"Well," Lucian murmured softly. "Dead secrets really don't stay buried here." The words lingered in his mind long after the finding.
Even hours later, after the palace halls had quieted and the servants disappeared into the lower quarters for the night, Lucian still couldn't stop thinking about the physician.
Alive. Not dead. Not missing. Hidden. There was a difference.
Lucian sat alone near the open window in his chambers, one leg pulled loosely beneath him while candlelight flickered against the scattered documents across his table.
The forged death report rested directly in front of him.
He stared at it for so long the altered seal was practically burned into his memory.
Someone had rewritten official records. Someone had rushed the burial. Someone had silenced witnesses.
And somehow, despite all of that... the physician had survived.
Lucian leaned back slowly, gaze drifting toward the dark skyline beyond the palace walls.
