Chapter 187 CHAPTER 187
The room they had placed Vaughn in was small and windowless, but it was not meant to humiliate him. A single narrow bed rested against the wall, its frame simple but clean. A small wooden table stood beside it with a pitcher of water and a cup. The stone walls were bare, and a dim light from a fixture in the ceiling washed the room in a pale glow that never quite reached the corners.
Inside the room, Vaughn sat on the edge of the bed.
Two guards stood outside the door, posted on either side of it with disciplined stillness.
His anger had not faded since the moment Ethan ordered him brought to the palace. Even now, hours later, his jaw remained tight as he replayed the events in his mind. The king had thought himself clever, presenting evidence as though Vaughn had been careless.
But this was not over.
Morning would come, and the council would convene.
And the council was not composed of frightened guards or impressionable servants. They were elders. Men and women who understood power, politics, and loyalty far better than Ethan imagined.
Vaughn leaned back slightly against the wall, folding his arms.
He would survive this.
He had survived worse.
Outside the door, footsteps echoed faintly along the corridor.
The two guards exchanged a glance as another pair approached. The newcomers wore the same royal uniforms, their expressions neutral.
“We’ve been sent to relieve you,” one of them said.
The first guard frowned slightly. “Our shift wasn’t scheduled to change yet.”
“Orders from above,” the new guard replied calmly. “You’ve been reassigned to the west wing for the remainder of the night.”
The first guard hesitated only a moment before nodding.
Orders were orders.
Within seconds, the two original guards stepped away from the door and disappeared down the corridor, leaving the post to their replacements.
One of the new guards remained outside.
The other opened the cell door and stepped inside.
Vaughn looked up, irritation immediately returning to his face.
“What now?” he asked sharply. “Has the king decided to question me again in the middle of the night?”
The guard closed the door quietly behind him.
“No,” he said.
His voice was calm, almost casual.
“I have a message.”
Vaughn’s expression shifted.
“A message?” he repeated.
The guard stepped closer.
“From Darius.”
The name alone changed everything.
A slow smile spread across Vaughn’s face as he leaned back against the wall, satisfaction replacing his earlier anger.
“I knew it,” he said quietly. “I knew he wouldn’t leave me in here.”
He shook his head with a short laugh.
“Darius owes me,” Vaughn continued. “When his father exiled him, I was the one who convinced the council not to hunt him down like a criminal. If not for me, he would have been executed before he ever reached the borders.”
He looked up at the guard with renewed confidence.
“So,” Vaughn said, “how does he plan to return the favor?”
The guard did not answer immediately.
He stepped closer instead.
“So you know the situation,” Vaughn continued, lowering his voice slightly. “Ethan has evidence that I met with Darius. The council will hear the charges tomorrow. If I remain here, things become… complicated.”
He leaned forward slightly.
“Is Darius planning to get me out of Mooncrest?”
The guard finally spoke.
“He told me to tell you something.”
Vaughn’s smile widened.
“Well?” he said. “What is it?”
The guard bent closer.
So close that his lips were near Vaughn’s ear.
And he whispered.
The words were too soft to be heard by anyone beyond them.
But the effect was immediate.
The confidence drained from Vaughn’s face as though someone had pulled it away by force. His smile vanished. His body went rigid, his eyes widening slightly as the meaning of the message settled in.
Shock replaced arrogance.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
The guard straightened slowly.
Vaughn stared at the floor now, his mind racing through possibilities he had never considered.
The guard turned and walked toward the door without another word.
The door closed behind him with a soft click.
The dim light continued to hum quietly above Vaughn’s head.
The next morning, the council chamber filled with quiet tension as the elders took their seats around the long stone table. The tall windows allowed pale sunlight to spill into the room, illuminating the carved symbols along the walls.
Ethan stood near the head of the chamber rather than sitting on the throne.
His posture was calm, but his focus remained fixed on the door.
Lora sat nearby, her expression thoughtful. Rufus leaned back in his chair with his arms folded, while Kellan and Thorne spoke quietly among themselves.
No one spoke Vaughn’s name.
Yet every person in that room was thinking about him.
They all knew the man Vaughn had always been within the council. He was outspoken to the point of irritation, often careless with his words and stubborn when defending his views. More than once he had clashed with Ethan during meetings, challenging decisions openly and refusing to soften his opinions even when the rest of the council had already moved on.
But Vaughn had never been a traitor.
For all his sharp tongue and difficult nature, he had always been fiercely loyal to Mooncrest. Many of them had seen it themselves over the years. He argued because he believed the kingdom could be stronger. He pushed back because he thought some decisions were made too quickly or without enough caution. His methods were sometimes harsh, sometimes frustrating, but beneath all of it had always been a fierce belief in the safety and future of the kingdom.
That was why the accusation had struck them like a blow when Ethan first presented it.
At first, none of them had believed it.
It had taken more than words to convince them.
Ethan had shown them the images captured by the city’s surveillance cameras - grainy at first, then clearer, showing Vaughn entering the alley in disguise. After that had come the footage from the hidden cameras mounted in the backroom of the bar. The room had fallen completely silent as the recording played. In the flickering light of the screen they had watched Vaughn sitting across from Darius Ashvale, the exiled prince whose name had been forbidden in Mooncrest for years.
Then the audio had followed.
There had been no mistaking Vaughn’s voice.
They had listened to every word of the conversation, the discussion of Ethan’s weakness, the talk of timing, and finally the quiet, chilling suggestion that the king might not survive what was coming.
Even now, sitting together in the chamber, the memory of that recording still weighed heavily on them.
Because despite the evidence they had seen and heard with their own eyes, it was still difficult to accept that the man they had worked beside for so long had truly been capable of such betrayal.
Footsteps approached in the corridor.
The chamber doors opened.
Two guards stepped inside.
They looked unsettled.
Ethan immediately noticed.
“Where is Elder Vaughn?” he asked.
The two guards exchanged a glance before one of them stepped forward.
“Your Majesty…” he began slowly.
Something in his voice caused the room to still.
“What happened?” Ethan asked.
The guard swallowed once before speaking.
“We found him in his chamber this morning,” he said. “He… hung himself during the night.”
The words echoed in the room like a dropped stone.
“What?” Rufus exclaimed, rising halfway from his seat. He shook his head sharply. “Vaughn would never kill himself. He’s far too self-centered for that.”
Ethan felt an uneasy thought begin to form in his mind. Rufus was not wrong. Vaughn had always been a survivor - clever, calculating, the kind of man who could twist any situation until it worked in his favor. He had seen Vaughn argue his way out of accusations during council meetings more times than he could count. Even if the council had judged him harshly that morning, Vaughn would have fought it with every word he possessed. Men like him did not surrender to despair. They maneuvered, negotiated, and waited for an opportunity to escape.
People took their own lives when they believed there was no hope left.
Vaughn was not the kind of man who ran out of hope.
A quiet chill moved through Ethan’s chest as the thought settled more firmly in his mind. If Vaughn had not taken his own life, then something far worse had happened during the night. And if something had happened inside the palace, within a guarded cell meant to hold an elder under royal watch, then it meant one thing.
Someone inside Mooncrest had helped it happen.
The realization made the chamber suddenly feel colder. Even the palace - the place meant to be the safest in the kingdom - might no longer be beyond the reach of Darius.
Ethan lifted his gaze slowly to the guards standing before him.
“I want a report of everything,” he said, his voice calm but firm. “Everything that happened last night. I want a full report, and I do not want a single detail left out.”