The financial records took three days to access.
Three days of careful maneuvering, calling in favors from treasury clerks, using my new authority to request documents without raising alarms. Joss handled most of it, moving through channels while I maintained visibility elsewhere, making it seem like the investigation had moved on to other targets.
Edrin kept his distance. He attended council meetings, supported my public recommendations, but never spoke to me directly. When our eyes met across chambers, his expression was cold.
The third night, Joss returned with a leather case full of documents.
"Heir's office financial records," he said, setting it on my desk. "Three years back, like you wanted. The clerk thinks I'm investigating House Rothera connections, not the heir himself."
"Good." I opened the case. "Stay. I need a second set of eyes."
We worked through the night, cross-referencing account numbers, tracking payment patterns, comparing dates to known conspiracy activities.
The pattern emerged slowly. Then all at once.
Payments from the heir's office to coded accounts. Small at first, then larger. Always timed just before major conspiracy activities. Money moving to the same nobles and brokers we'd already identified as Theron's network.
But these payments started three years ago. Before Theron's coordination began in earnest.
"Look at this," Joss said, pointing to a series of transactions. "Six payments to the same account over four months. Then nothing for two months. Then three more payments, larger amounts."
"What happened during those two months?"
He checked his notes. "House Merent negotiations. The political marriage discussions between Edrin and Lady Cassia."
I stared at the dates. "He stopped paying his conspirators while negotiating a marriage alliance with a powerful house."
"Because he needed to appear clean. Needed House Merent to see him as a reformer, not a player in court corruption." Joss pulled another document. "And look. After the marriage was confirmed, payments resume. Larger amounts. More frequent."
"Because he'd secured his alliance. Had the backing he needed to make his move."
We kept digging. More patterns. More proof.
Payments to nobles who'd publicly supported Edrin's policies. Funding to merchants who'd provided him with information about rivals. Money to brokers who'd later been connected to Theron's network.
"He was building his own conspiracy," I said quietly. "Using Theron's network but directing it for his own purposes. Some of these payments went to her people. But some went to his."
"He was playing both sides," Joss said. "Supporting you to eliminate Theron's allies while protecting his own."
I found another document. A ledger showing payments made the night Theron escaped. Substantial amounts to three different accounts. All authorized from the heir's office.
"This is it," I said. "Proof he paid someone to help her escape. To burn evidence. To make sure she took the fall alone and couldn't expose him."
Joss was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, "This will destroy him. If you present this to the Emperor, Edrin loses everything. The Crown Prince position. His political alliances. Possibly his life."
"He's guilty."
"Yes. But he's also the Emperor's only remaining heir who's viable for the throne. Theron is gone. The youngest, Kaelen, is too immature. If Edrin falls, the succession is in chaos."
"That's not my problem."
"It will be. Because the Emperor will have to choose between justice and stability. And we both know which he'll choose."
I stared at the evidence, at the proof of Edrin's betrayal laid out in numbers and dates and payments.
"I have to present it anyway," I said.
"I know. I'm just warning you. This won't end the way you want it to."
***
I requested a private audience with the Emperor the next morning.
He received me in his study, alone except for two guards at the door. He looked older than he had a week ago. The weight of Theron's betrayal aging him faster than time.
"Warden," he said. "You've found something."
"Yes, Your Majesty." I set the documents on his desk. "Evidence of conspiracy funding that predates Princess Theron's coordination by over a year. Payments from the heir's office to the same networks she later used."
He didn't touch the documents. "The heir's office."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Which could mean Theron was planning earlier than we thought. Or..." He finally looked at the papers. "Or it means my son was involved."
I said nothing. Let the evidence speak.
The Emperor read in silence. His hands trembled slightly as he turned pages, seeing the pattern I'd seen. The dates. The amounts. The timing that was too precise to be coincidence.
When he finished, he set the documents down carefully.
"You're accusing the Crown Prince of treason."
"I'm presenting evidence, Your Majesty. The conclusion is yours to draw."
"Don't play word games with me, Warden. You're accusing my son." His voice was hard. "Do you have proof beyond financial records? Testimony? Direct evidence linking him to conspiracy actions?"
"The records show payments made the night of Theron's escape. Someone authorized those payments. Someone with heir's office access."
"Which could have been Theron herself. She had access before she fled."
"The payment authorization codes are specific to the active heir. After you named Edrin Crown Prince, he was the only one with those codes."
"So you're saying my son helped his sister escape. The sister he publicly condemned. The sister whose arrest he supported."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The Emperor stood and walked to the window. For a long time, he said nothing.
Then: "Why would he do it?"
"Because Theron had leverage. She knew about his own conspiracy funding. If she was arrested and tried, she'd expose him to save herself. He couldn't let that happen."
"And you believe he's been funding conspirators for years? While pretending to support reform? While courting you as an ally?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To eliminate rivals. To position himself as the heir who cleaned up corruption while actually protecting his own network. To use my investigation as a weapon against Theron's allies while shielding his own."
The Emperor turned to face me. His eyes were cold.
"Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do? If I act on this, if I move against Edrin, the succession collapses. The realm will see the imperial family as completely corrupted. Houses will fracture. Alliances will shatter. Everything I've built to keep this realm stable will crumble."
"With respect, Your Majesty, it's already crumbling. The question is whether you let it crumble on truth or on lies."
"Truth and stability are not the same thing, Warden."
"No. But justice matters."
"Does it?" His voice was bitter. "Justice for whom? The people who died in raids? They're already dead. Justice won't bring them back. But moving against Edrin might kill thousands more if the realm descends into succession war."
"So you'll protect him? Let him keep his position, his power, his networks? Let him continue what Theron started?"
"I'll do what's necessary to preserve the Crown." He walked back to the desk. "Which means I need more than financial records. I need proof so damning that even I can't ignore it. Direct testimony. Witnesses who saw him authorize payments. Evidence that can't be explained away as coincidence or shared access."
"Your Majesty—"
"You have three days. Find me proof that leaves no doubt. If you can, I'll act. If you can't, we bury this and you never speak of it again. Do you understand?"
I understood perfectly. He was giving Edrin time to cover his tracks. Time to silence witnesses. Time to make the evidence disappear.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Three days, Warden. Then we'll discuss this again."
I left the study knowing I'd just been given an impossible task.
And that the Emperor had already decided which son he'd sacrifice.
***
I spent the next two days chasing witnesses.
The treasury clerk who'd processed heir's office payments had disappeared. His family claimed he'd gone to visit relatives in the south. His colleagues said he'd left in the middle of the night.
The banker who'd managed the coded accounts refused to testify. Said his records were protected by confidentiality laws and he'd lose his license if he broke them.
The nobles who'd received payments denied everything. Said their financial records were their own business and I had no authority to examine private accounts without specific criminal charges.
Every door closed. Every witness vanished or refused to cooperate.
Someone was moving ahead of me. Cleaning up. Making sure no one could corroborate what the financial records showed.
On the third morning, I received a message.
*Garden. Noon. Alone. - E*
I almost didn't go. Almost sent Joss instead, or ignored it entirely.
But I needed answers. And Edrin was the only one who could give them.
I went alone.