Chapter 16 SIXTEEN
The rest of the harvest festival passed in a blur of noise and forced merriment. The music seemed louder, the laughter more shrill, all of it a fragile shield against the confrontation that had just taken place. I kept my hand in Kaelen's, my smile fixed, while inside I was trembling. I had faced Malachi down and won, but the victory felt hollow and terrifying.
As soon as it was socially acceptable, Kaelen leaned close, his breath cool against my ear. "It is time to retire. You have done enough for one night."
I merely nodded, my energy spent. He led me from the great hall, the eyes of the court following us, their expressions now a mix of awe, curiosity, and renewed speculation. The message was clear: the Lord's favor was unshaken.
We walked in silence through the corridors until we reached the door to the Lavender Suite. He paused, his hand on the door handle.
"What you did in there..." he began, his voice low and intense. "That was more than I could have asked for. You were... magnificent."
" I was terrified," I confessed, the words escaping in a rush. "I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff."
"And you did not fall." He turned to face me, his grey eyes searching mine in the dim torchlight of the corridor. "You have no idea what you are capable of, Elara."
Before I could respond, the door to my suite was wrenched open from the inside. Anya stood there, her face pale and streaked with tears.
" He was here!" she sobbed, her body trembling. "Lord Malachi. He came just after you left for the feast."
A cold dread washed over me. I pushed past her into the sitting room. It had been torn apart. Cushions were slashed, their stuffing pulled out. The drawers of the desk were upended, their contents—my notes, the copied ledgers—scattered across the floor. My heart stopped.
"Anya, what happened?" Kaelen's voice was like ice as he stepped inside, closing the door.
"He had guards with him," she wept. "He said he had reason to believe Liana... that Lady Elara... was hiding stolen property. He said he was acting in the interest of the Citadel's security. I tried to stop them, but they pushed me aside. They took it. They took the journal."
The world tilted. The journal. Kaelen's private thoughts, his regrets about the war, his mention of the Emberclaw. It was all in his handwriting. It was irrefutable proof of our connection, of my true identity.
Kaelen's face went utterly blank, a mask of cold fury. "He what?"
" He has it," I whispered, my legs feeling weak. "He has the journal. He knows."
This was Malachi's true move. The dragon fable was just a distraction, a way to gauge my reaction. While everyone was watching me in the hall, his men were here, finding the evidence he needed.
Kaelen turned and slammed his fist against the stone wall, the impact a dull, thunderous sound. "I will kill him for this."
"Killing him won't get the journal back," I said, my mind racing, scrambling for a solution where there was none. "He will have hidden it. Or he will have already shown it to his allies. He has everything he needs to destroy us."
Kaelen paced the ravaged room, a caged predator. "Not everything. He has the journal, but he does not have you. And he does not have the authority to act without my consent." He stopped and looked at me, his eyes blazing. "He will confront me with it. Privately, at first. To gloat. To make demands."
" What demands?"
" My abdication. Your execution. He will present the journal as proof of my unfitness to rule and your monstrous deception."
The word 'execution' hung in the air, cold and final.
" So what do we do?" Anya asked, her voice small and terrified.
Kaelen's gaze was locked on me. "We do not wait for his move. We make our own."
" How?"
" We go to him." The statement was so audacious it stole my breath. "Now. While the festival is still winding down. We walk into his quarters and we take back the initiative."
" You cannot be serious. He will have the journal right there. It will be a confession!"
" Or it will be a bluff," Kaelen countered, a dangerous light in his eyes. "He expects us to panic. To hide. To beg. He does not expect us to stand before him and call his theft what it is. Are you with me?"
He was asking me to walk into the lion's den, to face the man who now held the power to end my life, with nothing but sheer audacity as a shield. I looked at the wreckage of my room, at Anya's tear-streaked face, and I felt the ember of my dragon's anger ignite into a flame.
I straightened my spine, the crimson gown feeling less like a costume and more like armor.
" Let's go," I said.
A flicker of a smile, fierce and proud, touched Kaelen's lips. He offered me his arm. "Stay close to me."
We marched through the corridors, a silent, determined procession. The few courtiers still about scattered from our path, sensing the storm that rolled off of us. We did not stop at Malachi's door. We opened it.
Malachi was in his sitting room, holding the familiar leather-bound journal. He looked up, not surprised, but immensely pleased.
" Cousin! And your lovely... companion. I was just reading the most fascinating account. It seems you have been keeping secrets."
Kaelen didn't even look at the journal. His eyes were fixed on Malachi. "You have violated the sanctity of my guest's chambers and stolen my personal property. Return it. Now."
Malachi laughed, a rich, mocking sound. "Or what? You will tell the court how you mourn the dragons you slaughtered? How you have been harboring their last heir in your very bed?"
I stepped forward, my voice cutting through the tension. "You have no proof of who I am. Only the ramblings of a lord who feels guilty for his past. A story you stole."
Malachi's smile widened. "Is that so? Then you will not mind if I share this story with the entire council tomorrow? Let them decide what it means."
" Do it," Kaelen said, his voice dangerously quiet.
Malachi blinked, his confidence faltering for a split second. "What?"
" I said, do it," Kaelen repeated, taking a step closer. "Read my private thoughts to the council. Tell them I feel regret for a war based on a lie. Tell them I seek a better way. And while you are at it, explain to them the half a million gold crowns you have funneled into a phantom company while our border garrisons went under-supplied."
He pulled the copied ledger figures from inside his tunic and tossed them onto the table in front of Malachi.
" Let us see which story the council finds more treasonous."
The color drained from Malachi's face. He looked from the numbers to the journal in his hand, his perfect composure cracking.
" This is a lie," he hissed.
" Is it?" Kaelen's smile was cold. "We can find out together. Tomorrow. In front of everyone."
The silence in the room was absolute. Malachi was trapped. He had the proof of our secret, but we had the proof of his crime. It was a stalemate.
Slowly, deliberately, Kaelen walked over to him and plucked the journal from his limp fingers.
" This belongs to me," he said softly. "And she," he added, his gaze sweeping to me, "belongs to me. Remember that."
He took my arm and led me from the room, leaving a speechless, furious Malachi behind. We had won the battle, but as we walked away, I knew the cost. The lines were now drawn in blood. There would be no going back.