"Kenric Jade…" Prince William's voice was taut with skepticism, his eyes narrowing as he shifted his gaze between Eugene and the man now seated with practiced ease on the sofa. "You do realize this man is perhaps the most loyal creature my sister has ever kept? The one who would slit his own throat before betraying her?"

Before Eugene could form a reply, Kenric leaned forward, resting an arm lazily on the teapoy, his expression carved into the calm of a man utterly certain of himself.

"Of course," Kenric said smoothly. "There is no doubt of my loyalty. I would bleed for her. I would die for her. I admire her brilliance… and I confess I harbor a deep affection for her." His fingers tapped lightly against the polished surface, punctuating the weight of his words.

Prince William threw his hands wide, exasperated. "You see? How can we trust him, Eugene? How can we trust that a man who worships Ravenna like some star fallen to earth will do as we need? His disgust for us drips from every word."

But once again, Eugene remained silent, his lips pressed thin. He gave Kenric the stage.

Kenric's smile shifted, faintly deliberate, as though he had been waiting for this exact objection. "Her Highness Ravenna is indeed my savior," he said softly, his voice carrying a strange reverence. "She gave me a place to exist. Without her, I would have been ashes scattered in the wind long ago."

He leaned back, his expression sharpening into something colder, hungrier. "But let us not mistake circumstance for purpose. The only reason I accepted her grace, the only reason I stayed by her side, is because of my sister. My search for her has never ceased. My devotion to finding her outweighs all else."

The words hit like blades drawn across the silence.

"My sister," Kenric repeated, each syllable deliberate, "remains above Her Highness Ravenna. Above my loyalties. Above my life."

Eugene nodded slightly, as though sealing the confession. "You see now, Your Highness?" he said, rising to place a steadying hand on Prince William's shoulder. "Kenric is not bound by loyalty. He is bound by a personal goal. That makes him… adaptable. He will turn against anyone if it brings him closer to his goal. He is our best chance." His voice dropped to a whisper against William's ear. "Trust me."

William's jaw worked soundlessly, the storm of doubt raging in his eyes.

Kenric's gaze flicked to them both, his smile returning in a razor-thin line. He drew from his coat a folded sheet of parchment, the ink on it still faintly fresh, and placed it neatly atop the teapoy.

"Then let us dispense with pretty words," he said coldly. "You sent me this letter." He tapped the page with one long finger. "An exact description of my sister. A detail only Her Highness Ravenna and a handful of her most trusted would ever know. So tell me. Are you truly in possession of something substantial, or was it a clever fluke? Did you bait me here on nothing but smoke?"

Silence fell.

Prince William's breath hitched as he glanced at Eugene. Questions gnawed at him. How had Eugene known this story: this hidden wound in Kenric's heart that even court whispers never knew? How had he discovered the secret of Ravenna and Kenric's relationship?

And yet… Prince William swallowed hard. Eugene was always like this. Always grasping knowledge he should not have. Always pulling strings no one else could see. It was the reason William followed him despite the unease, despite the fear.

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It was also the reason why the moment Eugene had told him his mother would die, he had believed.

Eugene sat again, his composure unshaken, his eyes steady. "We do," he said firmly.

His tone was not the swagger of a gambler bluffing, but the certainty of a man holding his winning hand.

"We know your sister was sold by your father, Noah Jade, years ago, to a Lord Dain. We know you killed Noah and massacred the Jade Household. We know it was Ravenna who saved you afterward, and from that day onward you were shackled to her, though a weird odd love, it's not by loyalty, but by debt." Eugene's words were crisp, unflinching, each one carving deeper into Kenric's armor.

Prince William stiffened, his throat tightening. Even he had never known all of that.

The details Eugene spoke aloud were truths that should have been buried with corpses and shadows by Ravenna.

And yet Kenric's expression never faltered. His face remained impassive, a mask of practiced composure. Only the faintest flicker of surprise passed behind his eyes, gone in the blink of an instant.

"So you're not all smoke after all," Kenric said at last, voice flat, deliberate. He leaned forward, folding his arms atop his knees. "But knowing my story is not enough. It is the bare minimum. I already know my own life. What matters now is what you can offer me."

His gaze sharpened into a challenge, his words dropping like stones into the still air. "What can you give me… and how do I know it's real?"

Eugene pushed a sealed parchment across the low teapoy. The paper's seal glinted in the lamplight; the script was angular and old-fashioned, unmistakable once Kenric's eyes landed on it.

"We know the last recorded transaction by your father," Eugene said simply. "This is the bill of sale, signed by your father, Noah Jade. It names the buyer, the date, and the meeting place. We found traces of the ledger in a ledgerkeeper's chest near the docks, Prince William's faction controls; we followed the trails from there. It points to a person known as Lord Dain." He tapped the seal as if to emphasize the proof itself.

Kenric snatched the paper and read. His jaw clenched; the handwriting was one he had seen in nightmares. The name at the bottom: Noah Jade, struck like a physical blow. He folded and refolded the document under his palm, as if testing whether the truth would dissolve under pressure. "So," he said at last, voice raw, "you won't actually tell me where he is. Just that you know where Lord Dain and Anna might be?"

"We're not certain of Dain's current hideout," Eugene admitted. "He moves, and he protects himself with layers of shadow and commerce.We believe he is a leader of a criminal organization that trades slaves into Ancorna." With a pause so Kenric could absorb what he said then he continued "we traced these purchase records, shipments, and the men who signed for cargo. We can get you within striking distance." Eugene finished.

Silence spread across the chamber like dust settling. William watched Kenric closely; every twitch of his expression read like a map of buried scars.

Kenric's features tightened. He breathed slowly, measuring. "And what do you want in exchange for this?"

Prince William rose now, every inch the prince even in the small, lit room. "Burn the dirt Ravenna keeps on the high-ranking nobles who prop her up," he said, voice steady and colder than the lamplight. "Destroy the leverage she holds over them. Then, before morning, plant a ledger in her archive that proves she siphoned funds from the Empress's chamber: funds that should have paid for her medicine." He let the words hang, each one a stone in the invisible dam they were building.

Kenric's eyes flicked from William to Eugene. Rage, grief, and something that looked dangerously like calculation warred behind them. "You ask me to betray the woman who gave me shelter," he said finally. "To burn the only thing that keeps her safe in a court of vipers and to plant a lie that will hang her by morning."

Eugene leaned forward, calm as a blade. "You asked what we could offer. We offer you the one thing you wanted above all else: a lead on Anna. We offer the name of the ship that carried her, the port magistrate who signed the manifest, and the first safe house we've uncovered. We will fund the operation, and when you bring us proof that you completed the task, we will hand you every scrap of intelligence we have on Lord Dain's network and the Crime Syndicate that he seems to operate."

Kenric sat very still. The room felt too small for the weight of the decision. Finally he drew a slow breath and smiled: an expression without warmth. "Very well," he said. "I will find a way in. I will burn what must be burned. But know this: if you betray me, if this path leads me to a dead end, no ledger, no coin, no promise will save you. I will find my sister or I will burn the world trying."

William inclined his head, the quiet of a man who has already crossed a line. Eugene's mouth curved the faintest fraction of a smile. The plan set itself into motion like a machine beginning to grind.

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