Chapter 4: The Ghost in the Western Wing

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Commander Rowan stood at the entrance, his expression unusually serious. Behind him, two royal guards held a man between them.

The man's clothes were torn. His grey hair hung messily around his face, and blood stained the sleeve of his dark coat. He looked exhausted, almost fragile.

But Silas recognized him.

Not immediately.

The years had changed his face. His once-dark hair had turned silver, his cheeks had hollowed, and there was a deep scar running from his left temple to his jaw.

Yet there was no mistaking those eyes.

"Uncle Elias?"

The words escaped Silas before he could stop them.

The old man lifted his head.

For a moment, his expression remained empty. Then his eyes widened.

"Silas?"

Silas took one step forward.

The guards tightened their grip on the prisoner.

"Release him!" Silas ordered.

Neither guard moved.

Cassian slowly turned his head towards him.

"Careful," the prince said.

Silas barely heard him.

His uncle was alive.

The man who had treated his childhood fever, who had taught him how to identify medicinal herbs, who had carried him on his shoulders through the gardens of House Vey.

The man whose body they had supposedly recovered from the ruins.

"Let him go," Silas repeated.

This time, his voice was quieter.

It was also more dangerous.

Cassian studied him before looking at Rowan.

"Release the physician."

"Your Highness, he was discovered inside the sealed western wing. He refused to explain how he entered."

"Did I ask you to repeat your report?"

"No, Your Highness."

The guards released Elias.

The old man nearly collapsed.

Silas caught him before he reached the floor.

For the first time since arriving at the palace, Silas forgot to hide his emotions.

He held his uncle tightly, one hand gripping the back of his coat.

"I thought you were dead."

Elias's fingers trembled against his shoulder.

"I thought you were."

Silas pulled away enough to look at him.

"What happened? Where have you been? Why didn't you come for me?"

Elias looked at him for a long moment.

Then his gaze shifted towards Cassian.

The expression on his face changed.

Fear.

Not the ordinary fear of a man standing before a prince. It was something older, something that had survived years of hiding.

"Not here," Elias whispered.

Cassian heard him.

"That is unfortunate," the prince replied. "Because you are standing in my palace."

Elias lowered his head.

"Your Highness."

"Dr. Elias Vey. Former royal physician. Officially deceased for six years. Found inside a restricted section of my residence."

Cassian approached him.

"Would you care to explain?"

Elias said nothing.

Cassian stopped a few feet away.

"I dislike silence when I have asked a question."

"And I dislike questions when the answers can get people killed."

Rowan immediately stepped forward.

"Mind your words."

Elias looked at him.

"I have spent six years learning how to keep my mouth shut. Do you honestly believe a warning from a soldier will frighten me?"

Rowan's hand moved towards his sword.

"Commander."

Cassian's voice stopped him.

"Stand down."

Rowan obeyed, though his expression remained displeased.

Silas helped Elias into a chair.

"Bring water," he instructed.

A servant moved immediately.

Cassian watched him.

"You seem comfortable giving orders in my presence."

Silas didn't look up.

"My uncle is injured."

"That does not answer me."

"Then perhaps you should ask a better question."

Cassian's mouth tightened.

The servant returned with water. Silas took the cup and offered it to Elias.

The old man drank slowly.

His hands were shaking.

Silas noticed.

He also noticed that Elias kept looking at the western corridor.

As though he expected someone to emerge from it.

"Uncle," Silas whispered, "what were you doing there?"

Elias's fingers tightened around the cup.

"Looking for something."

"What?"

"The truth."

Silas swallowed.

"About my father?"

Elias closed his eyes.

"About all of us."

Cassian pulled a chair closer and sat opposite them.

"Then perhaps we should begin at the beginning."

Elias looked at him.

"Your Highness, I cannot tell you everything."

"You are in no position to negotiate."

"Perhaps not."

The old physician turned towards Silas.

"But I can tell him what his father died trying to protect."

Silas went still.

"My father?"

Elias nodded.

"He knew they were coming. He knew what they intended to do."

"Who?"

Elias looked down at his hands.

"Your father's enemies were not ordinary men, Silas. They were men who sat at royal tables, signed royal documents and called themselves loyal servants of the crown."

"Lord Adrian?"

A flicker of recognition crossed Elias's face.

Cassian noticed it.

"You know Lord Adrian?"

