Chapter 164: A suspicious person

Seraphine POV

The silence in Lady Verya’s sitting room felt thick enough to choke on. No one talked. No one even shifted. I stared at the document on the table... at the one name Agora had pointed out. Didn’t mean a thing to me. But I could see it meant a great deal to him. Something big. Something risky.

He didn’t have to say it out loud... his face told me everything. I knew Agora when he was angry, protective, jealous, furious, scared even. But this wasn’t any of those. This was the look he got when the puzzle pieces all clicked, and suddenly the whole mess was a lot uglier than it had been before. That look always scared me more than I’d like to admit.

My throat felt dry. “Agora?”

He didn’t look up from the paper.

“Who is it?”

Now Lady Verya studied him too, looking for his reaction, weighing things quietly, just like she always did.

After an agonizing moment, Agora leaned back, his jaw clenched tight. He finally said, “Lord Cassian Merrow.”

The name didn’t ring a bell. But the way Verya’s face darkened sent a chill crawling up my back.

My gut twisted. “You know him.” I wasn’t really asking.

Agora gave half a nod. “Unfortunately.”

You could’ve heard a pin drop.

I looked from one to the other. “Can someone tell me what’s going on?”

Verya and Agora exchanged looks. Some kind of silent conversation that, frankly, I was sick of.

I crossed my arms, sharper than I meant to. “No.”

Now both of them actually looked at me. I jabbed at the paper. “You’re not doing that.”

Agora blinked, honestly mystified. “Doing what?”

“That thing you do.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“The secret looks!” I scowled harder. “Every single time there’s bad news, you two start giving each other these looks and then say something cryptic. It’s driving me mad.”

Agora sighed. Verya tried not to smile. Neither argued.

Exactly what I thought.

“Explain,” I demanded, sounding more forceful than I intended.

Agora gave in. “Lord Cassian’s a trader.”

That caught me off guard. “Like… a merchant?”

“Much more than that.” Verya laced her fingers together. “He controls half the trade routes in this region.”

Agora nodded. “Some of them cross into Crimson territory.”

“And some go straight into Wildfire,” Verya added.

The words hung between us. My skin went cold. Trade routes meant goods. Money. Messages. People. Every single thing you’d rather keep private.

“How connected is he?” I asked quietly.

Agora’s mouth drew into a hard line. “Very.”

Didn’t like that at all.

Verya pulled out another stack of documents. “Not the first time we’ve seen his name.”

She slid them over. Agora started flipping through them like he was searching for something he had missed. I was just trying to make sense of it all. Then I saw the same phrases pop up on every page: repeated payments, repeated meetings, repeated visits. All revolving around Wildfire. All leading back to the same old noble families.

A cold weight pressed behind my ribs.

“How long?”

Lady Verya answered so softly I almost missed it. “Years.”

That hit me. Not months. Not weeks. Years. This whole plot was ancient... not something temporary, not something accidental. It existed long before me. Before Selene died. We were only stumbling onto one tiny thread in a very old tapestry.

Agora rubbed his forehead... his way of telling us he was stressed and worried, both at once.

“This changes things.”

I hated hearing that. Nothing good ever followed those words.

“How?” I forced out.

He met my eyes. I wished he hadn’t. There wasn’t a trace of comfort on his face. Just pure worry.

“This means the conspiracy is bigger than we thought.”

It hit like a physical blow.

Verya nodded. “Exactly.”

My pulse started racing.

“No.” The word just slipped out. They didn’t bother to correct me, and somehow that was worse than arguing.

I shoved my chair back, hard enough to hurt. I stood up, but my knees felt unsteady.

“No,” I said again, but my voice sounded brittle now. The truth sat heavily in my chest.

“If he operates in Crimson…” I couldn’t finish. Didn’t need to.

Agora did it for me. “Information moves between the territories.”

The room suddenly felt colder, like all the heat had been sucked out. Wildfire didn’t feel far away... it felt like it was right outside the door.

Verya’s voice gentled. “Seraphine.”

I couldn’t meet her eyes. She sighed, resigned. “He may know.”

I blinked. “He may know what?” But really, I already understood.

Verya’s gaze held nothing but sympathy. “That you survived.”

The floor felt like it tilted. My pulse thundered in my chest. I’d always believed distance meant safety. That leaving Wildfire was enough. That if I just crossed the border, I could disappear.

Maybe I’d been lying to myself this whole time. Maybe they’d always known.

I sat back down... slower this time. I tried to breathe, to stay steady. Failing, honestly.

Agora noticed, like always. He scooted his chair just close enough to let his hand find mine under the table. Warm. Solid. Calming, even if I hated admitting how much I needed it.

Verya pretended not to see. Thank the stars for that.

She spoke up. “Let’s assume the worst.”

Didn’t think I’d like where this was heading, but here we were.

Agora nodded grimly.

Verya’s eyes drifted to the documents. “If Lord Cassian’s still active, then word about Wildfire’s heir returning has probably already spread.”

I swallowed. The word ‘heir’ sat wrong in my chest... like something too heavy to carry.

She kept going. “Especially after the rebellion.”

My stomach knotted. She was right. Everybody and their cousin had heard some version of the rumors. The people with real power definitely knew more than they let on.

Powerful people scared me now, more than anything. I had thought Kael was the enemy. Turns out, he’s just one part of it... a big part, sure, but not the whole story. That realization hit hard. It terrified me.

“How many people know?” My voice sounded small.

Lady Verya let out a sigh. “We don’t know.”

That didn’t help. Not even close.

Agora squeezed my hand. One quick squeeze, as if to remind me... breathe. So I did. In, out. Again. Again. I held myself together, but just barely.

We talked for another hour... names, records, trade routes, politics. Way too much information, really. My head started to ache, a slow throb behind my eyes. Too many secrets, too much fear.

Verya noticed. “That’s enough for today.”

I didn’t argue. Agora kept quiet too. We packed everything away... documents, letters, all hidden again. But the truth was already loose in my mind. I couldn’t unlearn any of it. Couldn’t forget there were threats bigger than Wildfire. Couldn’t shake the thought that someone could already be watching. Planning.

That idea followed me out of the room, down the corridors, past servants and guards, all the way to my chambers. The palace didn’t feel safe anymore. Not like before. Now, every unfamiliar face makes me wary... servants, guards, nobles. Suspicion took root in my mind, and I hated how it felt.

By the time we got to the eastern courtyard, dusk had settled... soft light spilling across the gardens. It looked peaceful. Beautiful. Normal. But not to me. Not anymore. I knew better.

Agora was talking, but I could barely focus. My eyes drifted over the palace grounds, catching movement near the outer wall... a figure in dark clothes, half-hidden by trees, watching us. For a moment, I thought I had imagined it. Then the figure moved. My breath caught. Too quick, too purposeful. Gone in an instant, swallowed by the hedges.

“Agora.” My voice cracked with urgency.

He spun toward me, alert in a second. “What?”

I pointed, tense. “There.”

He followed my gaze, bristling... all Alpha, all protector. The guards around us straightened, scanning the gardens, but the figure was gone. Nothing left but empty paths and prickling silence.

A guard hurried over, breathing hard, worry clear on his face. He bowed to Agora. “Alpha.”

Agora didn’t look away from the wall. “What is it?”

The guard hesitated, just for a moment. “We saw someone suspicious near the grounds.”

Cold dread crept into me... it was exactly where I’d seen him, standing there, watching. And worst of all, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he hadn’t been watching the palace at all. He’d been watching me.