CHAPTER 21: WARNINGS I GUESS

They stayed until the ward had steadied enough to promise nothing terribly cruel. When they stepped back into the basilica’s stair, the night seemed to press on them with more intent than before. Joanna’s jaw had set like something forged. Kaelen’s knuckles ached where the wax had fit.

"Who would send assassins to a retired Archmage?" Joanna demanded as they walked out.

Kaelen did not answer at first. He was enraged with anger, this has proven his enemies are too experienced. He was battling with his mind on how to move forward. His skills were great but not strong enough to move forces to his command. He was still bound to his father’s house where he wasn’t fully accepted.

"Someone who believes Tiara knows too much," he said finally. "Someone who believes she can lead you and me to what they need."

They did not speak again until the bell in the city chimed the uncaring hour and they made for the household gates. Both of them moved like people who had been given a new map of danger.

The streets of Luminis felt different now, as if the shadows themselves had grown teeth. Every footstep echoed with potential threat, every darkened doorway might hide another assassin. The protective wax seal pressed against Kaelen’s palm like a cold reminder of how precarious their situation had become.

"We can’t go back to the way things were," Joanna said quietly as they approached the familiar walls of House Valerius. "Not after tonight."

Kaelen nodded, though something twisted in his chest at the thought. The house that had been his sanctuary, his place of learning and growth, now felt like a potential trap. Tiara’s warning echoed in his mind....Don’t trust anyone above the Vault.

The gates stood open, unusual for this late hour. Torches flickered in their brackets, casting dancing shadows across the courtyard. As they passed through, Kaelen noticed more guards than normal positioned around the perimeter. Their eyes tracked his movement with an attention that felt less protective and more... watchful.

"Lord Kaelen," called a familiar voice. Marcus, his father’s steward, emerged from the main hall. "Your father requests your presence in his study immediately."

Kaelen exchanged a glance with Joanna. "At this hour?"

"He said it was urgent, my lord. Regarding the incident at the basilica."

The words sent ice through Kaelen’s veins. How could his father already know about the attack on Tiara? Unless...

"Of course," Kaelen replied carefully. "I’ll attend him shortly."

Marcus bowed and retreated.

"I don’t like this," Joanna murmured as they climbed the steps to the main entrance. "How does he know?"

"There are many ways he could know," Kaelen said, though each possibility that came to mind was more troubling than the last. "The attack wasn’t exactly subtle. Word travels fast in this city."

But even as he said it, doubt gnawed at him. The attack had been swift, contained. The kind of thing that should have remained unknown until morning at the earliest. For his father to know already, to be waiting for him...

They separated in the main hall, Joanna heading toward the guest quarters while Kaelen made his way through corridors he had walked a thousand times before. Now they felt alien, watched. Portraits of previous Lords Valerius seemed to follow him with their painted eyes, and he found himself gripping Tiara’s protective seal tighter with each step.

The study door stood slightly ajar, warm light spilling into the hallway. Kaelen paused, listening. He could hear his father’s voice, low and measured, speaking to someone else. After a moment, he knocked.

"Enter."

Lord Valerius sat behind his massive oak desk, papers spread before him in careful organization. Across from him, in a high-backed chair, sat Councilor Aldric...one of the most senior members of the Conclave. Both men looked up as Kaelen entered, and he noticed how quickly his father’s companion straightened, as if they had been caught in some intimate conversation.

"Kaelen," Lord Valerius said, rising. "Thank you for coming so quickly. I trust you’re unharmed?"

"I am." Kaelen kept his voice neutral. "Though I’m curious how you learned of tonight’s events so rapidly."

Councilor Aldric smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. "Bad news has wings in this city, young Valerius. When a retired Archmage is attacked in her own sanctuary, word reaches the Conclave within the hour."

"Attacked?" Kaelen allowed surprise to color his tone. "I heard there was some kind of accident at the basilica, but..."

"Please," Lord Valerius interrupted, though not unkindly. "We know you were there, son. We know what you witnessed."

The casual admission hit Kaelen like a blow. They had been Followed. The revelation meant that whoever had sent the assassins had resources within the very institutions meant to protect Luminis. Tiara’s warning suddenly seemed more urgent.

"I see." Kaelen moved further into the room, noting how Councilor Aldric’s hand rested casually near a small crystal pendant at his throat...a communication device. "Then you also know that Tiara barely survived. That someone tried to murder her in cold blood."

