Chapter 144: To Meet The Dowager
On the way to the tower, Lorraine instructed her shinobis with a few swift signs, commanding them to keep an eye on the woman her father held hostage. Instinct whispered that the woman knew more than the simple truth that Hadrian Arvand had killed his wife to wed his mistress. That alone would never be enough to bring him down.
No, if Lorraine’s suspicion was correct, that woman carried knowledge of the "secret" her father had once hinted at, the very one he claimed could topple the empire. If he hadn’t been exaggerating, then the Dowager would surely be after her as well. Lorraine could not allow the Dowager to reach the woman first.
Leroy said nothing, only observed. He watched the way the shinobis, those same men he had fought days ago when he tried to seize Lord Cassian, moved around her. Silent, skilled, deadly. They needed no words, only gestures, and yet he could feel the weight of their loyalty. The reverence they had for her as they bowed to her.
A commander.
That was what Leroy thought as he watched her, commanding men without speaking, her presence alone binding them. And when their covered faces turned toward him, bowing slightly before withdrawing into the shadows, Leroy understood that she had already spoken to them about him.
As they made their way to the stone tower, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. To walk beside her, to share her war, and her secrets... it was the fulfillment of ten years of sacrifice. Every bitter compromise, every loss, every lonely night he spent apart from her... it was worth this. Worth her. Worth the rest of their lives.
"What?" Lorraine asked suddenly, sensing the intensity of his stare. She opened the trapdoor to the tower and began to climb. The tunnels here were empty, eerily so.
"You have no guards here?" Leroy asked, scanning the shadows.
"I never needed men for the tunnels," she replied. "Those ones you saw earlier... the ones in black, they—"
"The ones who captured Cassian?" Leroy pressed.
"No. Those are my shinobis. They don’t enter the tunnel unless I ask them to. I meant the others I left with Hadrian and Elyse."
"You don’t even have names for them? Do you even know who they are?"
Lorraine shrugged, unconcerned. "They were always there. I never had to summon them. A wave of my hand, and they come. I don’t even know how many there are. Sometimes I think the tunnels belong to them, and I’m only tolerated... for reasons I don’t understand." She hesitated, voice lowering. "And that one man—he..."
"You trust them?" Leroy cut in, watching her carefully. "Will they keep that loyalty?"
The memory of their silence and reverence when she had spoken in another’s voice, when her eyes had glowed with prophecy, still gnawed at him. They knelt and worshipped her, or at least the one who possessed her. He hadn’t forgotten the way they hadn’t flinched, hadn’t questioned. As if they had known. As if they expected it.
Were they tolerating her because of who she was? Or were they the ones causing her to... have glowing eyes? He had no clue.
He had a theory. A dangerous, absurd theory. One he couldn’t yet say aloud.
"They haven’t yet told me what they want," Lorraine admitted, stepping into the back chamber of her divination room.
Leroy lingered at the threshold, watching the sweep of her cloak as she moved. His chest ached with something sharp and helpless. Of course, she knew better than to trust freely offered loyalty. Of course, she understood the price of it. But how much did she know of herself? Of what waited inside her, waiting to be named?
He had a thousand questions and a thousand fears. But not now. Not yet.
Before he realized it, Leroy was fumbling with the ties of her dress.
Lorraine chuckled, glancing over her shoulder. "How long are you going to take with that? Sylvia would have finished ages ago. My husband, who can memorize a maze of tunnels after walking it once, can’t figure out a few ties?"
"I’m almost finished..." Leroy muttered, brows furrowed. "Why did you make this so complicated?"
Lorraine’s laugh deepened. "Funny. You didn’t find it complicated to undress me," she teased.
That was all it took. Leroy twisted her to face him and pressed his lips against hers. "I could show you again just how easy it is to undo," he breathed, his mouth hovering over hers.
She pushed lightly at his chest, though her smile betrayed her. Gods, how adorable he looked like this... clumsy, stubborn, and hers. She wanted nothing more than to sink into him, to blur the edges between their bodies until she was no longer herself, only him. But time pressed in. "I can’t let her wait too long. Sunrise isn’t far," she whispered.
He stole quick kisses from her lips, unwilling to let go. "What will you tell her?"
"I don’t know yet," Lorraine admitted. "I’ll try to see what she already knows."
He kissed her again, longer this time, a question hidden in the press of his mouth. "Will I even hear you from here? Call me if you need me."
"Well..." Her arms slid over his shoulders, drawing his tall frame down so their eyes met. He bent willingly, his gaze soft but burning.
How could this warrior, this magnificent and handsome man that she thought was so out of reach for her, bend for her like this?
When had he fallen for her? She had thought for so long that his heart was out of reach, that his loyalty and tenderness belonged to another life. Yet now, with every stolen glance, every kiss, she felt the truth: he had loved her as fiercely as she had loved him. He had only hidden it better. She wanted to ask him when, how, and why. But not now. Not when the dawn was about to arrive.
Instead, she showed him the mechanics of her divination room. Which levers signaled which traps, and what flags meant danger or safety. He studied the hidden apparatus that gave them sight of the stairs from within the tower, his expression taut with fascination.
"Who built all this?" he asked, tracing one of the devices.
"The same man who designed the tunnels in our mansion. Sylvia found him for me. But what’s strange is..." she paused, fingertips brushing the stone. "This tower was built in such a way that all these traps could be added later, almost as if it was meant for it."
Leroy watched her as she spoke, pride and protectiveness swelling in his chest. Then she stepped through the doorway into the divination room, and he lingered—eyes following her every movement, unwilling to look away.
Lorraine slipped into her chamber, the air cool and heavy with the faint scent of damp stone and lilies. The white, lily-shaped water basin at the center glimmered faintly, its surface catching the candlelight like a mirror of pale moon.
The Dowager was already there.
"You’re late," the Dowager murmured.