Chapter 108 Cost

Chapter 108 Cost
Elias

“Your family thinks you’re dead.”
For a moment, the only sound in the cottage was the low bubbling of whatever Asha had left simmering over the hearth.
My hand tightened at my side.
“How long have you been away from the capital?”
Asha’s hand remained on the bolt.
“Eli—”
“How long?”
“Nearly two months.”
My fingers curled against my palm. That was longer than I had hoped.
“Were they alive when you left?”
Her face softened.
“Yes.”
“My father and Serena?”
“Both of them.”
“Where?”
“At the estate.”
I let out the breath I had been holding.
“What happened?”
Asha released the bolt and crossed toward the hearth.
“Sit down first.”
“No.”
She glanced at me.
“Months away and somehow still irritating.”
“Asha.”
Whatever humour she had attempted disappeared.
Behind me, Lyanna shifted near the table. One hand rested beneath her stomach, and the walk from the market had left colour high in her cheeks.
I turned toward her.
“This is Asha. We grew up near each other.”
Asha gave me a look.
“That is a miserable description of twenty years.”
“It is accurate.”
I continued before she could object.
“She’s a healer, and I trust her.”
Lyanna met my eyes.
“You don’t need to pretend here.”
She studied me for a moment before pushing back her hood.
“All right.”
Asha stopped halfway through reaching for another piece of wood.
Her gaze moved from Lyanna to me.
“She speaks and hears.”
“Yes.”
Asha stared at us both.
“This is going to be a long afternoon.”
“Probably.”
Lyanna lowered herself carefully into the chair nearest the hearth.
Asha watched the movement, but whatever questions it raised would have to wait.
“What happened after I left?”
Asha set the wood down.
“Your convoy reached the next checkpoint without you or Lyanna. At first, they listed you as missing.”
“And Korel?”
Her hesitation was slight, but I saw it anyway.
“What happened to him?”
“They questioned him.”
“How badly?”
Asha turned toward her worktable and shifted a bottle that did not need shifting.
“Asha.”
Her hands stopped.
“I wasn’t there.”
“Was he hurt?”
Her eyes moved away. My grip tightened on the back of the nearest chair.
“I heard they were rough with him because he couldn’t tell them where you had gone.”
“He didn’t know.”
“I know.”
“Was he released?”
“Yes, as far as I heard.”
Korel had reached that checkpoint carrying out the orders I had given him and had been punished for an answer I had deliberately made impossible for him to provide.
The chair creaked beneath my hand.
I released it.
“What happened when word reached the capital?”
“At first, people still thought something had happened to you on the road. Then the missing Aelorian omega became part of the story.”
Lyanna sat quietly beside the hearth.
Asha continued.
“Eventually they named you publicly. Deserter. Traitor. They accused you of abandoning your command and helping an enemy captive escape.”
That much barely registered.
“The estate?”
Asha’s mouth tightened.
“They searched it twice before I left.”
“For correspondence?”
“For anything that could prove your family had known what you intended.”
“They found nothing.”
“No.”
Of course they had found nothing. I had sent nothing and told no one.
“My father?”
“Questioned repeatedly.”
I nodded once.
“And Serena?”
Asha reached for a cloth and folded it unnecessarily.
“Asha.”
Her hands stopped.
“They questioned her too.”
“How many times?”
“Several.”
“She knew nothing.”
“I know.”
“Did they take her?”
Asha did not answer quickly enough.
Heat climbed beneath my collar.
“Asha.”
“They detained her.”
My heartbeat stumbled.
“For how long?”
“Less than two days.”
I moved before I realized I had. A chair caught against my thigh and scraped across the floor.
Lyanna shifted sharply beside the hearth.
I caught the chair before it tipped.
“Where did they take her?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did they do to her?”
“I don’t know that either. She came home frightened, and neither she nor your father would speak about where they had held her.”
My fingers dug into the chair.
The last time I had seen Serena, she had stood in the garden at the estate while I tried to convince myself obedience and decency could still coexist.
She had been the one to stop pretending for me.
I had carried her words with me when I left.
Now the Triune had dragged her into the consequences.
“When did they take her?”
“A few weeks after you disappeared. By then, the estate was already under observation. Your father had been questioned several times, and they had searched the house.”
“What else?”
Asha looked at me.
“Your father condemned you before the council.”
The fire popped behind her.
I pulled out the chair and sat because my knees had abruptly stopped feeling reliable.
“What did he say?”
“That House Veras had no knowledge of your actions and that what you had done was yours alone. He condemned your desertion and pledged the family’s continued loyalty to Drakovia.”
I stared at the burn marks in the table.
I had imagined something like that before I ever left.
My father had a household to protect, land the Triune could seize and a daughter still beneath his roof.
It was the sensible choice.
It still hurt.
“When?”
Asha did not answer.
I looked up.
“When did he condemn me?”
“The morning after Serena was released.”
Something cold moved through me.
“What?”
Asha pulled out the chair across from mine.
“He had refused before that.”
I stared at her.
“They wanted a public statement once the rumours spread. He said you were missing and refused to condemn his son based on reports and speculation. They searched the estate again. He still refused.”
My pulse hammered against my throat.
“Then they took Serena.”
Asha’s silence answered.
I pushed the chair back and stood.
The legs struck hard against the floor.
I crossed to the window and braced one hand against the sill.
“And the next morning?”
“He gave them what they wanted.”
My head lowered.
My father had not chosen Drakovia over me.
They had taken his daughter and asked him again.
My breath caught halfway into my lungs.
I forced another one, then another.
Behind me, Asha moved, but I lifted a hand.
She stopped.
“What happened afterward?”
My voice sounded strained even to me.
“Your father lost his council seat. They stripped away most of his influence, and the estate remained under observation.”
“Serena?”
“She was home when I left.”
“Watched?”
“Yes.”
“And Father?”
“Yes.”
“When did you last see them?”
“Just before I came south.”
“Nearly two months ago.”
“Yes.”
My fingers had begun trembling against the sill.
“So you don’t know where they are now.”
“No.”
“Whether Serena is still at the estate.”
“No.”
“Whether my father—”
“No, Eli.”
I stopped.
Asha held my gaze without trying to soften it.
My chest had tightened enough that breathing had become something I had to do deliberately. I counted slowly until the room stopped narrowing around the edges.
Korel had been hurt. Serena had been taken. My father had given them my name to protect her and still lost nearly everything the Triune could strip away without imprisoning him outright.
I had expected consequences.
Expectation had been easier when it meant titles, land and politics instead of people.
“Elias.”
Lyanna had risen from the chair.
I looked at her.
“I need some air.”
Asha stood.
“Eli—”
“I know.”
I opened the door before she could answer.
Cold air struck my face.