Chapter 23

Elara's POV

"What did you have in mind," Kael asked, and I could hear the careful restraint in his voice, the effort it took him not to simply order Mathis dragged in front of the court that very evening and demanded an explanation, an instinct I understood even as I knew it wouldn't get us anywhere useful.

"We can't confront him without proof," I said, turning the torn page over in my hands, studying the ragged edge where it had been ripped free.

"If we accuse him and we're wrong, or even if we're right but can't prove it, we hand him exactly the excuse he needs to paint us as paranoid, or worse, as a threat to the stability of this court. We need something solid.

Something that doesn't just rely on suspicion and a missing page."

"She's right," Nyra said. "Mathis has spent decades building trust in this court. Tearing that down requires more than a torn page and a shadow in a garden, however suspicious both might be."

Kael's jaw tightened, but he nodded slowly, some of the tension easing from his shoulders as the practical part of him took over from the protective instinct that clearly wanted a faster, more direct solution.

"Then how do we get proof, without tipping him off that we already suspect him?"

I thought about it for a long moment, turning the problem over the way Freya had taught me to turn over court etiquette, looking for the angle that wasn't immediately obvious. "He doesn't know Nyra noticed the page was missing.

If we act like nothing's changed, like we're still exactly as unaware as he expects us to be, he might get careless. People who think they're succeeding rarely feel the need to be as cautious as people who think they've been caught."

"You want to bait him," Kael said, something like reluctant admiration creeping into his voice.

"I want to give him enough rope to hang himself with," I said. "If he's the one spreading doubt about our bond, the one working to separate us the way Wren's enemies did centuries ago, then the safest thing we can do is act exactly like a couple who has no idea anyone's working against them. Let him keep talking.

Let him keep planting whatever seeds he's planting. And meanwhile, we watch closely enough to catch him at it."

Nyra nodded slowly. "It's a reasonable plan. Risky, but reasonable. I can continue searching the archives quietly, looking for any other records he might try to remove or alter.

If he's tampering with history to support whatever argument he's building against you, there may be other pages missing that I simply haven't noticed yet."

"And I'll have Soren keep watching him," Kael added. "Carefully. From a distance. If Mathis is meeting with anyone, sending any messages beyond the usual court business, I want to know about it."

The plan settled into place over the following days, and I found myself playing a strange, uncomfortable role, smiling politely at Elder Mathis whenever our paths crossed in the halls, asking after his opinion on minor court matters, behaving exactly as though nothing about our relationship had shifted at all, while underneath it, every interaction felt like walking across thin ice, testing for the crack I now knew was somewhere beneath the surface.

"You're good at this," Kael said one evening, after I'd spent nearly twenty minutes in pleasant, meaningless conversation with Mathis about the upcoming harvest festival, betraying nothing of the suspicion coiled tight in my chest the entire time. "Frighteningly good, honestly."

"I spent years learning to smile through things that hurt," I said, the admission slipping out before I'd fully decided to share it.

"Ryker's rejection wasn't the first time I learned to hide what I actually felt behind a calm face. It's just the first time it's ever been useful for something other than survival."

Something softened in Kael's expression, the reminder of my old life settling heavy between us, and he reached over to take my hand, the mark warm and steady beneath his fingers.

"I hate that you had to learn that skill the hard way. But I won't pretend I'm not grateful for it now, watching you handle Mathis with more composure than I think I could manage myself."

"You'd manage," I said. "You've had a hundred years of practice hiding what you feel behind a King's composure. I've just had less time to get good at it."

He laughed softly, pulling me closer against his side as we sat together near the fire, and for a little while, the quiet warmth of the evening pushed back the weight of everything we were trying to untangle, Mathis and his torn page and the shadow in the garden all fading into something distant, easier to carry with his arm around me and the fire crackling low in the hearth.

It was during one of these quiet evenings, nearly a week into our careful watching, that Soren finally brought us something solid, slipping into the sitting room with none of his usual teasing energy, his expression grim enough that both Kael and I straightened immediately at the sight of him.

"I followed Mathis to the old chapel on the eastern grounds tonight," Soren said, closing the door carefully behind him before crossing the room. "He wasn't alone.

He met with someone I didn't recognize, cloaked, careful to keep their face hidden the entire conversation. I couldn't get close enough to hear everything, but I caught enough."

"What did you hear," Kael asked, his voice gone tight and careful.

"Enough to know he's not acting alone," Soren said. "And enough to know that whoever he's working with isn't from Nightfall Hollow at all. I heard him mention Lady Vesna's name, Kael. Twice."

The room went very still, and I felt something cold settle low in my stomach, because if Vesna's warning to me had been genuine, if her concern had been real, then hearing her name tied to whatever Mathis was plotting meant either she'd lied to my face during that quiet morning conversation, or someone was using her name to cover for something else entirely, something none of us had considered yet.

"That doesn't make sense," I said slowly. "She warned me about exactly this. Why would she warn me and then work with the person doing it?"

"Maybe she wasn't lying," Kael said, his expression darkening with a realization I could see forming even as he said it out loud.

"Maybe her name is simply useful to invoke, whether she's actually involved or not.

If Mathis wants cover for whatever he's planning, claiming an alliance with a powerful western Lady gives him exactly that, whether the alliance is real or entirely invented to muddy the water if anyone ever traces this back to him."

Soren nodded slowly. "It's possible. I can't say for certain either way, not from what I overheard.

But whatever the truth of Vesna's involvement, one thing is clear enough now.

Mathis isn't simply cautious about the change you two represent, Kael. He's actively working against you. And he's not doing it alone."