The private arena chamber felt smaller somehow as Duchess Helena Terra circled her daughter, her elegant fingers adjusting Aria's hair with precise, almost clinical movements.
"Do you know what I see when I look at you?" Helena asked, her voice soft but cutting. "I see a girl playing at being a woman. All these years of training, of proper etiquette, and you've learned to be a perfect lady. But tell me, darling - what use is a perfect lady when Valerie Draconus is teaching your betrothed what a real woman can be?"
Aria felt her cheeks burn. "Mother!"
"Oh, stop being so scandalised," Helena chided, turning Aria to face the mirror. "Look at yourself. Every button done up to your throat, every fold of fabric precisely arranged to be proper. Do you think that's what captures a man's attention? What holds it?"
"But you and Father always said-"
"We taught you how to be a proper lady in public," Helena interrupted, beginning to unpin Aria's severely styled hair. "But clearly we failed to teach you the difference between public propriety and private allure."
"Valerie understands this - have you seen how she leans close when speaking with him? How her eyes linger? The way she makes him feel like the most fascinating man in the room?" the Duchess continued.
Aria swallowed hard, watching her mother's reflection. "I thought... I thought that kind of behaviour was beneath us."
Helena's laugh was sharp enough to cut. "Beneath us? Tell me, what's beneath us - using our natural gifts to secure power, or watching another woman claim what should be ours while we clutch our pearls and pretend to be above such things?"
She turned Aria away from the mirror, forcing her daughter to meet her gaze.
"Let me be very clear, darling. Your betrothed is no longer the disposable fourth prince we thought him to be. He's shown himself to be powerful, clever, and desirable. And while you've been playing at being a pristine doll, Valerie has been showing him exactly what a woman of passion and intelligence can offer."
"But the things they discuss - research, magical theory..." Aria protested weakly.
"Do you really think that's all they discuss in those private meetings?" Helena's eyes glittered dangerously. "A woman doesn't need to bare her skin to make a man feel her presence. Valerie has mastered the art of intellectual seduction while you..." Helena gestured dismissively at Aria's rigid posture, "you can barely maintain eye contact."
Each word struck deeper than the last. Aria felt tears threatening but fought them back - crying wouldn't help her case. "What should I do?" she whispered.
"First, stop acting like an innocent child," Helena said sharply. "You're seventeen, not seven. Learn to hold a man's gaze without blushing like a maiden in a romance novel. Learn to let your hand linger when passing him a book. For heaven's sake, learn to exist in your own body instead of hiding behind propriety."
"These aren't the lessons you taught me," Aria said, her voice small.
"No, they're the lessons I should have taught you," Helena countered. "I thought we had time, that you could learn these things gradually. But Valerie's presence has forced our hand. She knows how to be both a lady and a woman - and right now, you know how to be neither."
The words cut deep, but Aria couldn't deny their truth. She had seen how Mikhail responded to Valerie's presence, how his eyes followed her movements, how he leaned in when she spoke.
"It's not just about attraction," Helena continued, her voice softening slightly. "It's about power. A woman's power. Something you seem determined to pretend doesn't exist."
She cupped Aria's face in her hands. "You are beautiful, intelligent, and capable of so much more than this pristine facade. But until you learn to embrace all aspects of your feminine nature, you'll keep watching other women claim what belongs to House Terra."
Aria felt her world tilting on its axis. Everything she'd been taught, every lesson in propriety and restraint, was being challenged by her own mother's words.
"I don't know if I can be what you're suggesting," she admitted.
"Then prepare to watch Valerie become the next Imperial Princess," Helena said coldly.
"Because while you're worrying about what you can't do, she's showing Mikhail exactly what she can do." She paused, letting the words sink in. "And from what I hear, she's becoming quite accomplished at holding his attention."
The implication made Aria's stomach clench. "Mother, surely they haven't..."
"Oh, darling," Helena's smile was pitying. "Such naivety might be charming in a child, but in a woman of marriageable age? It's simply embarrassing." She began rearranging Aria's hair into a softer style. "I'm not suggesting you compromise yourself. I'm telling you to stop pretending that virtue and passion are mutually exclusive."
As her mother's words sank in, Aria felt something shift inside her - a realisation that perhaps she had been hiding behind propriety rather than truly inhabiting it.
"The duel will begin soon," Helena said, stepping back to survey her work. "Watch how Valerie carries herself. Watch how she commands attention without seeming to seek it. And then ask yourself - are you ready to be a woman, or will you remain a girl playing at being a lady?"
She moved to the door, then paused. "Oh, and Aria? The next time you have a chance to speak with Mikhail... try actually looking at him instead of your shoes. You might be surprised at what you see when you're brave enough to really look."
Left alone, Aria stared at her reflection, seeing herself through new eyes. Every precise, proper detail suddenly seemed like armour she'd hidden behind. The question was - was she brave enough to lower those defences? And if she did, would she recognise the woman underneath?
The distant roar of the crowd reminded her that time was running out. Valerie would be there, radiating confidence and allure.
Could Aria learn to do the same? Or was she destined to remain exactly what her mother accused her of being - a girl playing at being a woman, watching as another claimed her destiny?