“If you are right, this conspiracy killed your mother.”
“And taught its architect how much could be stolen without anyone noticing.”
His hand closed around the paper.
The cup beside him cracked beneath the pressure of his fingers.
Elara expected fury.
Instead, he said quietly, “I am sorry.”
The words were not enough.
They could never be enough.
But he did not make excuses. He did not remind her of the rebellion, the weather or the chaos of the evacuation. He did not ask her to forgive him.
That mattered more than she wanted it to.
Chapter Four: Cinder Hollow
The first living witness was found in a mining settlement called Cinder Hollow.
According to imperial records, the settlement had received three years of coal subsidies and enough grain to feed four thousand residents.
According to a smuggler questioned by Captain Rovan, the mines had closed and half the population had fled.
Lucian decided to investigate personally.
“A ruler traveling into a region targeted by conspirators is an unnecessary risk,” Elara told him.
“So is sending soldiers whose reports may be altered.”
“You cannot enter unnoticed.”
“I entered the Night Chamber unnoticed for twelve years.”
“You own the palace.”
“That usually makes moving through it more difficult.”
They traveled with Captain Rovan and four trusted guards, all dressed as merchants. Lucian covered the imperial scar on his face with a strip of dark cloth and kept his wolf presence tightly restrained.
Elara wore a gray traveling coat and carried her notebook inside a hidden pocket.
Cinder Hollow lay between black hills. The mine towers stood abandoned. Windows had been boarded over, and the central well smelled of iron.
Children watched the strangers from doorways.
No one looked well fed.
An elderly woman allowed them into a cold house after Lucian offered silver.
“We received no coal payment,” she said. “The governor told us the imperial fund was empty.”
Elara opened a copied transfer record.
“This says the money arrived three months before the mine closed.”
The woman laughed bitterly.
“Then perhaps the coins grew legs.”
“What about grain?”
“Two wagons came.”
“The record lists eighty.”
“Then seventy-eight lost their way.”
Lucian stood near the unlit hearth.
“Who collected the mine equipment after the closure?”
“Men from the Crown Exchange.”
Elara looked at him.
The Crown Exchange was not a government office. It was a private trading organization headquartered outside Valedryn.
Its director, Lord Silas Veyne, was a foreign wolf with interests in iron, shipping and weapons.
“Did they purchase the mine?” Elara asked.
“They purchased our debt,” the woman replied. “Then they purchased everything else.”
Outside, Lucian walked toward the abandoned towers.
“The missing supplies are not being sold for immediate profit,” he said. “They are being used to destroy settlements.”
“So the Crown Exchange can purchase land and resources at a fraction of their value.”
“Veyne would need someone inside the government.”
“Someone able to redirect oath-seals.”
They entered the mine office.
The desks had been emptied, but Elara found scratches on the floor where a large cabinet had been dragged away.
Behind it was a child’s drawing pressed into a crack.
A black tower.
A silver moon.
A circle broken at the bottom.
Lucian examined the wall.
“There was a seal here.”
Elara pressed her fingers against the stone.
The surface was warm.
“Move,” she said.
A heartbeat later, the wall exploded.
Lucian threw himself over her.
Stone fragments tore through the room. One struck his shoulder. Smoke filled the air.
A wolf emerged from the opening behind the wall, already half transformed. His claws were blackened with poison.
Lucian turned before the attacker landed.
The emperor’s transformation was not slow.
One moment he was a man.
The next, darkness rushed beneath his skin. His eyes became silver, his teeth lengthened and one clawed hand closed around the attacker’s throat.
The assassin slashed across Lucian’s ribs.
Captain Rovan charged through the doorway.
A second attacker dropped from the roof.
Elara seized a metal seal press from the desk and struck him across the face. He staggered but did not fall.
His claws caught her coat and threw her against the wall.
Pain burst through her back.
He raised his arm.
Lucian roared.
The sound shook dust from the ceiling.
The assassin froze for a fatal instant.
Lucian crossed the room and drove him through the remains of the desk.
The first attacker swallowed something hidden between his teeth. His body convulsed before Rovan could restrain him.
The second was already dead.
Elara pushed herself upright.
Blood darkened Lucian’s side.
“You are injured.”
“So are you.”
“I was thrown into a wall. You were poisoned.”