Chapter Six: Discovered
706 Words
The palace corridors were quieter than the training yard.
Quieter — but sharper.
Every step echoed. Every glance lingered a second too long.
Lucas walked in uniform now.
Dark tunic. Silver insignia stitched at the shoulder. A blade at his hip that did not belong to him — yet.
He kept his gaze forward.
Guards were not meant to be seen. Only felt.
They were positioned along the eastern wing that morning.
The Queen Dowager’s quarters.
Lucas’s stepmother.
He had not stood within these walls since he was a child.
The scent of polished stone and burning resin struck something old in his chest.
He did not slow.
Voices approached from around the corridor bend.
Measured.
Lucas recognized one instantly.
Aina rounded the corner flanked by two attendants.
She did not pause when she saw him.
But her eyes flicked to his insignia.
Then to his face.
Recognition settled in — quiet and precise.
She dismissed her attendants with a slight tilt of her fingers.
They stepped back without question.
She stopped in front of him.
“So,” she said calmly, “you chose proximity over caution.”
Lucas did not bow.
“I prefer to observe things closely.”
Her gaze sharpened at that.
“You weren’t careful at the gate.”
“And you were reckless.”
A faint arch of her brow. “Reckless?”
“You involved yourself.”
“I corrected an inconvenience.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
“You claim expensive inconveniences, then.”
Silence stretched between them.
She studied him openly now.
No softness. No lingering warmth from the road.
This was someone else entirely.
Controlled.
Polished.
Dangerous.
“You fight like someone who was trained properly,” she said.
“And you speak like someone who enjoys being obeyed.”
A corner of her mouth lifted,
“You passed the trials quickly.”
“You noticed.”
“I notice everything inside these walls.”
There it was.
A fact.
Footsteps echoed from deeper in the corridor.
Lucas stiffened almost imperceptibly.
Aina stepped slightly closer, lowering her voice.
“You are either very ambitious,” she said quietly, “or very foolish.”
“Sometimes they are the same thing.”
Her gaze held his a moment longer.
Then she stepped back.
“You are assigned to this wing?”
“For now.”
“Then do your duty properly.”
“And what is that?”
She looked at him steadily.
“To see what others miss.”
A servant approached hurriedly from behind her.
“My lady, the Queen Dowager awaits.”
Aina inclined her head and moved past Lucas.
As she did, her sleeve brushed his arm — intentional.
Soft enough not to draw attention.
Firm enough to signal something else.
Lucas did not turn to watch her go.
But he felt it.
She wasn’t visiting casually.
The Queen Dowager rarely received guests.
And not without purpose.
Moments later, the heavy doors to the Dowager’s chamber closed.
Lucas remained at his post.
But inside, voices carried faintly through stone.
He caught only fragments.
“…alliance…”
“…your son…”
“…stability of succession…”
His hand tightened at his side.
His younger half-brother.
Marriage alliance.
Aina.
So that was the visit.
His stepmother was arranging power.
And Aina was part of it.
The corridor felt colder.
Footsteps approached from the opposite direction.
The captain from the trials.
He stopped beside Lucas.
“You’ve adjusted quickly,” he said quietly.
Lucas kept his eyes forward.
“I adapt.”
The captain studied him.
“Be careful what you adapt to.”
Then he walked on.
Inside the chamber, the Dowager’s voice rose slightly — sharp, triumphant.
The doors opened.
Aina stepped out.
Her expression was composed.
But her eyes met Lucas’s for the briefest moment.
And something unspoken passed between them.
She was about to be tied to the royal family.
To his family.
She walked past him without another word.
But just before turning the corner, she said softly — without looking back:
“Be careful where you stand.”
Then she was gone.
Lucas remained still.
For the first time since entering the palace—
He felt the ground shifting beneath him.
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