Chapter 10 #3
"Montrose had an escape route prepared two weeks before he needed it," Valerius said. "That route still exists. If any of these clerks panic and flee, they'll use the same channels he did. And when they do, we'll be watching."
The room settled into grim focus.
Lynara had been quiet through most of this, watching the investigation unfold with the contained stillness of someone witnessing something much worse than expected. Now she looked at Valerius directly.
"This has been happening under my father's governance for years."
"Yes."
"And he never knew."
Valerius met her gaze. "I believe he did not."
She exhaled slowly. "That's almost worse."
It was. Malice could be opposed. Incompetence paired with institutional corruption was harder to root out because it required not just punishment but rebuilding.
Valerius closed the final log. The light magic faded from his hands, leaving only the ordinary lamplight of the archive room.
"We proceed in stages," he said. "Today, we isolate the clerks. Tomorrow, we begin formal questioning. By the end of the week, I want names, methods, and the full scope of every transaction that passed through this network."
Bernard inclined his head. "And Lord Montrose?"
Valerius's expression hardened. "Montrose used this network. He did not build it. Which means he is not the center of this corruption—he is one symptom of a much larger disease."
He looked around the archive room one last time—at the shelves of falsified records, the evidence of years of systematic theft dressed as governance.
"This network has been operating for years," he said. "It will take months to untangle fully. Crown auditors will handle that investigation." His gaze returned to Bernard. "Our task is narrower. Find which clerks helped Montrose. Break them. Use what they give us to track him down."
Bernard inclined his head. "Before he disappears beyond reach."
"Exactly."
◆◆◆
By the time they returned to the estate, the morning had turned to early afternoon. Valerius dismissed Leon and Edric to begin separating the clerks for questioning, sent Bernard to compile the personnel records, and found himself alone in the sitting room with Lynara.
She had been quiet on the ride back. Now she stood near the window, looking out over the estate grounds with an expression he could not quite name.
Valerius joined her after a moment.
“How long do you think it will take to find Lord Montrose?” Lynara asked.
“A week,” he said. “Perhaps less, if the clerks give us the right trail.”
Her gaze remained on the grounds. “And if they do not?”
“Then it will take longer. But not indefinitely.” He paused, studying the stillness in her profile. “Your father’s office is more compromised than I initially believed.”
“Yes.” Her voice was calm. Controlled. “So I gathered.”
“This will require significant intervention. Personnel changes. Structural review. Possibly criminal charges against multiple clerks.”
“I understand.”
That startled him into something close to amusement. “You are remarkably pragmatic about your father’s failures.”
Lynara turned to look at him. “Your Highness, my father has been negligent for years. I am not surprised that his negligence created opportunities for theft. I am only surprised it took this long for someone to notice.”
For a moment, Valerius simply looked at her.
There was no defensiveness in her face. No denial. No performance of wounded family pride. Only a clear-eyed acceptance that should have seemed cold, except he had already learned better than to mistake her composure for indifference.
After a quiet breath, she looked back toward the window. “This is not what you expected to find when you came to Ambervale.”
“No,” Valerius admitted. “I expected incompetence and neglect. Possibly petty embezzlement. Not institutional corruption spanning years.”
“And now?”
He looked at her. “Now I follow the trail that will lead me to Montrose.”
Her gaze met his, steady and clear.
“Good.”
The word carried weight. Not approval, exactly. Understanding, perhaps. Or simply the exhausted pragmatism of someone who had watched her father's failures catch up to him at last.
Valerius found himself wanting to say something more—something about her composure through all of this, or her unexpected presence in the investigation, or the fact that she had insisted on seeing the archive room despite knowing what it would reveal.
But before he could find the words, Bernard appeared at the door.
"Your Highness. The first clerk isolation is complete."
Valerius straightened. "Who?"
"Hadlin Crosse. He attempted to leave the office through the rear entrance when word reached him of your investigation. Leon intercepted him."
There it was. The first crack.
Valerius looked at Lynara once more. She nodded slightly, as if giving him permission to leave.
He turned toward Bernard. "Where is he now?"
"Secured. Awaiting questioning."
"Good." Valerius crossed toward the door. "Let him wait a little longer. Fear improves honesty."
As he left the sitting room, he heard Lynara say quietly behind him, "Your Highness."
He paused.
"Find all of them."
Not a request. A command.
Valerius looked back at her. "I will."
And he meant it.