It was Eirian's curiosity that was going to get her in trouble. The healers had finally agreed to let Yuze and Eirian return to their rooms the next day, but an entire night with nothing to do but stare at the walls was enough to drive Eirian a little bit crazier than she already was.
Eirian knew Chenzhou was hesitant to ask, afraid of causing Yuze even more pain, but Eirian's curiosity was so strong that it was starting to justify itself in her head. The truth about Fox, or the full story, probably had significant security implications.
Or at least that's what she kept telling herself. Mostly, she really wanted to know why Fox had gone so far to hide who he was and to ingrain himself in the Camelia when he'd been taught his entire life to hate it.
Something must have happened that had changed him down to the core of who he was, which made him far more dangerous than most, in Eirian's opinion. Had he left some kind of insurance plan for after he died? Were there others working with him?
Like Snake?
She knew Yuze was hurting, his heart even more than his body at this point, but she couldn't help but wonder. Couldn't help but run through a thousand possibilities in her head, and what little Yuze had said only fed her hunger.
She knew Yuze felt betrayed on a much more personal level than the rest of them. The depth of his feelings for Fox and the fact that he'd been the one who was supposed to know these kinds of things before they happened, pretty much guaranteed he'd taken the betrayal worse than anyone else.
And that his quilt was also tenfold. Of everyone, Yuze felt he should have been the one to realize what was going on, but he'd failed to see the signs.
If there ever were any, Eirian mused.
Yuze wasn't the first person to love someone untrustworthy, but he probably felt that way right now.
Eirian had felt that way when Philip betrayed her, albeit briefly, because she'd had the self-esteem to realize it wasn't entirely her fault…
After she'd spent plenty of time blaming Philip entirely. It was mostly his fault…but she could admit now, after seeing Chenzhou and his own guilt over Anna, that Eirian carried some blame for believing she loved Philip, but failing to care enough to know what he really wanted from their relationship. She'd realized she hadn't loved him nearly as much as she had convinced herself and him.
Yuze didn't even have the benefit of knowing if Fox had truly loved him or if it had all been some elaborate plan.
Given that he'd died protecting Yuze, Eirian thought he probably had, but she couldn't discount that Fox had just been that dedicated to his cause, whatever it was.
And that doubt would probably stay with Yuze for the rest of his life, because Fox was dead, and no matter what they found out now, they would never have the truth from the man himself.
To be stuck with that kind of unknown for the rest of his life…it would have driven Eirian mad if it was her.
It didn't help that Chenzhou and Mingzhe were making preparations for both of them to stand before the court, which was requesting to speak to both Eirian and Yuze about what had happened during the conflict.
Eirian wasn't looking forward to being questioned about every little decision she'd made, but it was a natural part of war. She'd seen Uncle Jaques go through it repeatedly when she'd lived in the capital.
Usually at the behest of her father.
And she still hadn't heard anything from Eric, which was starting to worry her more and more.
She rolled onto her side and studied Yuze. He laid still, staring up at the ceiling in silence.
"Hey," she called quietly across the empty space between them. Her curiosity getting the better of her in the darkness.
Yuze stared at the ceiling for a moment before rolling over to face her. His eyes were shadowed from something more than the lack of light.
"I'm sorry." Eirian offered.
Yuze shrugged. "Not your fault."
"I'm sorry you're hurting," Eirian clarified. "I know none of it was my fault."
Her blunt honesty made Yuze smile. Weakly, but it was still something.
"How long do you think?" She asked, because really, a lot of how much they didn't know came down to how long Fox had been a traitor.
"I don't know," Yuze's voice cracked as he admitted it. He'd clearly been dwelling on it too. "I keep thinking back, trying to recognize some sign, some clue, but I can't…" He paused and swallowed hard. "I missed it for Rock knows how long. Maybe from the very start."
"You aren't the only one. All your spies claim not to have trusted each other, but none of them figured anything out for sure. Did they?"
Yue shook his head. "They never told me if they did." He paused, thoughtful. "Snake was the only one who ever spoke up against Fox."
Eirian sneered. "And her work means nothing because she was a traitor, too."
Yuze nodded, eyes closing in exhaustion. "We don't even know if they were working for the same master. If it was Song and Snow or whoever's trying to bring down Chenzhou."
Eirian turned over the idea in her mind. "They really didn't like each other."
"No, they did not." Yuze snorted. "They hated each other. So it's more likely they weren't working together and it was just a coincidence that they both showed up to rescue me at the same time…" he trailed off, face creased with pain.
Was it worse, Eirian wondered, if Fox had truly loved Yuze and betrayed him to side with Song and Snow or if Snake truly loved him and betrayed him to bring down Chenzhou?
Either way, they had both sought to destroy something Yuze cared about while claiming to love him.
Was there a greater betrayal than that?
"Snake is long gone." Yuze mused, voice grating as he fought back tears. "She knows there's nothing to come back to since we know what she was doing."
Eirian nodded in agreement. "We know she was the one selling artifacts, so it's likely she was involved with whoever was breaking into the vault. And since the tribes don't care for magic," which she was still sore about. Demon, really? "Then it makes sense that she was the one working against Chenzhou."
"Someone from the tribes was buying the artifacts, though." Yuze reminded her. "The Bandri that got through the walls…I think that was Fox."
"I think that just proves it wasn't the tribes." Eirian frowned. "Fox must have been working with Song and Snow."
Yuze chewed on his lip, a habit he'd picked up from Chenzhou. "But that means he wasn't working for the tribes."
"Does it? They thought Song and Snow was on their side." Eirian pointed out.
"Fox was too smart to believe that." Yuze insisted.
"So he wanted to destroy the tribes, too?" Eirian frowned. That was a lot of hatred for one person.
"Or he didn't care what happened to them." Yuze mused.
"Which must be significant," Eirian pointed out. "Because he was one of them."
Yuze met her eyes. "I think he was the one Emmy saw."
Eirian considered that. "That makes sense. And also means that maybe our security issue isn't related to whoever is targeting Chenzhou."
Yuze nodded in agreement. "I think it's solved now. So at least that's something."
"One less thing to worry about." Eirian sighed. "So we need to figure out who Snake was working with."
"Unfortunately, there's a long list of possibilities." Yuze snorted, at least according to Henri and Chenzhou.
"Finn is worried." Eirian agreed. The young Vermeer had stopped by the day before to check in on her. The poor thing had looked exhausted, worried about his friends and everything that had taken place at the Camelia while the rest of them were away.
According to him, Emmy and Patrick had left to track down who had access to the old Yang family crests a decade ago. Eirian was a little confused about why that was important, since it pretty much told them who was responsible, but everyone, Finn included, seemed to think such an obvious clue meant anyone but the family it clearly belonged to.
Eirian could understand that. It seemed foolish to just trust something, anything, outright, but it also seemed foolish to assume the obvious couldn't possibly be true.
It was true that the obvious was rarely right, but it was also true that the least expected was the most likely.
At the end of the day, they just didn't have enough information yet.
"Do you think we can come back from this?" Yuze asked quietly.
Eirian sighed. "I think the bigger challenge will be surviving the threat from inside than anything from without."
That was how all great civilizations fell in the end, from within.
~ tbc