“I saw the letter come in, addressed to theKyzaire,” Velle said quietly, her shoulders sagging. “I read it and brought it to Lydrasa. She told me that if I ever heard news of you to let her know. She fears what your presence means here.”
Fears she’d already addressed with me.
“Go on,” I ordered, my tone cold, making Velle jump slightly.
“It was Lydrasa’s idea to forge the letter. She had different correspondences from you,Kyzaire. With your signature. She easily replicated it, copied your handwriting. And she did send the credits to the account.”
“As a payoff,” I said.
Velle nodded. “To keep Erina away. And it was my job to be on the lookout for more letters, if they came to the keep.”
Which Erina never would’ve sent, I knew. Because she’d thought I’d denied her pregnancy and rejected her.
Gods. What a fucking disaster.
Velle and Lydrasa had nearly cost me my mate and my child.
No,I realized next, setting my jaw tight. They’d only made Erina mistrust me more than she already had.
Iwould’vefound Erina in Laras, or anywhere she’d gone within the Kaalium. I wouldn’t have stopped until I found her again, and I would’ve learned the truth regardless.
But to know that Erina had been scared and in trouble, that she had reached out to me when she’d learned of the child…that made me want burn down the entirety of House Azola.
Even though I couldn’t.
Lydrasa was nearly untouchable, and she knew it. But I would handle her later.
Erina met my eyes from across the room. She was still standing in line with Maudoric, looking calm. Sad but calm. Accepting.
I’d had her all wrong, hadn’t I?
I thought it very likely that she might just be the kindest soul I knew. Instead I’d made her a manipulative villain in my mind.
But I was not so kind as Erina.
“I want you gone,” I said, keeping my voice even as I looked at Velle. She began to cry, fat tears dripping from her eyes, but I wasn’t swayed by the theatrics. “You are not welcome in my keep again.”
“Please,Kyzaire, I will never do?—”
“Enough,” I growled, glaring down at her. “It’s clear where your loyalties lie. To think that House Azola had their own little spy within my own keep is enough of an offense against me. But to go after mykyrana, my child…that is unforgivable. Go back to them. Given your devotion to their House, I’m sure they’ll take you back with haste. But you have no place here in mine.”
Velle looked stricken, with a stream of tears running down her face. Even I knew that a dismissal from House Kaalium would darken her reputation as a keeper. If House Azola didn’t take her back, then she likely wouldn’t be able to find work within a noble House again.
I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of even thinking about her again once she left this office. But Lydrasa…I would make her remember what she’d done for years.
“Erina,” she whispered. Pleading with my mate now? I barely held back my growl. “Please. This is my home.”
Erina looked at her old friend steadily. I knew it might’ve hurt, but it needed to be done. I would not have poison flowing through my house, waiting to strike again.
“Like I told you the morning I left,” Erina said, “I hope you have a good life with your noble.”
For Erina’s sake, however, I said to Maudoric, “Get her set up at an inn in town. She can stay there until the end of the month to find work.” I met Velle’s eyes again. “But that’s the last I’ll do for you. Go.”
Velle’s breath hitched and she stumbled out of the room. Erina stepped aside, out of her path, and the keeper disappeared down the hallway, presumably to pack up her room.
Maudoric approached me. From her apron pocket, she pulled out a letter, written on thin paper.
“I found it in her room,” she said. Evidence enough.
