Chapter 4 - The Man Who Survived the FireThe fishing village of Greyhaven smelled of salt, smoke and wet rope.
Lily traveled disguised.
King Rowan refused to risk his presence attracting attention, so he sent Captain Tomas Reed, his most trusted officer.
Princess Evelyne insisted on joining them.
Lily disliked the idea.
Evelyne disliked Lily.
That made them strangely equal.
They found Gideon Vale in a cottage overlooking the cliffs.
He was sixty-three.
One leg was badly damaged.
A scar crossed the left side of his face.
When he saw Lily, the cup in his hand fell.
“Seraphina.”
Lily stopped.
“No.”
Gideon’s eyes filled.
“Of course not.”
He looked at the birthmark.
“Elara.”
The name struck Lily harder than Princess ever had.
“Is that my name?”
“Princess Elara Seraphine Aurelia.”
Lily nearly laughed.
“That’s excessively long.”
Gideon smiled.
“Your mother said the same thing.”
That one sentence broke through her defenses.
They spoke for hours.
Gideon confirmed Marian’s journal.
Seraphina had discovered that Chancellor Varen was laundering royal funds through false infrastructure projects.
But Varen had a powerful ally.
Queen Consort Celeste.
Evelyne stood.
“My mother?”
Gideon looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“She came from a noble family drowning in debt. Varen financed them. In return, she helped him gain influence over Rowan before they married.”
“That doesn’t mean she helped kill Seraphina.”
“No.”
Gideon’s expression darkened.
“But she knew a threat had been made.”
Evelyne sat slowly.
Gideon explained that on the night of the fire, he had been guarding Seraphina’s corridor.
Varen arrived with six men.
Gideon fought them.
Seraphina ordered Marian to escape with the infant.
“What happened to my mother?” Lily asked.
Gideon went silent.
“Tell me.”
“She did not die in the fire.”
Lily stopped breathing.
“What?”
“I saw her taken alive.”
Evelyne whispered:
“Taken where?”
“I never knew.”
Gideon had been stabbed and left for dead.
A sympathetic stable worker smuggled him out before Varen’s men could finish the job.
For eighteen years, Gideon had hidden because he believed revealing himself would lead Varen to Lily.
Lily stood.
“My mother might have survived?”
“Possibly.”
“Why didn’t Marian tell me?”
“She didn’t know.”
Gideon went to a cabinet.
He removed an old metal cylinder.
Inside was a document bearing Seraphina’s seal.
It listed names.
Payments.
Dates.
And at the bottom, one handwritten message:
Rowan knows nothing. Protect my brother from the men surrounding him.
Lily stared.
The suspicion that had been growing inside her collapsed.
King Rowan had not betrayed Seraphina.
He had been another target.
Gideon continued.
“Varen intended to control Rowan after Seraphina disappeared.”
“And my mother?” Evelyne asked.
Gideon’s eyes hardened.
“Celeste was useful because she could influence the king.”
Evelyne turned away.
Lily watched her.
For the first time she did not see the cruel princess from the ballroom.
She saw a daughter discovering that her mother might be a criminal.
Then a gunshot shattered the window.
Captain Reed shouted:
“Down!”
Glass exploded.
Another shot struck the wall.
Lily dropped behind a table.
Men appeared outside.
Varen had found them.
Gideon opened a hidden door.
“There’s a path down the cliff.”
Evelyne grabbed Lily’s wrist.
“Move!”
They ran.
Captain Reed and his men held the attackers back.
At the bottom of the path, horses waited.
Before mounting, Lily looked at Evelyne.
“You could have left me.”
Evelyne breathed heavily.
“I still don’t like you.”
“Comforting.”
“But I dislike murder more.”
They rode toward the palace.
Neither knew that by the time they arrived, Queen Consort Celeste would already be gone.
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And on the queen’s desk, King Rowan would find a single note.
If Elara wants to know what happened to her mother, she must come alone.
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