Chapter 11

“Still asking the wrong questions, Elena.”

The voice came from the narrow seam behind my cot, quiet and familiar, carrying the scent of smoke and burnt honey.

The smoke-scented man.

I turned so quickly that the chain between my wrist cuffs struck the stone.

“You.”

“You know very little about the Citadel,” he said.

“You killed the servant in the war room. You silenced him before he could identify the man on the bridge.”

“He was about to say something he did not understand.”

“You know about the stolen ledger page.”

“I know what someone was willing to kill to keep off it. The King is dead. A servant connected to the ledger is dead. A human-made dagger passed through a vault requiring royal clearance. And now you have found a word in the King’s records that frightens you more than your execution.”

My stomach tightened.

“Solis.”

The word escaped before I could stop it.

“You know more than you admit,” he murmured.

“What does Solis mean?”

“Ask the prince.”

“Lucian doesn’t know.”

“Are you certain?”

I remembered my mother’s handwriting on the parchment in the King’s study, beside a royal seal and a crossed-out crest of overlapping crescents around a divided sun. Lucian had looked unsettled, too.

“Who sent the hooded woman? Did you arrange my abduction?”

He gave no answer.

“Coward.”

“Be careful what you ask the walls, Elena. Some have been listening longer than you have been alive.”

I struck the door with my cuffed hands.

“Guard!”

The viewing panel opened. A guard glared at me.

“Someone has been entering this cell through the wall.”

“Trying to escape again?”

“If I were, would I be shouting for you?”

He returned with a torch and iron bar. Tapping the stonework, he found a hollow section and levered it inward. A narrow passage descended into darkness, breathing out damp air and smoke.

The guard drew his sword. “Fetch the commander. Now.”

Someone had been entering my cell whenever he pleased. A black smear marked the floor, and the smoke smell grew stronger near the opening.

Cassian arrived with two armed soldiers. His tired eyes sharpened.

“How did you find it?”

“The man who abducted me spoke from behind it. He mentioned the ledger page, the murdered servant, and Solis.”

“Did he name the King’s killer or the servant’s murderer?”

“No. He’s very good at telling me nothing.”

Cassian secured the opening, posted guards at both ends, and ordered the passage inspected.

“He knew about the ledger page and the servant. This is more than a security breach.”

“Someone moves through the Citadel unseen, a witness is dead, and evidence has vanished.” Cassian studied me. “Why does he keep coming to you?”

Neither did I.

Less than an hour later, Lucian arrived with Cassian behind him. His shoulder had healed considerably. His golden eyes fixed on the iron plate.

“What did you do?” he demanded.

“I discovered your prison has a door in the wall.”

“A passage,” Cassian corrected.

“The man who abducted me spoke through it. Same voice. Same smell.”

Lucian’s expression hardened. I repeated the conversation, including the mention of Solis.

“Why would he mention that?” he asked.

“Perhaps you should ask why someone wants me to find out.”

“An answer would be more useful.”

“So would an investigation that doesn’t begin and end with my humanity.”

The passage might connect to old service tunnels or the King’s private quarters. Lucian ordered it mapped, the guards questioned separately, and the archive secured. “The ledger page remains a priority. Identify every missing record. We need to know what else they wanted hidden.”

He turned to me. “I want your translation notes.”

“They’re in the study.”

“Complete?”

“As complete as I was permitted to make them.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you’ll get until you stop threatening the person answering you.”

He ordered Cassian to bring every page to his chambers.

Cassian hesitated. “Elder Vane is asking for her transfer into Council custody.”

“On what grounds?” Lucian asked.

“Her connection to the King’s records, the crest, and Solis. Vane says the Council should decide whether she remains a security risk.”

“If I go into their custody, I lose what little access I have to the investigation,” I said.

Lucian’s expression hardened. “You think I’d let them take you without considering the consequences?”

“I think you have more important things to worry about than my safety.”

“You’re a prisoner accused of my father’s murder.”

“And you still need my knowledge.” He looked away, jaw tight.

Cassian warned me Vane was seeking sealed histories from the old capital and the Archive Keepers. If he found a connection between Solis and the King’s records first, he would use it.

By nightfall, guards watched my door and the passage while men searched the hidden route.

A guard opened the viewing panel. “You’re to be questioned in the administrative chamber. Elder Vane’s order.”

“Am I being transferred?”

“You’ll be told when you get there.”

I refused to move. If I went before Vane, he would control every question and answer. If I resisted, they would call it proof of guilt. I had one protection left.

Five years studying Lycan treaties had taught me some laws were weapons, others dangerous even to the powerful. The Blood Accord offered an accused captive three trials to challenge a judgment. It promised no freedom, and the trials were merciless, but invoking it could stop Vane taking control of my case.

“I invoke the Blood Accord.”

Both guards froze, afraid not of me but of the law I had named.

“You understand what you’re saying?”

“Every word. Let the Council prove its accusation under the rules it claims to uphold.”

The guard hurried away. The Accord would not restore the ledger page or explain my mother’s handwriting, but it might stop a secret transfer.

Cassian returned minutes later and shut the cell door.

“You invoked the Blood Accord without consulting the prince.”

“The prince wasn’t offering me a choice.”

“You understand it won’t clear you simply because you demand it. The trials won’t be gentle.”

“Neither has the dungeon.”

“Lucian is furious. Vane will argue you’re ineligible because of your connection to the King’s records.”

“Can he?”

“He can argue it. Whether he can make it stand is another matter. Old laws are rarely as simple as people quoting them pretend.”

I thought of the trials, the Council, and Lucian’s distrust. Somewhere in the Citadel, the smoke-scented man knew why Solis mattered.

I pictured the crossed-out crest on my mother’s papers. Perhaps it had not been rejected. Perhaps someone wanted it forgotten.

A faint sound came from the wall beside my cot.

Three soft taps.

I rose and pressed my palm against the stone. The iron plate covering the passage remained in place. The guards stood outside. No door had opened.

Still, the taps came again.

Then silence.

A faint vibration stirred beneath my palm. I could not tell who waited.

Perhaps someone had been waiting for me to invoke the Blood Accord. Perhaps the hidden passage was only one of the Citadel’s secrets.

Someone had known I would reach this point.

And someone had just answered from the other side of the wall.