“Why are you allowing your former lover to destroy the nobility of Greyhaven?”
Albert did not answer the accusation.
He placed the sealed authorization on the desk between them.
“Did you pressure Nora Hale?”
Celeste stopped.
The question was too direct to dismiss and too precise to have come from rumor alone.
Outside the closed door, Evelyn’s footsteps faded down the corridor.
Albert did not look after her.
That made his attention more dangerous, not less.
“I advised Nora not to let soldiers use her fear for their own purposes.”
“You summoned her privately.”
“She is a servant in the household I manage.”
“You showed her records concerning her family.”
Celeste kept her hands still.
Albert knew enough to suspect the mechanism.
Not enough to prove it.
“Nora’s family occupies cr
