Lucian's Point of View
He was always the second son. The shadow to Flynn's light.
Lucian Winterbell was a prince in name only. His blood ran colder in courtly halls, whispered about by lords who smiled too wide. The stain of being born from the king's fleeting affair with a court noblewoman followed him like a ghost present but never spoken of. Unlike Flynn, who bore the pure blood of the Winterbell line, Lucian had learned to smile with restraint and speak with calculation.
But tonight, there was no room for decorum.
He stood alone in the observatory tower, where the windows cast long shadows from the moonlight. A letter lay on the table before him. The seal had no royal mark. Only a blackened flame surrounded by an eclipsed sun. The insignia of the Ash Reborn a ghost faction of Elaris that should have burned with the kingdom it served.
Lucian's fingers trembled. Not from fear but recognition.
The name mentioned within the message was clear. Khalid Caelum.
Behind him, boots echoed against stone.
"You shouldn't be here alone." The voice was smooth, calm. Familiar.
Lucian didn't turn. "I could say the same, Your Grace."
Khalid stepped into view, his black cloak catching the dim light. The Duke of Caelum was as composed as ever hair as dark as midnight, eyes like gold lit from within. Not a trace of guilt on his face. No worry. Just polite concern.
"I came to check the upper corridors," Khalid said. "I heard movement. Didn't expect it to be you."
Lucian's jaw clenched. "How convenient."
Khalid raised a brow. "Is there something on your mind, my prince?"
My prince.
A title too smooth from a man who had once sworn loyalty to a now-dead kingdom.
"Tell me something," Lucian said, finally turning to face him. "When you betrayed Elaris, did you come to Winterbell out of conviction… or survival?"
Khalid didn't blink. "Does it matter?"
"It does to me." Lucian took a step forward. "Because there are still remnants of the Ash Reborn stirring in the south. And your name came up in a letter meant for them."
There it was a flicker in Khalid's eyes. Barely visible. But Lucian caught it.
"I've burned every tie to that past," Khalid said coolly. "What you found means nothing. If you think I would ever endanger Flynn, then you've misjudged me."
Lucian narrowed his gaze. "You're right I don't know where your loyalty truly lies. And I don't like uncertainty when it circles my brother."
Silence pressed between them, taut and sharp.
Then Khalid's expression softened. "Flynn is the last person I'd ever harm."
"But he's also the one who trusts you the most," Lucian said, voice quiet but heavy. "That's what makes it dangerous."
A long pause passed. Then Khalid turned away, walking toward the door.
"When this war is over," he said without looking back, "you'll see where I stand."
Lucian stood in place long after the duke had vanished down the corridor. The seal on the letter still burned in his mind.
The Ash Reborn had waited in silence for five years. Maybe Khalid had too.
And Lucian would not allow history to repeat itself.
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