The silence after Lucien's revelation stretched between them like a taut string ready to snap. The fire crackled, shadows flickering across his chiseled face.
Liora shifted on her seat, her hands tightening in her lap. "If what you say is true… then your ex-wife was never meant to be a sacrifice at all. She was caught in someone else's plot."
Lucien's jaw hardened. "She was not caught. She was chosen. By someone who wanted me ruined. Her death was the perfect blade, they knew it would cut me deeper than any other strike."
"And you think it was the court?" Liora asked softly, her voice trembling despite her effort to sound steady. "Someone close to you?"
He leaned forward, his eyes glinting in the low firelight. "No. Not just someone. Someones. A web of them. Ministers, courtiers, even nobles outside the palace walls. But there is one hand that guides the rest."
Liora's breath caught. "Who?"
