At first, the seduction of Sophia Forrester served two simple purposes: to figure her out, and to indulge in long-controlled urges. It was before he had seen her with her hair down, before he connected her with his past and with the crown. It was also before their relationship took a darker turn, with painful memories and battles for dominance. It was years before she told him to get down on his knees, for she was his Empress and she was tired of games. It was years before he finally pushed her aside for wanting more than he could give.

It was a few months after she had first wormed her way onto the Silvana. She was unpracticed and clumsy in her tactics and commands, despite her supposed Academy training. But she was a quick study and kept her eyes open. Too open. He caught her looking at the maps when she had no need to. Heard her talking quietly with his men, who then ran and told him that she was asking "suspicious questions". She spent every moment not working by herself.

He was fairly certain that she was an Imperial spy. He had suspected since Marius had left a message for him with Walker, announcing her coming arrival. It was merely a matter of confirming it.

But there were other ways to do that. Far more effective, less potentially demeaning ways of drawing out secrets. He didn't want this to be an interrogation, not really. He was using it as an excuse. An excuse to get close to a beautiful and fascinating woman who might just be the death of him. Heroic figures never changed.

What he didn't expect was how flustered she first was when he brushed up against her, when he watched her on his bridge. And then how she blushed and then how she began speaking to him and then how it was her who made the first real move. And he didn't expect forgetting that the whole thing was supposed to draw out his secrets.

They were in a time when his anger towards Delphine had cooled. It would be stoked to a fevered pitch by the movement of the Mysterion and of the key in two years, but for now his anger and his grief were under control. It was as close to living again as he had ever gotten. He didn't drink as much. He spoke more. And though he had been at first dedicated to the seduction of Sophia Forrester, it soon grew mutual and soon was less of a seduction and more of a convergence.

"I'll tell you everything," she said one night, as they sat in his quarters drinking coffee that he had made for her. There was a hint of brandy and citrus. She'd only had a sip, and her eyes were clear as she looked at him over her glasses. "If you like, that is."

"You're a horrible spy," he countered, looking at the coffee in his cup instead of at her. Her uniform flattered her almost too well. It had to do with how she covered every inch save for her hands and face. Stockings. No other woman on board did that. No other woman on board had the sort of waist Sophia had, either, which spoke of growing up corseted. Narrow, but curved. And she wore the uniform increasingly well, her shoulders squared when she stood at rest, no cant to her hips, no excessive sexuality. Just... confidence, a surprising amount of it for a woman who was struggling at her job. It made him stare, sometimes.

"I knew that from the beginning," she said with a small laugh and smile. "So do you want to know, captain?"

"Let me guess, first."

That same small smile. She leaned back in her seat, cradling the coffee cup in her hands.

"You work for the Emperor." She shook her head at him, and he frowned. "... Marius, then. Directly for Marius."

"For the both of them, in different capacities. They play against one another from time to time."

This was true. He remembered it, but the memory was too painful and he pushed it aside. Budgeting lies that led to his vanship not being outfitted as well as it could have been when he crossed-

No, it was time for questions, not old answers. "And you are to keep an eye on me."

"That should be obvious."

He hummed in agreement, sipping at his steaming mug. "You do not have the Academy training you promised me that you had."

"Accelerated training, but no. Not the eight years usual. Just two. A late bloomer, I suppose."

There was something else, behind that placid, amused expression. But he couldn't make it out. She was better than he had first thought at hiding things. And suddenly, he realized-

"It doesn't matter that I know, does it." Was he about to be arrested? Replaced?

"It matters to me," she said, simply, then leaned forward, set her cup down. "No, I won't get in trouble with my employers for telling you. And I also don't think you'll send me home, because- well. Ah." And here her confidence broke down just a little. She tapped and fingered one of the spiraling tubes incasing her hair. "Because-"

"Because my last guess of your purpose is that you want me."

She was blushing. But she was young, maybe inexperienced, certainly not a seductress. No, just- confident, up until now. He stood up.

"Right," she said, softly. "And the- opposite holds up?"

"It does," he murmured, coming to stand before her, to draw her up with a touch to her hands.

"Right." And she stood up, into his hands coming to rest on her waist, her hips, his lips finding hers almost tentatively. "But I've never-"

"That's fine."

"But chain of command-"

"We're not in the navy."

"But-"

He stopped, pulled back. "... Do you really want this, Sophia?"

She looked at him, then- smiled. "Yes, sir. More- than anything I've wanted before. Except maybe to go to the Academy."

And so Alex leaned back in, drawing her entirely into his arms, and kissed her slowly. Introduction course. It was relearning for him as he explored her mouth, as he tried out little touches that he remembered women liking. He was answered by excited little gasps, exploring fingers of her own. She was eager, as if she were breaking apart from something. It was the same excitement he had seen in their first skirmish. There was nervousness, a bit of fear, but there was also excitement, rapture at the experience.

His cloak slithered to the ground before he could protest or even think of working the belt of her skirt free. Sophia laughed softly against his mouth. Over the years, her laughs would grow uncommon, but for now they fell like water from her lips. He drank them up. Over the years, he would grow more and more distant, but for now he basked in the light she was offering.

In the aftermath, she turned to look at him with her hair still up and her breasts exposed and her legs linked with his. She looked at him, and she said, softly, "I'm the Emperor's daughter."

And he just shrugged. But years down the line, he would remember those words as she announced that she was leaving the Silvana to go back home. He would remember those words when she told him to kneel and accept her love.

He should have stopped everything right there.