Chapter 6: The Seventeen Orders

Aria’s POV

“That isn't possible,” Damon said, staring at the document in King Cassian's hand. “I never authorized solitary confinement for Aria.”

“Your signature appears on seventeen separate orders,” Cassian replied, holding the page where Damon could see it. “Are you denying that you signed them?”

“Of course I'm denying it!” Damon turned toward me, his face pale. “Aria, I swear I didn't know they were doing that to you.”

I pulled the blanket higher over my knees. Damon had made promises before I went to Blackstone, and I had believed every one of them. Now, hearing him deny any knowledge of my punishment, I didn't know whether I could believe him again.

“May I see the orders, Your Majesty?” I asked, holding out my hand. “I want to know what they wrote about me.”

Cassian glanced at Dr. Rowan, who stood near the window. When the physician nodded, Cassian brought the first page to my bedside.

“You can read them,” he said, handing me the document. “If you need to stop, we'll stop.”

My prison registration number appeared beneath my name. The first order was dated three weeks after I arrived at Blackstone, when a guard demanded the only photograph of my family I was allowed to keep.

The reason recorded for my punishment was violent resistance to correctional staff.

“I didn't attack anyone,” I said, looking up from the page. “They wanted Mother's photograph, and I asked if I could keep it. The guard pushed me against the wall, and they locked me away for refusing to hand it over.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Damon asked, stepping closer to the bed.

“You never came to see me,” I answered.

“I tried to arrange visits, Aria. The prison administration kept postponing them because they said you weren't cleared to receive family.”

“Deputy Warden Morrow told me you didn't want to come,” I replied, turning the document over. “He said you'd instructed them not to trouble you with my complaints. Whenever I asked about you, he threatened to keep me in the punishment cell longer.”

“Gareth Morrow approved these punishments on behalf of Blackstone,” Cassian said, examining another page from the folder. “But these weren't ordinary disciplinary orders. Someone outside the prison requested additional periods of confinement, and your signature appears on those requests, Damon.”

“I didn't even know those requests existed,” Damon protested. “Someone must have used my name.”

“Then Commander Vale will examine the signatures,” Cassian said. “Until we know who signed these orders, you are not to contact anyone involved in Aria's imprisonment.”

“Your Majesty, someone also forged Aria's signature on a transfer request prepared at this estate,” Lucian said, moving closer to Cassian. “I believe the two matters deserve to be investigated together.”

“What transfer request?” Cassian asked, turning toward him.

“An application placing Aria in my household as an unpaid attendant. She found it among the reception papers when she returned from prison that evening. She never agreed to the arrangement, and I never authorized it.”

“I've already explained that the office staff may have used the wrong form,” Damon said, rubbing his forehead.

“A wrong form doesn't explain the forged signature,” Lucian replied. “Someone also entered her prison registration number. How did the person preparing that document obtain it?”

Damon glanced from Cassian to Lucian. He seemed more concerned about what the prince thought of the family than about the documents in my hands. When he finally turned toward me, I lowered the page onto my lap.

“Aria, whatever happened at Blackstone, I would never have asked anyone to hurt you,” he said. “You have to believe that.”

“Then why didn't you visit me?” I asked. “You knew I was still there, Damon. Why didn't you come yourself to find out what was happening?”

“I told you the prison wouldn't allow it,” he answered, but his voice had lost its earlier certainty.

“And what about the appeal?” I asked. “The discharge clerk said there was no record of one. You promised me I wouldn't have to serve the full sentence.”

“Aria, this isn't the time to discuss what happened after your sentencing,” Damon said, glancing toward the door.

“It is the time,” Cassian interrupted. “She's asked you a question.”

“I spoke to our legal adviser after the hearing,” Damon said, his jaw tightening. “He said an appeal could reopen matters the family couldn't afford to have examined.”

“So you decided not to file it?” I asked.

“I thought reopening the case would make everything worse,” Damon answered. “I knew what I'd promised you, but I didn't know how to tell you I'd stopped trying.”

I remembered waiting for news of the appeal through my first winter at Blackstone. Every time the guards called someone to the visiting room, I had hoped Damon had finally come. Eventually, I stopped asking whether there was a letter for me.

