Caelum was already at his desk when Lena came in. He was reading a different book from last night, thicker, with a cracked spine that suggested it had been read more than once.
He didn't look up when she set the cup of tea down. She left the room and went back to the kitchen, standing at the counter for a moment, doing nothing.
The letter from the Hollow Seal was ash in the servants' fireplace. But knowing it was gone didn't make the contents go with it.
She had been placed here to kill him.
Long before Caelum had been removed from the succession line, someone had put Lena Voss into this household and told her to wait.
But the question was why. Why would someone wait so long to kill a defenseless prince who had no protection except her? And who was the House of Vael? What connection did it have to the yearly royal conference?
The yearly royal conference was the deadline.