"I know what he did."

"Then say it."

Elias gave a humourless laugh.

"That is the problem with princes. They believe every truth can be commanded into existence."

Cassian leaned back.

"And that is the problem with men who hide in forbidden corridors. They mistake survival for wisdom."

Silas almost smiled.

Even after six years, his uncle had not lost his ability to irritate powerful men.

But the amusement disappeared when Elias spoke again.

"Your Highness, do you know why the western wing was sealed?"

Cassian's expression hardened.

"My father closed it before his death."

"That is not what I asked."

"Then ask what you mean."

Elias looked directly at him.

"Do you know what your father kept behind those doors?"

Silence.

Cassian did not answer immediately.

"No."

"Then you know less about your father's reign than you believe."

Rowan shifted uneasily.

Silas looked between the two men.

"What was there?"

Elias turned towards him.

"A room."

"What kind of room?"

"A room where names were recorded."

Silas frowned.

"Names?"

"People who were taken. People who disappeared. People who were declared dead without proper records. People who were moved through the kingdom under false identities."

Silas felt coldness settle in his stomach.

"Slaves?"

"Some."

Elias paused.

"Others were not."

Cassian's eyes narrowed.

"Are you suggesting my father operated an illegal prison?"

"I am suggesting that the western wing was connected to something much larger than your father's private affairs."

Silas looked at his uncle.

"Was my family on that list?"

Elias did not answer.

He didn't need to.

Silas stood abruptly.

"Was my father on that list?"

Elias's face crumpled.

"Yes."

Silas took a step backwards.

For six years, he had imagined his father's final moments. He had imagined the betrayal, the blood, the fire that consumed their home.

But he had never imagined that his father might have been taken somewhere before he died.

"Did they imprison him?"

Elias looked away.

"Silas..."

"Did they?"

"I don't know."

Silas laughed once, without humour.

"You don't know?"

"I saw him the night before the house was attacked. He gave me something to keep safe. He told me that if anything happened, I must find you."

Silas's throat tightened.

"What did he give you?"

Elias hesitated.

Then he reached inside his coat.

The guards immediately moved.

Rowan drew his sword halfway.

Cassian raised one hand.

"Let him."

Elias removed a small object wrapped in faded cloth.

He placed it on the table.

Silas stared at it.

It was a silver signet ring.

His father's ring.

He recognized the engraved crest immediately: a raven with its wings spread above a crescent moon.

Silas reached for it, but Elias covered it with his palm.

"Before you touch it, you must understand something."

Silas looked at him.

"What?"

"Your father did not die because he betrayed the crown."

Silas's breathing changed.

"Then why?"

Elias looked at Cassian.

"Because he discovered what the crown was doing to the children."

The room seemed to shrink.

"What children?" Silas asked.

Elias's voice dropped.

"The children taken from noble families. The children who vanished from villages. The children whose names were erased and whose identities were sold."

Silas remembered the auction.

The frightened faces.

The chains.

The children standing behind the adults, too young to understand why nobody was coming to rescue them.

His stomach turned.

"How many?"

"I don't know."

"Who was responsible?"

Elias looked at Cassian again.

"That is what I have been trying to discover."

Cassian stood.

"You will tell me everything you know."

Elias shook his head.

"Not until I know whether the prince standing before me is different from the king who came before him."

Rowan looked offended.

"That is enough."

"No," Silas said.

Everyone turned towards him.

He stared at his uncle.

"You don't get to return from the dead, place my father's ring in front of me and then decide how much truth I deserve."

Elias looked wounded.

"I know."

"Do you?"

Silas's voice cracked.

"Do you know what it was like? Everyone told me my family was gone. They told me there was nobody left. I spent years believing I was the only one who survived."

Elias lowered his eyes.

"I am sorry."

"That isn't enough."

"I know."

Silas looked away.

For a moment, he was no longer the clever man who challenged a prince.

He was simply a son who had lost his father and an uncle he had believed dead.

Cassian watched him quietly.

Then he spoke.

"Rowan."

"Your Highness?"

"Have the physician examined. Give him a secure room and ensure nobody approaches him without permission."

Elias looked up.

"Secure room?"

"You are a witness to a possible conspiracy against the crown. Until I know whether you are a victim or a participant, you will remain under protection."

"Protection," Elias repeated.

"Would you prefer a cell?"

"No."

