KAEL POV
Kael didn't sleep that night.
She waited until the palace went quiet. Waited until the guards changed shifts at midnight. Then she slipped out of her chambers like a ghost and started hunting.
The archive room was in the lower levels. She found it by following the guards when they changed posts. Found the key to the iron door hanging in an alcove that no one was watching. Found what she was looking for hidden in records that smelled like dust and secrets.
Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely turn the pages.
War records. Official documents from Valorian about the invasion of Meridian. And there, buried in the third volume, was a name she recognized.
Mirren Blackwood. Chancellor of Valorian.
He was listed as being present at Meridian's border two months before the invasion. Two months. That meant he'd been planning this longer than anyone realized. That he'd been inside her empire's walls before the attacks came.
Kael read the entry three times, hoping the words would change. Hoping she'd misunderstood.
But the words stayed the same.
How did a Valorian Chancellor walk through Meridian's borders without being stopped? How did he get past the guards and the mages and the barrier that was supposed to protect them?
Someone let him through.
Someone inside her empire had to have given him access.
The thought made her want to scream.
She kept reading. Found more names. More dates. A pattern that stretched back years. Mirren had been in contact with someone from Meridian for longer than she'd been alive. Someone had been feeding him information. Someone had been helping him plan the destruction of her empire from inside her own bloodline.
Kael sank onto the floor of the archive room with the documents scattered around her. Her magic was burning beneath her skin, angry and hungry and desperate for somewhere to go.
Betrayal. Her empire had fallen because of betrayal.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside.
Kael shoved the documents back into their hiding places and pressed herself into the shadows. A guard passed by without seeing her. She waited until his footsteps faded before she moved.
She needed to know more. Needed to understand how deep this went. Needed to know which member of her family had sold Meridian to save themselves.
Over the next three days, Kael became invisible.
She moved through the palace corridors like she belonged there, which she did now. She was the queen. No one questioned where the queen went or what she was doing. She had access to every part of this castle.
She used it.
She watched Mirren from across throne rooms and banquet halls. Watched how the Chancellor moved, how people answered to him before answering to Darius. Watched how the King's face went careful whenever Mirren entered a room, like there was something between them that couldn't be spoken aloud.
She listened to conversations she wasn't supposed to hear. Servants gossiping about how Mirren had raised Darius from childhood. How the Chancellor had taught the king everything he knew about ruling an empire. How some people whispered that Mirren had more power than the king himself.
That was odd. Kings didn't share power like this unless there was leverage. Unless someone had a hold over them that couldn't be broken.
Kael started asking questions in ways that wouldn't raise suspicion. She talked to servants. She asked about Valorian's history. She learned about Mirren's rise to power. About how he'd come to the palace when Darius was just a boy. About how Darius's father had died mysteriously in a fire.
A fire that everyone suspected wasn't an accident.
Kael's breath caught when she heard that detail.
What if Mirren had killed the previous king? What if he'd done it to make sure Darius would be alone and broken enough to need someone to help him? What if the entire rise of Valorian's power had been built on Mirren's betrayals and murders?
And if he would do that to his own king, what would he have done to conquer a kingdom?
She found more evidence in the maps room. Letters between Valorian generals that mentioned Mirren by name. References to inside information that had to have come from someone in Meridian. A strategy that would have been impossible without someone lowering the shields from the inside.
Kael took the letters to a private study and read them by candlelight. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking. Her magic was burning so hot beneath her skin that her fingers started to glow silver.
Someone in her family had done this.
Someone she loved and trusted had sold Meridian for whatever Mirren had offered them. Money. Power. The life of someone they cared about. Whatever the price had been, someone had paid it.
And Meridian had burned because of that choice.
The door opened suddenly.
Kael jumped to her feet, the letters falling from her hands. She was ready to defend herself, ready to use magic if she needed to.
It was Darius.
His expression changed when he saw the scattered papers. When he saw her standing there with fury blazing across her face. When he understood exactly what she'd been doing.
"How long have you known?" she demanded.
"Known what?"
"About Mirren. About what he did to Meridian. About the betrayal inside my family."
Darius went very still.
"Kael—"
"Don't," she said. "Don't lie to me. Not now. Not after everything. Just tell me the truth. Tell me who helped him. Tell me which member of my bloodline destroyed my empire."
He moved toward her slowly, like approaching a wild animal.
"I need you to listen to me carefully," he said. "Whatever you think you've found, whatever conclusions you've reached, you need to stop investigating."
"Why? Because it's dangerous? Because I might find out the truth?"
"Because knowing the truth will destroy you," he said. "And I won't let that happen."
Before Kael could respond, there was a knock at the study door.
A soldier entered. His face was urgent. His eyes kept darting between Kael and Darius like he was delivering news he knew would cause an explosion.
"Your Majesty," the soldier said. "We've found the escaped prisoner. Kellan. He was trying to leave the city but the guards caught him at the gates. He's asking for Queen Kael. He says he has proof about who betrayed Meridian during the invasion."
Kael's heart stopped.
"Bring him to the throne room," Darius said immediately. "Now."
The soldier left.
Darius grabbed Kael's hand before she could move. His grip was tight. Desperate.
"Whatever he tells you, whatever proof he shows you, promise me you'll listen to the whole truth before you react. Promise me."
"I can't promise that," Kael said.
"Then I'm asking you to trust me. Just once. Just enough to hear everything before you decide what to do."
She wanted to refuse. Wanted to rip her hand away and run to the throne room and demand answers from this prisoner who might finally give her the name of the traitor.
But something in Darius's expression made her pause.
He looked terrified.
Like he already knew what Kellan was about to say.
Like he'd been dreading this moment since the prisoner escaped.
They went to the throne room together. Mirren was already there, standing beside the Chancellor's chair like he'd been waiting for her. The silver-bearded man smiled when he saw her, and Kael understood in that moment that he knew she'd been investigating.
That he'd probably known the entire time.
The guards brought Kellan forward.
He was thin from two years of imprisonment. His clothes were torn. But his eyes were clear and burning with the same rage Kael felt.
"Your Majesty," Kellan said, and his voice shook. "I was there the night before the invasion. I saw who lowered the shields. I saw who let Mirren into the palace. I know who betrayed Meridian."
Kael's breath caught.
"Who?" she demanded. "Tell me who betrayed my empire."
Kellan looked at her with pity in his eyes.
"Your sister," he said. "Helena Voss. She let them in. She gave them the codes. She's the reason Meridian fell."
The world stopped.
Kael couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Couldn't process the fact that her sister, the only family she had left, had been the one to betray everything.
Over Darius's shoulder, she saw Mirren's smile grow wider.
Like this moment had been exactly what he wanted.
Like destroying her from the inside had been his plan all along.