Chapter 182: Yes
The room smelled like cedar and clean ink. Morning light filtered through glass cut too thick to let sound through, and the desk in front of Christian Velloran looked like it had never hosted anything as pedestrian as stress. He was halfway through sorting diplomatic briefing folders, most of them unopened, several of them classified, when the encrypted alert blinked once in the corner of his tablet. No sound. Just a quiet pulse of light.
He tapped once.
MOON ID: 0771 - SECURE LINE ESTABLISHED
Jason Moon. One of the best connections Christian had left embedded in civilian disguise. Quiet, fast, and borderline feral in how he handled surveillance. Christian hadn’t expected him to resurface so soon.
The screen darkened for a moment, then lit up with a message, not typed, but handwritten, digitally transferred in a sharp, blocky script that only a few of them still used.
’Target locked. Entry secured under catering subcontract. Fitzgeralt estate perimeter clean.
Public wedding confirmed. All major guests are attending.’
Christian sat back in the leather chair, his black robe opening slightly at the collar, letting a gold chain glint in the sun. His silver eyes narrowed at the message, dissecting it line by line, not for the content, but for what wasn’t written.
He tapped the message again, enlarging it with a flick of his fingers. The script didn’t falter under magnification, Jason had a steady hand even when he was lying. That was the problem.
Christian leaned forward, elbows on the desk, the morning light catching the edge of the ring on his index finger. His thumb brushed it once, an old habit, older than he wanted to admit.
Jason didn’t make mistakes. He didn’t use that script unless it was real. Which meant either he’d gone completely rogue, or someone had given him access to Fitzgeralt manor.
He sighed; Misty’s last rouse at the court had undone everything he had planned; now she was being tried for treason to the crown, and Caelan was gaining more power by outlawing mating contracts without a parliament vote.