Under His Shadow

Chapter Five

The Price of Silence

This scream did not fade.

It sliced through the estate like a knife, and then echoed once more as if the walls themselves were screaming back. Keiroa stood frozen next to her bed, holding her breath. Her hands were shaking, but she did not move.

Elara's nails dug into her arm.

“They killed him,” Elara whispered, her voice barely being put together. “They killed him inside the house.”

Keiroa swallowed hard. Her throat narrowed. "How?"

Elara shook her head. "Quietly. Without struggle. Without warning."

That scared Keiroa much more than the scream. It was a quiet death that required planning. It was familiar.

Someone knew the house well enough to murder without making noise.

Footsteps thundered through the corridor outside.

Orders were shouted. Steel clashed. Doors crashed open and shut. Someone nearby shrieked in pain.

Keiroa could feel her stomach turning.

She had known fear before, but this was different.

This was no random act of brutality. This was targeted. This was deliberate.

Captain Kai stood up at the door. His presence was sharp and commanding. There was blood on his glove. Not much, but enough.

“Stay there,” he said. “Lock the door. Under no circumstances are you to open it for anyone but myself and Lord Black.”

Keiroa nodded.

Turning to leave, she finally had to say something.

“Was it one of the intruders?”

Captain Kai paused.

“No,” he replied slowly. “That’s what makes it dangerous.”

The door closed.

Keiroa’s knees went weak. She settled on the bed, her heart beating against her rib cage.

Inside.

There had been a killing from inside.

“The house that had felt like a prison before now felt like it was contaminated.”

The night crawled by. Too slowly. Each noise strained Keiroa’s nerves. Each shadow seemed to shift. She didn’t sleep. Elara didn’t either. They sat in silence, listening, waiting.

By the next morning, everything was different at the estate.

"It no longer pretended to be a home."

There were guards at every corner. Doors were locked.

Windows were barred. Servants walked with their heads down, their faces white with fear. Nobody spoke unless spoken to.

Fear rules openly now.

Keiroa was accompanied wherever she went, even during meals. The captain had two guards stationed outside her doors.

Roland did not come to see her.

This was a blow she didn't expect to take so hard.

Instead, Mr. Stone came.

He pushed open the door without knocking, calm and collected as if no blood had been shed hours before.

His eyes roved over the room until they rested on Keiroa.

“You see?” he remarked calmly. “Such are the consequences when secrets attract notice.”

Keiroa straightened up. “Someone died.”

“Yes,” Mr. Stone said. “And more will, if you remain valuable.”

Her hands were clenched at her sides. "Then stop using me."

Mr. Stone faintly smiled. “That's not the way power functions,”

“You caused this,” she said, meeting his gaze without turning her attention elsewhere.

“I managed it,” he corrected. “Your parents caused it by resisting.”

Her chest was tightening in pain. "You killed them."

Mr. Stone has denied this.

They believed they could protect what they had by concealing it. They were wrong.’”

Keiroa felt a chilly sensation run through her veins.

"And me?"

“You were supposed to disappear,” he said matter-of-factly. “But Madam Gray had plans.”

Keiroa’s breath shook. Scenes poured into her mind: all the beatings, reminders she was unwanted, and pleas to keep quiet.

"She knew," Keiroa whispered. "She knew all along."

"Yes," said Mr. Stone. "She waited until the time was right."

A harsh laugh burst out of Keiroa. “I was never unwanted. I was warehoused.”

“Exactly,” Mr. Stone nodded once.

Roland appeared in the room, and his entrance was portentous, authoritative.

"That is quite enough," said Roland chillingly. "You have said what you have come to say."

Mr. Stone smiled. “You’re getting emotional.”

Roland drew closer. "Leave."

MR. Stone slowly got up. " This situation is proceeding at a rate that exceeds your comfort.”

He paused at the door. “And remember, she is not just your wife.”

When he went out, silence accompanied him.

Roland did not initially look at Keiroa. His face was set, and his jaw was tightened.

“Don’t go and stir him up,” he said.

“I should not exist,” Keiroa responded.

Roland turned to her then. Their eyes met.

“You are alive because you are useful,” he said.

The words stung, but she nodded. "At least you're honest."

Roland sighed. “Mrs. Gray has been in contact with the council.”

Keiroa's heart sank. “Of course she has.”

“She wants payment,” Roland pressed on. “She says that her marriage contract is not valid.”

“And if you refuse?” asked Keiroa.

“She threatens to speak.”

Keiroa chuckled softly, a hollow laugh. “About my parents.”

"Yes”

Silence ensued.

"And you?" Keiroa whispered. "What do you want?"

Roland's eyes narrowed. "I won't surrender what is mine."

Her chest narrowed once more. "So I stay here. Watched. Used."

“For now,” he said.

That night, Keiroa sat by the window, observing the guards down below. She noticed their routines. She noticed their habits. When their attention wandered.

She recalled what Mr. Stone said.

If you continue to be valuable.

Value was dangerous.

There came a soft knock on the door.

Elara entered, pale and trembling.

“They took records,” Elara whispered. “Old records. From storage.”

Keiroa's heart sank. "What sort of files?"

Elara swallowed hard. The files of your parents.

Before Keiroa could answer, loud voices were carried down from the hall. Roland. Captain Kai. Knives of rage being sharpened.

“The gate was opened!” someone shouted.

Keiroa got up slowly.

Her hands did not shake anymore.

For the first time, she understood something clearly.

"Silence had sustained her all this while,"

But silence wouldn’t have protected her either.

The house came under attack.

And she was the reason.