Chapter 5: The Convenient Friend
657 Words
Three days after Rael's funeral, Cassian Vaeron had brought food.
Not flowers. Not a formal condolence arrangement delivered through staff the way every other dignitary managed. He had arrived personally, commandeered the palace kitchen with quiet authority, and produced a meal that Rael had apparently once described as the only thing their childhood cook made that Kael ever asked for twice.
Kael had eaten it. He had not asked how Cassian knew.
He returned the following morning, knocked once, entered without waiting. Settled into the chair across from Kael's desk with the ease of a man entirely comfortable in whatever room he occupied.
"You did not sleep," Cassian said.
"I had work."
"You always have work." He watched Kael a moment. "How are you managing?"
"I am managing."
"I know." A beat. "I am asking how."
Kael answered briefly. Cassian moved on without pressing.
"The investigation," Kael said. "I want a full review. Entry points to Rael's location that night, the courier job source, the complete timeline."
Something shifted behind Cassian's eyes. There and gone before it had a name.
"Of course," he said. "Though I say this only because you would say it to me. The evidence is complete. The girl was found at the scene. Physical evidence is unambiguous." A pause, measured and clean. "A full review takes weeks. It keeps the case open, keeps staff distracted, and gives every Assembly member watching a reason to question whether Dravon justice is as certain as its reputation." He let that settle. "Close it cleanly. Sentence her publicly. Let the empire see that what happened to Rael has been answered."
Then, quietly: "Rael would have understood."
Kael waited just long enough for the answer to feel deliberate
"You are right," he said. "A prolonged review serves no one."
Cassian's expression moved into something between relief and sorrow. "Certainty is the one thing you can give him now."
He stood. Straightened his jacket. Extended his hand. Kael shook it. Cassian left with his usual unhurried grace, nodding once to Dax in the doorway as he passed. The nod of a man acknowledging something he had already accounted for.
The door closed.
Dax stood where he was. Grey eyes fixed on the middle distance. The expression he wore when he was deciding whether something was his place to say.
It always was.
"Speak," Kael said.
Dax stepped in and stopped two feet from the desk. "The entry assessment came back this morning. I pulled it before Lord Vaeron arrived." A beat. "I did not mention it while he was here."
"Why not."
"I wanted to hear what he said about the investigation first."
Kael looked at him.
Dax placed a single printed document on the desk. Kael read the relevant paragraph. Read it once more. Set it down.
"The door to Rael's room," Kael said.
"No forced entry from outside. No damaged lock. No bypassed panel." Dax held his gaze steady. "It was unlocked from within. Someone was already inside when Rael arrived, or someone with authorized interior access let themselves in and left before the girl got there."
The room stilled around them.
Kael looked at the document. Then at the letter in the upper right corner of his desk. Rael's handwriting on the front. Still sealed. Still exactly where it had been for four months.
Cassian had arrived both mornings before Kael sat down.
Before Kael reached the letter.
Both times.
He picked it up.
"Close the floor," he said. "Nobody in or out."
Dax moved toward the door.
"Dax."
He stopped.
"Lord Vaeron's last three visits. Pull the access logs. Every door, every corridor, every floor. Quiet channels only."
Dax looked at him for a moment. Not surprised. Confirming.
"Yes sir."
The door closed.
Kael sat alone with his brother's letter in his hand.
Cassian had been here both mornings. Not early. Timed.
He broke the seal of the letter before he could decide not to.
- Writer
