Chapter Six: The Name on the Record
1467 Words
Lucas couldn't move.
Aariana stood across from him.
Wren was beside her.
And one unfinished sentence hung between them.
“Wren's father is…”
She had stopped.
Lucas stared at her.
He had expected an answer.
A lie.
Anything.
Instead, she had gone silent.
Wren looked between them.
“Mother?”
Aariana placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Go wait outside.”
“But I want to know.”
“Wren.”
Her voice was firm.
The boy sighed.
“Fine.”
He walked toward the door.
Before leaving, he looked at Lucas.
“Nice meeting you.”
Lucas nodded.
“You too.”
The door closed.
Silence returned.
Lucas looked at Aariana.
“Why did you stop?”
She didn't answer.
“Five years ago, I was told you betrayed me.”
Her expression hardened.
“You believed them.”
“I did.”
“And now?”
“Now I'm questioning everything.”
Aariana looked away.
Lucas stepped closer.
“Is Wren mine?”
Her eyes snapped back to his.
That was enough.
Lucas felt the world tilt beneath him.
He didn't need her to say it.
He already knew.
Or at least, he knew enough.
“Lucas…”
His voice came out rough.
“You had my child.”
Aariana's jaw tightened.
“I had a child.”
“You knew he was mine.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Aariana's expression changed.
For the first time since she had returned, Lucas saw something behind her strength.
Pain.
“You weren't there.”
Lucas flinched.
“You didn't give me the chance.”
“I didn't?”
Her voice remained calm, but her eyes were burning.
“I was taken from this territory with nothing.”
Lucas said nothing.
“You signed the annulment.”
“I thought you betrayed me.”
“You didn't ask me.”
“I believed the evidence.”
“You believed them.”
The words struck harder than any accusation.
Lucas looked down.
Aariana continued.
“You never came looking for me.”
“I thought you left.”
“I was exiled.”
Lucas stared at her.
“I didn't know.”
“That was the point.”
The room became silent.
Lucas felt anger rising.
Not at Aariana.
At himself.
At the council.
At the five years that had disappeared because he had trusted the wrong people.
He looked toward the door.
“Wren knows nothing?”
“He knows I had a husband once.”
“Does he know my name?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't want him growing up waiting for a father who didn't come.”
Lucas closed his eyes.
That sentence hurt.
“I would have come.”
Aariana laughed softly.
There was no warmth in it.
“You didn't come for me.”
Lucas opened his eyes.
“I didn't know where you were.”
“You could have searched.”
“I was told you wanted nothing to do with me.”
“And you believed that too.”
Lucas had no answer.
Aariana walked toward the door.
“Tomorrow's hearing starts at nine.”
“Wait.”
She stopped.
Lucas wanted to say something.
Anything.
An apology.
A promise.
A question.
But none of them felt big enough.
“Is Wren safe here?”
Aariana turned.
“He's safe with me.”
Lucas nodded.
“I meant from the council.”
Her expression changed.
“You found something.”
It wasn't a question.
Lucas studied her.
“You already suspected them.”
“I knew they were afraid of me.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Aariana remained silent.
Lucas lowered his voice.
“I found records.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“What records?”
“The annulment.”
Aariana's face remained controlled.
“The evidence against you was fabricated.”
For the first time, she looked genuinely surprised.
“You found that?”
“Yes.”
“Who signed the documents?”
“Marcus.”
Aariana's expression hardened.
“I knew it.”
Lucas stepped closer.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“Because nobody here was going to believe me.”
Lucas looked away.
She was right.
Five years ago, he wouldn't have.
That truth was difficult to accept.
Aariana reached the door.
“Lucas.”
He looked at her.
“Don't tell Wren anything yet.”
His chest tightened.
“He deserves to know.”
“He deserves to know the truth.”
“I am the truth.”
Aariana's eyes sharpened.
“Not until we know what happened five years ago.”
Lucas nodded slowly.
She opened the door.
Then stopped.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“The council didn't summon me because they suddenly respect my claim.”
Lucas waited.
“They need something from Wren.”
His expression hardened.
“His bloodline.”
“Yes.”
Lucas thought about the succession records.
The missing father.
The altered documents.
The boy's name.
Everything suddenly connected.
“Why would they need him?”
“I don't know.”
“But you're going to find out.”
Aariana looked at him.
“Yes.”
Then she left.
Lucas remained alone.
He looked at the closed door.
Wren.
His son.
The word felt strange.
Impossible.
Yet somehow natural.
Lucas sat down.
His mind returned to the archive.
The birth record.
He had seen only the damaged edge of it.
The father's name had been scratched away.
He needed to see it.
Now.
Lucas left the room and went straight to the archives.
The guard opened the door without question.
Lucas entered.
The ledger still lay on the table.
He searched beneath it.
The birth record was still there.
He picked it up.
The mother's name was clear.
Aariana Calder.
The father's name had been deliberately damaged.
Lucas turned the paper toward the light.
A faint mark remained beneath the scratches.
He rubbed his thumb across the faded ink.
One letter became visible.
Then another.
His heartbeat quickened.
L.
Lucas froze.
He continued examining it.
There were traces of the rest of the name.
The ink had been scratched away years ago.
But whoever had done it hadn't removed everything.
Lucas already knew.
Still, he needed proof.
He turned the record over.
A second seal appeared on the back.
An old Voss family seal.
His family seal.
Lucas stared at it.
Someone had officially recorded Wren's birth under the Voss bloodline.
Then someone had tried to erase it.
A sound came from the doorway.
Lucas turned.
Elder Marcus stood there.
Again.
Lucas held up the birth record.
Marcus's face went pale.
“Who altered this?”
Marcus said nothing.
Lucas stepped toward him.
“Who?”
“You shouldn't have found that.”
Lucas stopped.
Not because of the words.
Because of the confession hidden inside them.
“You knew.”
Marcus looked at him.
“I knew enough.”
Lucas's voice became dangerously quiet.
“Did you know Wren was my son?”
Marcus didn't answer.
Lucas stepped closer.
“Five years ago.”
Silence.
“Did you know?”
Marcus finally spoke.
“Yes.”
Lucas's hands curled into fists.
“And you hid him from me.”
“We protected the succession.”
“No.”
Lucas shook his head.
“You protected a political alliance.”
Marcus's face hardened.
“You have no idea what that child represents.”
Lucas stared at him.
“My son.”
Marcus's eyes flickered.
Then he said something that made Lucas's blood run cold.
“Your son is not the only reason Aariana was summoned.”
Lucas went still.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus stepped backward.
“You'll find out at the hearing.”
Lucas grabbed the record.
“Marcus.”
The elder turned.
Lucas's voice followed him.
“If anything happens to Aariana or Wren…”
Marcus stopped.
Lucas's eyes were cold.
“I will tear apart every secret this council has ever buried.”
Marcus looked back at him.
For the first time, he didn't look like an elder speaking to his Alpha.
He looked like a man who had just realized the lie was collapsing.
Then he walked away.
Lucas looked down at the birth record again.
His son's name.
His blood.
His family seal.
Everything they had hidden was finally coming back to the surface.
But one question remained.
Why had the council been willing to erase a child just to protect an alliance?
Lucas folded the record carefully.
Tomorrow, the succession hearing would begin.
And this time, he wasn't going to sit at the council table and listen.
He was going to expose them.
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