“A trick!” Kaelen pointed at Elara, then at me. “She's a liar! That recording is forged. All of it! She has always been jealous and manipulative. She is poisoning you against the truth!”
No one answered him. Even the Shadow Pack guards avoided his eyes.
I addressed the dais. “There is one final piece of evidence. A pureblood seal cannot be forged.”
At my signal, Lord Valerius's aide brought forward a velvet-lined case. Inside lay the ancient, leather-bound manuscript Kaelen had tried to burn from my hands at the border.
Its leather had cracked and its pages had yellowed, but the silver clasp still gave off the light of a pureblood seal.
Kaelen laughed once. “Your proof is a book?”
“The clasp carries a Lorekeepers' Guild scroll dated two months ago. They tested every page and every dr
