The family archives were located beneath the oldest section of the estate.
I should have expected that.
Powerful families apparently loved hiding important secrets underground.
The entrance itself was concealed behind a massive stone wall inside the original manor.
A fingerprint scan.
A coded lock.
A biometric verification system.
And finally, a steel door thick enough to survive a small war.
I stared at it.
"...Was your father protecting documents or a nuclear weapon?"
Selene almost smiled.
"Both probably required less security."
That wasn't comforting.
At all.
The massive door slowly opened.
Cold air drifted out.
Ancient.
Still.
The kind of air that hadn't changed in decades.
Kairo stepped inside first.
Selene followed.
I trailed behind them.
The archives stretched far deeper than I expected.
Rows upon rows of shelves disappeared into the darkness.
Thousands of records.
Hundreds of years of family history.
Political agreements.
Financial records.
Personal journals.
Secrets.
Enough secrets to destroy nations.
The realization made me nervous.
Because secrets had become a recurring problem lately.
And every new secret seemed worse than the last.
The lights flickered on automatically.
Soft golden illumination spread throughout the room.
The archive looked less like a storage facility and more like a museum.
Everything was meticulously organized.
Preserved.
Protected.
Someone had cared deeply about maintaining it.
I wondered if that person had been Marcus.
The thought hurt more than I expected.
Twenty-eight years.
The number still refused to make sense.
Selene walked toward one section immediately.
"My father's personal collection."
Kairo followed.
I followed them.
Because splitting up in a hidden underground archive while traitors were running around seemed like an excellent way to die.
And I wasn't interested in that experience.
Not again.
We stopped before a collection of black binders.
Dozens of them.
Each labeled by year.
Selene frowned.
"These are the final records."
"From before his death?" I asked.
"Yes."
The room grew quieter.
Kairo pulled one of the binders free.
Opened it.
Started reading.
Several minutes passed.
No one spoke.
Only pages turning.
Documents shifting.
The distant hum of ventilation systems.
Then—
Selene froze.
Completely.
The reaction was immediate enough to catch everyone's attention.
"What?" I asked.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she slowly handed me the document.
I looked down.
And immediately understood.
Because the page contained the symbol.
The same symbol.
The one found on Marcus's abandoned vehicle.
A broken circle crossed by three intersecting lines.
My heart skipped.
It was real.
Not random.
Not recent.
This symbol had existed years before Cassian's rebellion.
Years before Marcus disappeared.
Years before any of this.
"What does it say?"
My voice sounded quieter than usual.
Selene's expression darkened.
"Not enough."
I looked closer.
The document appeared damaged.
Several sections were missing.
Entire paragraphs removed.
Destroyed intentionally.
Only fragments remained.
But one sentence survived.
Just one.
I read it aloud.
"'The Circle will move when the heir awakens.'"
Silence.
I blinked.
Then blinked again.
"...What does that mean?"
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew.
The sentence sounded more like a prophecy than a report.
And I hated prophecies.
They were always vague until it was too late.
Kairo took the document.
Examined it carefully.
Then his eyes narrowed.
"There are more pages."
I frowned.
"What?"
He pointed toward the torn edge.
"The report was incomplete."
The realization hit immediately.
Someone had removed part of the file.
Important parts.
The answers.
The room became silent.
Then Selene suddenly stood.
"I know where they are."
Both of us looked at her.
She was already moving.
Fast.
Determined.
Like someone chasing a memory.
We followed immediately.
The deeper sections of the archive became older.
Less organized.
More private.
Eventually, we reached a locked cabinet.
Unlike everything else.
This cabinet required a separate key.
Selene hesitated.
Then reached into her pocket.
And produced a small silver key.
I stared.
"You had that the entire time?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
She looked at me.
"My father gave it to me."
The room fell silent.
That felt important.
Very important.
Selene inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The cabinet opened.
Inside were only three folders.
Three.
Nothing else.
The atmosphere immediately changed.
Because suddenly it felt less like an archive and more like a vault.
A place where someone intentionally hid specific truths.
Selene carefully removed the first folder.
Opened it.
And froze.
Not dramatically.
Not loudly.
Just—
froze.
My stomach dropped.
"What is it?"
No response.
"Kairo."
He stepped beside her.
Read the document.
And for the first time since I'd known him—
genuine shock appeared on his face.
The sight terrified me.
Because Kairo wasn't supposed to look shocked.
The world made more sense when Kairo wasn't shocked.
I crossed the room.
Took the file.
And looked.
The page contained a photograph.
An old photograph.
Twenty years old, maybe more.
Several people stood together.
Most were unfamiliar.
Except for three.
Kairo's father.
Cassian.
And Marcus.
My breath caught.
The three men stood side by side.
Smiling.
Friends.
Not rivals.
Not enemies.
Friends.
The realization hit like a hammer.
"No."
The word escaped automatically.
Because suddenly everything I'd assumed felt wrong.
Marcus hadn't worked for the family after Kairo's father became leader.
Marcus had been there before.
Much before.
Long before.
The photograph was proof.
The room remained silent.
Then I noticed something else.
A fourth person stood beside them.
Partially obscured.
Face difficult to see.
But visible enough.
And the moment Kairo saw him—
his expression changed completely.
Not shock.
Recognition.
A very dangerous recognition.
"Kairo."
His gaze remained fixed on the photograph.
"Kairo."
Finally, he answered.
Quietly.
Too quietly.
"I know him."
The room froze.
Every instinct in my body screamed warning.
Because Kairo's voice sounded different.
Not uncertain.
Not confused.
Certain.
Terribly certain.
Selene looked at him.
"So do I."
Silence.
Then I asked the question neither sibling seemed willing to ask.
"Who is he?"
The answer took several seconds.
Several long, terrible seconds.
Then Kairo spoke.
And the world shifted.
"He's supposed to be dead."
The archive became completely silent.
Because somehow—
that answer was far more frightening than any name could have been.