It was a vault.
Because of course it was. Secret room behind the bookshelf, unlocked by the family heirloom watch. I was one dramatic prophecy away from being the protagonist of my own fantasy romance.
The walls were lined with shelves holding antique texts, jewelry boxes, rolled scrolls, and objects I couldn’t identify. A table in the center held more papers, documents, letters, what looked like a family tree drawn on aged parchment. Everything was covered in dust, untouched for decades.
“Your family kept their most valuable things here,” Thessa murmured, her eyes wide as she took in the treasures. “Hidden. Protected.”
“But why?” I picked up one of the scrolls, unrolled it carefully. It was a deed to property I didn’t recognize. “Why hide all of this?”
“Maybe they were protecting themselves. Or protecting secrets.”
We went through everything.
It took hours. The vault was packed with generations of Mirabelle history: birth records, marriage certificates, land deeds, personal letters. I read about great-grandparents I never knew, feuds with families I’d never heard of, alliances and betrayals that spanned centuries. The Mirabelles had been important once, influential, trusted advisors to the crown.
Also, apparently, hoarders. There was a receipt for a furniture purchase from three hundred years ago. Who keeps that?
And then I found the papers.
They were at the bottom of a locked chest that Thessa managed to pry open with a dagger. A bundle of documents, tied with a faded ribbon, clearly hidden more carefully than anything else in the vault. Someone had wanted these protected. Someone had known they were dangerous.
I untied the ribbon. Unfolded the first document.
And horror washed through me.
“Thessa. Look at this.”
It was a letter. Dated twenty-one years ago, when I was seven. Written in my father’s handwriting, based on the notes I’d found in his study.
I have discovered terrible truths. Soren Blackwater and the Ashcroft family have been conspiring against the crown for decades. They plan to eliminate the Goldridge line and seize control of Duskmere. I have documented everything: names, dates, communications I intercepted. The evidence is irrefutable.
But I fear they know I’ve discovered them. Kattarina and I must flee. If anything happens to us, this must reach the king.
I was shaking so badly I could barely hold the paper.
“Soren,” Thessa whispered, her face pale. “He’s on the council. He’s been on the council for years.”
“And the Ashcroft family?”
“Noble house. Old blood. They have members in every major institution.” Thessa’s voice was barely audible. “Goddess. They’ve been planning this for decades.” She paused, her expression shifting to horror. “You know an Ashcroft.”
“Who?”
“Vix Ashcroft.”
Of course.
Of fucking course.
Vix. The woman who’d been tormenting me since I arrived. The woman who staged the confrontation with Caelan. The woman who tried to destroy my relationship, who made sure I overheard that conversation in the office.
I’d thought she was just a jealous ex with boundary issues. Turns out she was a jealous ex with boundary issues AND a decades-long conspiracy to commit treason and murder.
“She’s part of this,” I breathed. “She’s been part of this the whole time.”
Everything made sense now. The way Vix targeted me specifically. The way Soren looked at me in the council room, with recognition and fear in his eyes. They knew who I was. They knew I was the daughter of the people who discovered their conspiracy.
“My parents found out.” My voice cracked. “They found out, and they ran, and they were murdered for it.”
