Prince Cassian left the princess’s chambers with the sa calm expression he entered with.
asured steps.
Relaxed posture.
Perfect control.
Only after the doors closed behind him did the smile disappear from his face entirely.
The palace corridors remained quiet during early morning hours while servants moved carefully along the walls with lowered heads as the prince passed. Sunlight spilled through the tall glass windows overlooking the capital below, warm and golden against polished marble floors.
Cassian barely noticed any of it.
His thoughts remained fixed on one thing.
Lucien.
Alive.
Not only alive—
Growing.
The prince descended toward the inner palace wing reserved for royal administration before finally entering his private study chambers.
The guards outside closed the doors imdiately behind him.
Silence settled across the room.
Unlike most noble studies, Cassian’s chamber contained very little decoration. Maps covered entire sections of the walls while stacks of organized docunts rested across several tables beside sealed letters and intelligence reports.
Practical.
Controlled.
Cassian preferred rooms that served purposes.
He removed his gloves slowly before walking toward the northern regional map hanging near the central desk.
Elarion sat near the edge of the kingdom.
A frozen wasteland most southern nobles ignored unless taxes or military routes beca inconvenient.
And yet recently—
Too many reports had begun returning from that wasteland.
Trade increases.
Fortified roads.
tal production.
Military discipline.
Then ca rumors.
A dragon.
Cassian exhaled quietly.
Ridiculous.
And yet royal investigators apparently confird it.
The prince rested one hand against the edge of the desk afterward.
For several monts he simply stood there silently.
Thinking.
Then finally spoke.
"Co out."
The room remained still at first.
Then a figure erged quietly from behind the shadowed section near the western bookshelves.
Black clothing.
Calm movents.
A man difficult to rember the mont one looked away from him.
Cassian never asked his real na.
Most people in the intelligence circles simply called him Raven.
The shadow operative bowed slightly.
"Your Highness."
Cassian walked toward the desk slowly.
"I want everything."
Raven remained silent.
"The north," Cassian continued. "Elarion. Trade movents. Military growth. Political contacts."
A colder expression settled across the prince’s face.
"And Lucien."
The operative finally spoke.
"We already have agents monitoring the northern trade routes."
"Not enough."
Cassian looked toward the map again.
"I want reports from rchants, rcenaries, caravans, anyone entering or leaving the frontier."
Another pause.
"And verify the dragon rumors personally."
For the first ti, Raven seed slightly uncertain.
"...Personally?"
Cassian’s eyes narrowed faintly.
"If a dragon truly ford a contract with Lucien, then the situation changes completely."
The room beca quieter after that.
Because both n understood what that ant.
Power shifted kingdoms.
But dragons?
Dragons reshaped them.
Raven finally nodded once.
"It will take ti."
"You have two weeks."
"That is not much ti."
Cassian looked at him calmly.
"I’m aware."
The operative lowered his head slightly in acknowledgnt.
Then hesitated.
"There is another matter."
Cassian sat behind the desk.
"Speak."
"The Royal Intelligence Bureau has also begun investigating Elarion independently."
The prince’s fingers paused lightly against the desk surface.
Interesting.
Annoying.
But not surprising.
"Do we know why?"
"Not fully."
Raven stepped closer before placing several sealed docunts onto the table.
"But we intercepted ntions of industrial activity beneath the northern ruins."
Cassian opened one of the reports silently.
Furnace expansion.
Mining increases.
Unusual steel quality.
His expression darkened slightly.
Lucien should not have been capable of this.
Not alone.
Not after exile.
Not after the poisoning.
That final thought lingered longer than expected.
Cassian slowly leaned back into his chair afterward.
For years Lucien had been quiet.
Passive.
Easy to overlook.
Even when removing him from succession beca necessary, Cassian never truly considered him dangerous.
Just inconvenient.
But now?
Now royal investigators returned speaking carefully.
Now intelligence agents moved north secretly.
Now the princess herself looked relieved hearing Lucien survived.
That irritated him more than expected.
The prince closed the report calmly.
Then asked the question truly bothering him.
"...What changed him?"
Raven remained silent.
Because there was no answer yet.
Outside the study windows, bells echoed faintly across the capital as the city fully awakened beneath morning sunlight.
Far away beyond the southern warmth—
Snow still covered Elarion.
And sowhere in those frozen mountains, the forgotten exile was becoming impossible to ignore.
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