Chapter 122: Chapter 123: Lena Finds Out
Lena’s POV
I found out about the eting the way I found out about most things. Not directly. Not because soone told . But through the accumulation of small details that added up to sothing I was not ant to know.
The servant who escorted Kaelen. I saw her leaving the lower corridor at an hour when she had no business being there. Her clothes were wrong for that part of the palace. Her shoes were wet, like she had been outside. She did not look at
when I passed. She looked at the floor. That was the first thing.
A corridor I recognised. The east wing. The one closest to the old servant passages, the ones no one used anymore. I had used them myself, back when I was the bridge. Back when I was necessary.
A door I had used myself. The one at the end of the corridor, the one that led to the small room where confidential conversations happened. I had stood outside that door many tis, waiting, watching, making sure no one interrupted.
The servant ca out. Then later, Kaelen ca out. I saw him from the shadows. He was wearing dark clothes. His hood was up. But I knew his walk. I knew the way he moved. I had been watching him for years.
He did not see . He never saw .
I stood in the palace corridor and wondered how they had arranged it. That Elara had t Kaelen. That she had found a way to reach him. That she had not used .
She bypassed .
I had been telling myself a story. That I was necessary. That I was the thread that connected them. That without , they could not reach each other. That my position, between them, knowing everything, carrying their secrets, was what gave
power.
But I was not necessary. I was convenient. And now I had been set aside.
I went to Malakor.
Not to report. Not in the usual careful way with the usual careful words. I went because I needed soone to do sothing with what I knew, and I was done waiting.
His study was the sa as always. The fire was low. The desk was clear. He was sitting in his chair, waiting for , the way he always waited.
"I need to tell you sothing," I said.
He looked at . "Sit."
I did not sit. I stood in the center of the room, my hands at my sides, my face still.
"They t. Elara and Kaelen. Tonight. In the east wing. She bypassed ."
Malakor’s face did not change. "How do you know this?"
" I saw him leave."
"And what did they discuss?"
"I don’t know. I was not in the room. I was not invited." My voice was sharp. "But that is not the only thing. There is sothing else. Sothing I have been keeping for weeks. Sothing she trusted
with."
"Sothing she trusted you with," he repeated.
"Yes."
"Tell ."
I looked at him. "She is pregnant."
Malakor went very still. His face, which was always careful, always controlled, did sothing I had never seen before. His eyes widened. His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.
"What?" His voice was barely above a whisper.
"She is pregnant. Elara. The queen. She is carrying a child."
"Whose?"
"Kaelen’s."
He stared at . For a long mont, he did not speak. He just stared, like I had told him the sky was falling and he was waiting for the punchline.
"Kaelen’s," he said.
"Yes."
"The Voice."
"Yes."
"Her forr guard. The man who was supposed to be watching her chambers. The man she dismissed." He shook his head slowly. "She is carrying his child."
"Only I knew. And maybe Kaelen knows now. She trusted
with it. And I have been keeping it ever since."
Malakor sat back in his chair. He ran a hand over his face. For the first ti since I had known him, he looked genuinely shocked.
"She told you," he said.
"Yes."
"Only you."
"She trusted ."
He was quiet for a long mont. His face was still pale. His hands were still shaking. He looked like a man who had just been handed a weapon he did not know how to hold.
"You have been keeping this for weeks," he said.
"Yes."
"And you did not tell ."
"I am telling you now."
He looked at . "Why now?"
"Because she bypassed . Because she t him without . Because I am done being convenient. Because I am done waiting." I stepped closer. "Use it. Whatever you have. Use it now. Destroy her."
Malakor stared at .
"Use it," I said again.
word was quiet. But there was sothing in his voice I had not heard before. Uncertainty. He was not sure.
Malakor sat back in his chair. He looked at
with the particular patience of a man who had been playing this ga since before I was born. The He looked at .
"Go," he said.
I walked back through the palace corridors.
My face was still. My hands were still. Inside, I was not still at all.
I thought about Malakor. About his shock. About the way his face had changed when I told him about the pregnancy. He had not known. She had trusted only . Only
and Kaelen. And now Malakor knew too.
I thought about Elara. Carrying his child. The child that should have been mine. The child that would bind them together forever, while I stood outside, watching, invisible. She had trusted
with her secret. And I was going to use it.
I reached my room. Closed the door. Sat on my bed in the dark.
I thought about what I wanted. What I was willing to do. How far I was willing to go.
I did not have an answer. Not yet. But I was moving toward sothing. Sothing I could not see clearly. Sothing that was taking shape in the dark.
I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The cracks were still there. The loose stones were still there. The building made the sa sounds it always made.
I closed my eyes and waited for morning.
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