"Then accept the room."

Cassian turned towards Silas.

"You will remain here."

Silas lifted his chin.

"That sounds like an order."

"It is."

"Then I refuse."

Rowan looked as though he had just witnessed someone sign his own death warrant.

Cassian's eyes narrowed.

"You are testing my patience."

"And you are testing my grief."

Something changed in Cassian's expression.

He looked at Silas for a long moment before turning away.

"Take the physician to the eastern guest chamber. No one is to question him without my permission."

Rowan nodded.

The guards helped Elias stand.

Before leaving, Elias reached for Silas's hand.

"Keep the ring."

Silas took it.

Elias leaned closer.

"And whatever happens, do not let the prince open the western door."

Silas froze.

"Why?"

Elias's eyes moved towards Cassian.

"Because something is still inside."

Then the guards led him away.

The room remained silent after they left.

Silas stood beside the table, staring at the ring in his palm.

Cassian watched him.

"Your uncle knows more than he has told us."

"Obviously."

"He is hiding something."

"So are you."

Cassian's jaw tightened.

"Be careful."

Silas closed his fingers around the ring.

"Your uncle kept a secret room. My father died because of something he discovered. My family was erased. And now my uncle tells me something is still inside the western wing."

He looked at Cassian.

"Tell me, Your Highness. How much of this palace belongs to you?"

Cassian didn't answer.

Silas stepped closer.

"Because I am beginning to suspect that even you don't know what happens behind your own doors."

Cassian's gaze dropped briefly to the ring.

"Give it to me."

"No."

"It may be evidence."

"It belonged to my father."

"And your father may have been involved in a conspiracy against the crown."

Silas's eyes sharpened.

"Do not speak about him as though he were one of your enemies."

Cassian stepped closer.

"I am trying to keep you alive."

"Then stop treating me like something you can lock away."

For a moment, they stood so close that Silas could feel the warmth of Cassian's breath.

The prince's voice lowered.

"You have a remarkable talent for making every conversation difficult."

Silas looked at his mouth, then back into his eyes.

"And you have a remarkable talent for making every room feel like a prison."

Cassian's expression changed.

His hand lifted as though he intended to touch Silas's face.

But he stopped before making contact.

"One day," Cassian said quietly, "you will tell me everything you are hiding."

Silas smiled faintly.

"Perhaps."

"That was not a request."

"Then perhaps you should learn to ask."

Cassian stared at him.

Then he stepped away.

"Leave."

Silas turned towards the door.

"Silas."

He stopped.

"Do not go near the western wing."

Silas glanced over his shoulder.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

Silas gave him a small, almost affectionate smile.

"Then I suppose I will have to find out why."

He left before Cassian could respond.

The palace was quieter than usual that night.

Silas returned to his chamber and locked the door.

He placed his father's ring on the table and examined the engraving.

There was something unusual about the raven's wings.

He turned the ring over.

A tiny inscription had been carved into the inner band.

He brought it closer to the candle.

When the seventh bell rings, remember the name beneath the crown.

Silas read it twice.

The name beneath the crown.

What did that mean?

He searched the ring for another clue, but found nothing.

Then he heard a soft knock.

Three taps.

A pause.

Two more.

Silas immediately reached for the small knife hidden beneath his mattress.

"Who is it?"

A whisper came through the door.

"Daniel."

Silas lowered the knife and unlocked it.

The young servant slipped inside, his face pale.

"Master Silas, you must come with me."

"What's happened?"

Daniel glanced towards the corridor.

"They found something."

"Where?"

"In the western wing."

Silas felt his pulse quicken.

"What did they find?"

Daniel swallowed.

"A body."

Silas stared at him.

"Whose?"

Daniel shook his head.

"They don't know."

"Then why are you here?"

The servant looked terrified.

"Because the body was found behind a locked door."

Silas tightened his grip on the ring.

"And?"

Daniel's voice dropped to almost nothing.

"It was wearing the royal physician's uniform."

Silas went still.

"Dr. Elias?"

Daniel shook his head quickly.

"No. Not him."

He looked towards the door again.

"Someone else."

Silas moved towards the exit.

Then Daniel spoke the words that stopped him.

"Master Silas..."

"Yes?"

"The guards say the body has been dead for six years."

Silas slowly turned.

Daniel's eyes filled with fear.

"And they found your father's name written on its chest."