"We know that former Archmage Tiara has been... unstable... for some time," Councilor Aldric said smoothly. "Her retirement was not entirely voluntary, you understand. There were concerns about her mental state, her growing paranoia about imagined threats to the city."

"Imagined?" The word came out sharper than Kaelen intended. "The assassins I fought were quite real, Councilor."

"Assassins?" Lord Valerius leaned forward, and for a moment, Kaelen saw what looked like genuine concern in his father’s eyes. "Son, the reports we received spoke of a self-inflicted incident. Tiara has been known to experiment with dangerous magics, to push boundaries that should not be crossed. It’s entirely possible..."

"It’s entirely possible that you’re being lied to," Kaelen cut him off. "I was there, Father. I saw them. I fought them."

Silence stretched between them, heavy with implication. Councilor Aldric’s fingers drummed against his chair arm in a rhythm that seemed almost like a code.

"Kaelen," his father said finally, "I understand your loyalty to your former instructor. But you must consider the possibility that what you saw was not what you think you saw. Tiara has always been... influential... with her students. Her abilities extend beyond simple magic instruction."

The implication struck Kaelen like a slap. They were suggesting that Tiara had manipulated his perceptions, made him see threats that weren’t there. It was exactly the kind of gaslighting that someone with deeper involvement in the conspiracy would use.

Kaelen felt the wax seal grow cold against his palm, a reminder of Tiara’s final gift to him. If his father and the Councilor were trying to manipulate his thoughts, the seal would protect him. But it couldn’t protect him from the deeper hurt of potential betrayal.

"I know what I saw," he said quietly. "And I know what Tiara told me before she lost consciousness."

"Which was?" Councilor Aldric asked, too quickly.

Kaelen met his eyes. "That I should be very careful who I trust."

Another silence, this one sharper than the last. Lord Valerius rose from his chair and moved to the window, looking out at the city below.

"Son," he said without turning around, "there are forces at work in Luminis that you don’t fully understand. Ancient agreements, delicate balances that have kept our city safe for generations. Sometimes, when those balances are threatened, difficult decisions must be made."

"What kind of decisions?" Kaelen asked, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"The kind that require sacrifice from all of us," Councilor Aldric said. "Even from those we care about."

The threat was subtle but unmistakable. Kaelen felt the room closing in around him, the weight of realization settling on his shoulders like a heavy cloak. His father...the man who had raised him...was at minimum complicit in whatever was happening to Luminus. At worst, he was one of the architects.

"I see," Kaelen said again. "Then I suppose I should ask: what sacrifice is expected of me?"

Lord Valerius turned back to him, and for just a moment, Kaelen saw something raw and pained in his father’s expression.

"Information," the older man said simply. "Tiara spoke to you tonight. She gave you something...guidance, perhaps, or knowledge that the Conclave needs to properly address the threats facing our city. We need to know what she told you, Kaelen. Everything she told you."

Kaelen thought of Tiara’s final words, her desperate warning about the Fifth, about trusting no one above the Vault. He thought of the protective seal hidden in his glove, of Joanna waiting somewhere in this house that no longer felt safe.

"She was barely conscious," he lied smoothly. "Delirious from her injuries. Nothing she said made any sense."

The disappointment in his father’s eyes was almost harder to bear than the threat from Councilor Aldric.

"I see," Lord Valerius said. "Well, perhaps after a night’s rest, you might remember more clearly. Memory can be... unreliable... immediately after traumatic events."

"Perhaps," Kaelen agreed.

He turned to leave, but Councilor Aldric’s voice stopped him at the door.

"Young Valerius. I trust you understand the delicate nature of tonight’s events. It would be... unfortunate... if exaggerated accounts were to spread throughout the city. Panic serves no one."

Kaelen looked back at him. "Of course, Councilor. I wouldn’t dream of spreading panic with exaggerated accounts."

The emphasis on ’exaggerated’ was subtle but pointed. As he left the study and made his way through the darkened corridors, Kaelen felt the full weight of his isolation settling around him. He was alone in his own home, surrounded by people who might well be his enemies, holding secrets that could either save Luminis or destroy it.

The protective seal pressed against his palm like a lifeline, a reminder that at least one person had believed him worthy of trust. Now he had to prove worthy of it.

As he reached his chambers, Kaelen made a decision. Tomorrow, he will begin planning his own father’s downfall. Because if Lord Valerius was truly part of the conspiracy threatening Luminis, then family loyalty was a luxury Kaelen could no longer afford.

The city’s future...and his own survival...depended on his willingness to sacrifice everything he had once held dear.