Return of the General's Daughter

While Lara busied herself helping Prince Alaric remove his damp outer cloak, a pair of resentful eyes narrowed from behind a carved pillar on the second-floor landing. Hidden in the shadows, Mira watched them with barely concealed suspicion, her fingers curled tightly around the edge of the marble column.

Then, with a sudden creak, two doors swung open at once. Bener and Asael stepped out from their rooms, drawn by the sound of movement.

Asael’s eyes narrowed at the sight of Mira half-hidden in shadow. "Why are you skulking around like a thief?" he demanded, his voice low but sharp.

Startled, Mira gasped and took a hasty step back, nearly stumbling into Bener, who had emerged from the opposite room. She turned around quickly, her expression feigning innocence.

"Brothers," she said sweetly, clasping her hands before her chest, "I was only watching Sister Lara. Don’t you think she’s being... a bit too familiar with Prince Alaric?"

Asael’s gaze darkened, but he wasn’t surprised. He had suspected the prince might still be in the manor—Lara had come upstairs earlier to borrow a tunic, claiming Alaric had been caught in the sudden downpour. When the heavy rain had broken over the training fields, he and his brothers had been forced to abandon their drills and retreat to their rooms. Clearly, Lara had wasted no time bringing the prince inside.

"They’ve already returned?" Bener asked, resting one elbow on the wooden banister and glancing over the edge. "I didn’t see Gideon."

"I didn’t either," Mira said with a small shake of her head. "It’s just the two of them. Alone."

"Stop spying on them like some jealous handmaiden," Asael snapped. His tone was sharp, but there was an undercurrent of concern he didn’t bother to hide.