Chapter 6
My mother died in a boating accident.
That was the story.
Not suspicious.
No whispers.
No rival.
A storm.
A broken railing.
Too much water.
Sebastian did not claim otherwise.
That mattered.
But he knew something else.
Before she died, my mother had assembled four captains and proposed ending the Inner Chair.
My father refused.
Not because he disagreed completely.
Because he feared division.
So he delayed.
She called him cowardly.
That sounded like her.
Then she started keeping records.
Not criminal.
Personal.
Which captains used the old council to protect relatives.
Which debts were forgiven for insiders.
Which families were punished because they lacked senior connections.
A map of hypocrisy.
“Where are the records?”
Sebastian said nothing.
Ada understood before me.
“Mom gave them to me.”
I turned.
“What?”
She looked confused.
“Not knowingly.”
Years earlier, shortly before her death, our mother gave Ada a locked jewelry case and said:
“Keep this until you’re old enough to know why.”
Ada never opened it.
Why?
Because she lost the key.
Sebastian closed his eyes.
There.
That was why he watched her.
Not only because I protected her.
Because she might unknowingly possess evidence that destroyed the moral authority of the old council.
I looked at my uncle.
“Rhea knew?”
“Yes.”
“Gavin?”
“Yes.”
Of course.
Trusted adviser.
Security brother.
Both positioned around Ada.
The training-room test served two purposes.
Study me.
And frighten Ada into revealing whether she knew where the case was.
She had not.
Sebastian smiled faintly.
“Until now.”
Ada stared at him.
“You hurt me for a box I haven’t seen since college?”
“You were never supposed to be hurt.”
She laughed.
“You tied my wrists.”
“Padded strap.”
“You denied me water.”
“For minutes.”
There.
Exactly the villain logic I expected.
Pain becomes acceptable when the person causing it controls the measurement.
I stood.
“Where is the case?”
Ada thought.
Then her face changed.
“My old apartment storage.”
Sebastian’s eyes sharpened.
Too interested.
I smiled.
May you like
Wrong reaction.
Now I knew the jewelry case mattered more than the Inner Chair.
