Chapter 16: Brother
Lucius didn’t nod. He stood completely still, eyes trained on the folder like it might change shape if he looked away.
Christian Velloran.
The name carried weight—and rot. Tied to scandals swept clean by convenience and influence. And now, tied to the contract that had Lucas’s future stamped on it like an invoice.
Lucas Oz Kilmer.
Unregistered. Unawakened. Sold.
Not abandoned by circumstance but deliberately positioned for sale by the one person who should have protected him.
Lucius’s jaw tightened. "What do you know about Misty Kilmer?"
Ilar read one of his files from the data pad. "She lives under her maiden name now. Operating discreetly out of the eastern districts—lower Demire, under private security. She had taken Lucas to court events, but only when the guest list suited her tastes. Nothing in which an official member of the imperial family would be present. The boy was always under his younger sister, Ophelia’s, surveillance."
Lucius looked at him, his voice sharp. "She knew exactly what she was doing."
"Yes. The moment his secondary gender was confirmed as omega—rare, male, and politically exploitable—she filed the contract. She didn’t register him to protect him. She delayed so she could sell him before the Empire could claim him."
Lucius’s fingers curled once at his side, then released. Controlled. Composed. But the shift in his posture told Ilar everything he needed to know: the prince was no longer simply curious—he was invested. Personally.
"She trafficked him through loopholes," Lucius said. "Court-approved. Brokered. Hidden behind language that looked legal enough not to raise suspicion."