“You told me I wouldn't have to serve two years,” I said, struggling to keep my voice steady. “I waited for you because you promised you would bring me home.”

“I know what I promised,” Damon said, looking away.

“Then why did you let me keep waiting?” I asked, but he said nothing.

“Aria, would you like to continue this conversation another time?” Lucian asked, approaching the chair beside my bed. “You don't have to answer any more questions today.”

“I want to know what happens to those orders,” I replied, turning to Cassian. “And I don't want Damon deciding what should be investigated. I trusted him to handle things before, and I spent two years in Blackstone.”

“I've ordered Commander Vale to investigate every document,” Cassian answered, closing the folder. “Your family will not control the inquiry.”

“And Kieran?” I asked. “Will he be allowed to come back into the house?”

“He remains under guard, and the men who helped him bring you to the archive will be questioned,” Cassian replied. “He won't be allowed near you.”

“Your Majesty, my father needs to be informed before any formal action is taken against members of this household,” Damon said, stopping near the door.

“He will be informed,” Cassian said, meeting his gaze. “But he will not decide whether the investigation proceeds.”

Damon left without speaking to me again.

After he was gone, Dr. Rowan checked the bandage around my wrist and asked whether I wanted to rest. I told him I would try, but my thoughts kept returning to the photograph the guards had taken from me. It had been the last picture of Mother holding me before Serena returned, and I had never seen it again.

Lucian remained beside the window while Cassian spoke quietly with a royal guard outside. When he noticed me watching him, he approached the chair near my bed.

“May I sit?” he asked, waiting until I nodded before taking the chair.

“About the transfer,” he began, resting his hands on his knees, “I've asked for an independent official to review your application. You won't need to return to the Blackthorne office to begin the process.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Why are you doing all this for me?”

“Someone tried to place you in my household without either of us agreeing to it,” he answered. “I couldn't ignore that.”

“You could have left Father to deal with it,” I said. “That's what everyone else would have done.”

“Perhaps,” Lucian answered. “But I saw how frightened you were when Serena grabbed your arm in the greenhouse. I wasn't going to pretend I hadn't noticed.”

I studied him for a moment. “You notice a lot of things, don't you?”

“Only when someone interests me,” he replied, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

Warmth spread across my cheeks, catching me by surprise. I couldn't remember the last time someone had spoken to me that way, and I wasn't sure how to respond.

“I don't know what Serena has told you about me, but I didn't kill Nathaniel Hayes,” I said.

“Did you confess to killing him?” Lucian asked after a moment.

“Yes,” I answered. “But I didn't do it.”

“Then you deserve the chance to explain why you confessed,” he said. “And when you're ready to tell your side of the story, I will listen.”

I studied him, wondering whether he would still speak to me this way if he knew everything Damon had asked me to do. Before I could answer, footsteps sounded outside the room.

A royal guard entered and bowed to Cassian, who had returned to the doorway.

“Your Majesty, Commander Vale has sent an urgent message from Blackstone,” he said. “Deputy Warden Morrow has disappeared.”

“What happened?” Cassian asked, stepping farther into the room.

“Commander Vale contacted the prison administration as soon as he received your orders,” the guard explained. “Morrow was already missing when the warden sent for him. His quarters have been cleared out.”

“Has anyone located him?” Lucian asked, rising from his chair.

“Not yet, Your Highness,” the guard answered. “But the prison administration has provided copies of several financial records to Commander Vale. Someone had been sending Morrow regular payments throughout Miss Blackthorne's imprisonment.”

Cassian held out his hand for the copied ledger page. He examined the entries while the guard waited beside the door.

“Do the records identify who sent the money?” Lucian asked.

Cassian turned to the final column, where the account authorization details were listed. He read them twice before raising his eyes to the guard.

“Has Commander Vale verified whose account this is?” he asked.

“The ledger identifies a Blackthorne household account, Your Majesty,” the guard answered. “Commander Vale is still verifying the payments, but there's a name recorded beside each authorization.”

Cassian looked down at the page again. His expression hardened as he read the name.

“Your Majesty, who authorized those payments?” Lucian asked.