'd be concerned for the former commander's wife but it seemed clear that it was perhaps more than that too. She felt a pang of something unfamiliar in her chest and was a little startled by it, unsure what it was she feeling.

"That could be quite tricky given her position as the King's Witch," she said though she knew he already knew that. "I can try to start looking for a possible way. Doesn't she have personal connections in both places?" she asked and then after a hesitant pause she added. "If you think it might help her to have a visitor, a woman she could speak to..." she wasn't sure she was the right person for the job but for Hadrian she'd do anything he asked, anything to lighten his burden. "I could stop by to see her, maybe bring her some potions that might help."

Hadrian felt ashamed he didn’t think of it himself. A woman in Alys’s position needed allies, and Vesper was one of the few people Hadrian trusted—the king included. He nodded immediately.

“You’re welcome to come and go from my estate as you please. You can return with me when I go in the next few days if you’d like.” Hadrian wouldn’t mind having Vesper around more anyway. She was a comfort to him, whether it was her connection to his old life or something else more personal. Perhaps a little bit of both.

“On the other matter…perhaps there is an agreement to be struck with the prince in Arynn Frey. The alliance between our kingdom and his is soon to take a different form. Perhaps the king will find her presence there useful.” Hadrian would have to find a way to appeal to him. It would need to be done carefully. Alys was his to protect now.

The tingle she felt up her spine was one she knew she shouldn't have had but it was there nonetheless. She nodded at his offer to join him to his estate in a few days. "Of course, that would be agreeable." She'd get to help him with this more personal issue as well as spend time with him outside of this office which seemed to be nearly the only place she'd seen him in the last few months. She pushed any 'what ifs' out of her wandering mind for the time being.

She wasn't sure why the alliance between Nevermere and Arynn Frey had any reason to change but didn't question it. She was not privy to all the information that Hadrian had and knew that if it was important for her to know that he'd tell her. "She's a powerful witch. I'd be hard pressed to find a reason why he wouldn't find that useful," she commented. Appealing the prince was as good of a reason as any.

Hadrian said nothing. His eyes were a million miles away, churning with unsatisfied rage more tempestuous than a winter sea. The prince, then. It would have to be done delicately, but the prince—no, king—seemed an amiable enough fellow. He’d offered Hadrian a key, so surely that was an indication of trust. He’d planned to tell Cassian about that new acquisition, but not now. Hadrian would keep the little trinket to himself—consequences be damned.

It took Hadrian too long to realize he’d been silent for some time. Eventually, his eyes turned to Vesper, uncharacteristic fear in them.

“I’ve never doubted the king before, Vesper. Never. But now…” Hadrian trailed off, brow pinched in a vulnerable plea, “I have to know you’re with me. Because if I don’t have you, I don’t know…” He didn’t even know the end of the sentence, so he let it fall incomplete.

Warmth spread from her fingertips and toes and into the center of her body rather than the other way around as he spoke. He was so serious, so worried, fearful even. But what he asked of her...well, he couldn't have said it a person more suited for the task. Her devotion to the man who had once been her captain and now was her commander was complete and absolute.

It was only now that she stood from her seat on the other side of his desk. She moved around the desk to stand beside him but it felt too odd in the moment to be standing above him. So instead she crouched down, her face below his as she looked at him for a long moment. She moved her hand to his chin, even moving to tug it slightly so that he was looking in her gray eyes. "I'm with you, Hadrian. Always," she assured him.