Chapter 8: EIGHT

Together.

The word hung in the air between us, vast and impossible. It was a bridge across a chasm of ash and blood, and I had no idea if it would hold my weight.

"What would that even look like?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

A faint, weary smile touched his lips. "I do not know. We would have to discover that… together."

Before I could form a response, a sharp knock echoed through the room. The door opened without waiting for an answer, and Master Fenwick stood there, his face even more pinched than usual.

"My Lord, forgive the interruption. But there is a… situation in the lower hall."

Kaelen’s posture shifted instantly, the weary man replaced by the alert ruler. "What kind of situation?"

"It is about the maid, Liana," Fenwick said, his eyes flickering to me with clear disapproval. "It seems a small item of value, a silver hairpin, has gone missing from Lady Valeria’s chambers. Another maid has come forward claiming she saw Liana near there yesterday."

My heart sank. This was Malachi’s doing. It had to be. A petty, clever trap.

Kaelen’s gaze met mine. I saw the question there: Was this part of some scheme of my own? I gave a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of my head. His expression hardened.

"Where is the accuser?" he asked, his voice cold.

"In the lower hall, my Lord. With the Steward of the Household."

"Bring them both to my solar. And fetch Lady Valeria as well." He turned to me. "You will come with me."

He didn’t wait for a reply, striding from the Map Room. I had no choice but to follow, my mind racing. This was a test. Not just of me, but of him. How would he handle this? Would he side with his own kind, or would he trust the word of a known liar who was secretly his greatest enemy?

The solar felt different than yesterday. Today, it was a courtroom. The Steward, a stern vampire named Gorven, stood stiffly beside a crying maid I recognized from the kitchens. A few moments later, Lady Valeria swept in, a willowy, elegant vampire with an expression of profound boredom.

"Kaelen, darling, must we trouble ourselves with this? It’s just a pin."

"It is a matter of truth, Valeria," Kaelen said, taking his seat behind the desk. He looked at the crying maid. "Your name is?"

"Elara, my Lord," she sobbed.

I flinched at the sound of my true name on her lips, even though I knew it was a common enough one.

"Tell me what you saw, Elara."

"I saw her," the maid said, pointing a trembling finger at me. "Yesterday, before supper. She was coming out of Lady Valeria’s corridor. She looked nervous. And then today, the pin was gone."

Kaelen turned his impassive gaze to me. "Liana. What is your account?"

"I was in that wing yesterday," I admitted, my voice steady despite the fear coiling in my stomach. "Master Fenwick had sent me to deliver a repaired book to Lord Malachi’s quarters, which are on the same corridor. I did not enter Lady Valeria’s rooms. I have never even been inside them."

The maid, Elara, wailed louder. "She’s lying! I saw her!"

"This is all very tedious," Lady Valeria sighed, examining her perfect nails. "The girl is clearly guilty. Just have her flogged and be done with it."

My blood ran cold. A flogging would not just be painful; it would reveal my dragon-scale hide, ending everything.

Kaelen steepled his fingers. "Gorven, was a search conducted of Liana’s belongings?"

"It was, my Lord. We found nothing."

"Then we have only one account against another," Kaelen said. He looked at the sobbing maid. "Elara, if you are found to be bearing false witness, the punishment is severe. Are you certain of what you saw?"

The maid’s crying hitched. She glanced, almost imperceptibly, toward the door. I followed her gaze and saw one of Malachi’s personal guards lingering in the hallway outside. Her voice became a whisper. "I… I thought I was certain, my Lord. But… it was dim. Perhaps I was mistaken."

Lady Valeria rolled her eyes. "Useless creature."

Kaelen’s eyes narrowed. "A serious accusation, made lightly, disrupts the order of my house. Gorven, see that this maid is reassigned to the outer stables. She is not to work in the main Citadel again."

The maid was led away, weeping in earnest now. Lady Valeria shrugged and swept out without another word. Gorven bowed and followed, leaving Kaelen and me alone once more.

The silence was thick. He leaned back in his chair.

"He moves quickly," he said quietly.

"Malachi?"

"Of course. He could not know what we discussed, but he knew we were together. This was a warning. A demonstration of how easily he can make your life here untenable. A stolen pin today, a poisoned cup tomorrow."

The reality of my position crashed down on me. I was a pawn on a board between two powerful players, and the game had just turned deadly.

"What do we do now?" I asked, the "we" feeling strange on my tongue.

"Now," he said, standing up, "we change the board. You can no longer be a maid. It leaves you too vulnerable. From this moment, you are my guest."

"Your guest?" I repeated, stunned. "What does that even mean? Where would I stay? What would I do?"

"You will be given chambers in the guest wing. You will take your meals in the great hall. You will be under my personal protection."

"And what reason will you give for this… sudden promotion?" I asked, incredulous. "The court will think exactly what Malachi wants them to think. That I am your…"

"My what?" he challenged, a hint of that earlier intensity returning to his eyes.

I looked away, my face growing warm. "They will think I am your mistress."

"Let them think what they want," he said, a trace of weariness returning to his voice. "It is a better shield than the truth. The truth would get us both killed."

He walked to the door and called for a guard. "Escort Miss Liana to the Lavender Suite in the guest wing. Have her things moved from the servants' quarters. She is my honored guest."

The guard’s eyes widened slightly, but he bowed. "At once, my Lord."

I stood there, rooted to the spot, my world turning upside down once again. I had gone from a hidden avenger to a condemned thief to an "honored guest" in the span of an hour.

As I followed the guard out, Kaelen spoke one last time, his voice low.

"Read the rest of the journal, Elara. Understand what we are up against. The war never ended. It just changed forms."

I walked out of his solar, not as a maid, but as a guest heading for a gilded cage. The path of revenge was gone, replaced by a dangerous, uncharted road, and the only one walking it with me was the man I had sworn to destroy.