Chapter 10: The Emperor’s Ghost - The Obsidian Seal

The missing clerk did not return to work the following morning.

Elara learned this before breakfast, when two palace guards arrived at the administrative offices and asked for the duty ledger from the previous evening. Their questions were brief, but the way they inspected the pages suggested that they were searching for something more specific than a name. The clerk who had recorded the disputed wine delivery was called Edric Sorn, a junior employee in the Chancellor's administrative department. According to the official assignment sheet, he had been transferred to the western offices three days earlier. According to the household register, he had continued reporting to the eastern wing until the afternoon of the poisoning attempt.

Both records bore the same signature.

Someone had altered one of them.

Elara stood beside a linen cupboard while the guards compared the documents, keeping her attention on the folded sheets in her arms. Edric's name meant little to her, but the contradiction between the records was significant. A transfer could explain why he had disappeared from the eastern wing, yet it did not explain why the change had not been entered consistently or why the clerk who maintained the household register had failed to mention it. If Edric had been reassigned legitimately, there would have been no reason to conceal the timing.

The older guard closed the ledger and handed it back to the administrative clerk.

"Has anyone seen him since yesterday?"

"No, sir. He was expected to report to the western offices, but nobody there has confirmed his arrival."

"Then find out where he went."

The guards departed with their instructions, leaving the clerks to whisper among themselves. Elara waited until the corridor had returned to its usual rhythm before carrying the linen to the storage room. She had no intention of asking directly about Edric. Her name already appeared in the inquiry notes because of the thread she had discovered in the receiving chamber, and another question from her would only strengthen Ronan's suspicion that the quiet handmaiden knew more than she ought to.

Instead, she paid attention to the people who were asking questions.

By midmorning, the western administrative offices had sent back a reply. Edric had never reported for duty, and his assigned desk had been cleared before the new clerk arrived. His personal papers were missing, along with a narrow leather case used to carry documents between departments. The clerk responsible for recording transfers claimed that the reassignment had been approved verbally by the Chancellor's secretary, but no written order could be found.

A routine employment change had become a disappearance.

Elara delivered a tray of clean glasses to a senior clerk who worked near the eastern record rooms. While he signed the receipt, she noticed a fresh stack of documents on his desk, their covers marked with the seal of the imperial household. Several were inventory lists for old records that had been moved from the eastern archive to the western offices during the previous month. She recognised the dates immediately. They covered a period when the Ash Network had been trying to locate references to the royal midwife's testimony, but the surviving copies of the relevant inventories had been incomplete.

"Are these being transferred again?" she asked, indicating the stack.

The clerk looked up. "What?"

"The records listed here. I thought they had already been moved to the western offices."

"They have."

"Then why are there new inventories?"

The man gave her an irritated glance. "Because someone has requested an audit. We are checking what was transferred, what was received, and what appears to be missing. It is tedious work, but the council seems to believe that old papers become more important whenever a new Emperor approaches the throne."

Elara kept her expression neutral, though the remark caught her attention. The old succession records were being audited at the same time that Edric had disappeared. The poisoned wine might have been intended to remove Ronan from the political picture, while the transfer of the records could be connected to the investigation into Caelan's legitimacy. There was no proof that the events were related, but their timing was becoming difficult to ignore.

She thanked the clerk and continued with her duties.

That afternoon, Ronan summoned the marshal, the pantry steward, and three senior clerks to the military office adjoining his chambers. Elara was not invited, but Sabine assigned her to deliver the clean linens to the corridor outside the meeting room. The door remained partly open while the officials arrived, and she heard enough to understand that the general had ordered a formal review of every record connected to the receiving chamber.

"The missing clerk is not a minor administrative inconvenience," Ronan said. "He handled documents relating to a bottle that was later found to contain poison. Until we know where he went, I want his transfer order examined and every person who approved it identified."

"The Chancellor's secretary says the reassignment was authorised verbally," the marshal replied.

"By whom?"

"He claims not to remember the exact conversation."

"Convenient."

The marshal cleared his throat. "I would advise caution, General. The Chancellor may regard a direct inquiry into his staff as a challenge to his authority."

Ronan gave a quiet, humourless laugh. "Someone attempted to poison me inside the imperial palace. If the Chancellor believes that investigating it challenges his authority, he should explain why."

There was a brief silence before another official spoke. "We should consider whether the poisoning and the missing clerk are separate matters. We have not established that Edric was responsible for the bottle, only that he handled the relevant records."

"That is precisely why we must find him," Ronan answered. "If he is innocent, he may be in danger. If he is involved, he may know who arranged the attempt. Either way, allowing him to disappear without an investigation is unacceptable."

Elara continued down the corridor before anyone could notice her listening. She was relieved that Ronan had not accepted the accusation against Tomas, but the general's determination would inevitably bring him into conflict with officials who preferred to keep the matter quiet. The danger was no longer limited to the man who had tampered with the wine. Someone had been able to alter records, move a clerk without leaving a proper order, and remove his personal papers before the inquiry began.

The people involved understood the palace well enough to exploit its bureaucracy.

Later that evening, Elara found Sabine checking the duty lists beside the linen cupboard. The senior maid looked tired and unusually distracted. When Elara asked whether she needed help, Sabine handed her a bundle of inventory sheets and instructed her to return them to the eastern records room.

"Do not leave them on the wrong shelf," she said. "The archivist is already furious about the audit, and I have no intention of listening to another lecture because someone has misplaced a household list."

Elara accepted the bundle. It was an ordinary task, but it offered her a legitimate reason to enter the records room and examine the inventory of the old documents. She had no intention of touching restricted papers or making copies without permission. What she wanted was simpler: a list of the record numbers associated with the missing succession documents, and perhaps an indication of where they had been transferred.

The records room was long and narrow, with tall shelves running from the floor to the ceiling. A clerk sat at the far end, entering figures into a ledger, while a second employee sorted boxes beside the western wall. Elara delivered the inventory sheets, obtained the clerk's signature, and waited for him to return the receipt. While he checked the dates, she glanced at the shelves nearest the door.

Most of the labels referred to ordinary household matters: staff appointments, maintenance costs, ceremonial expenses, and records of supplies purchased for the imperial residence. Toward the back, however, several shelves had been cleared, leaving rectangular patches where dust had accumulated around the outlines of missing boxes. The labels that remained referred to older accession records, documents compiled when an Emperor formally assumed the throne.

Elara knew the dates.

She had seen them in the deposition sixteen years earlier.

"Excuse me," she said to the clerk. "These shelves appear to be empty. Should the inventory not mention where the boxes were taken?"

The clerk followed her gaze and frowned. "They were moved during the archive reorganisation. Some went to the western offices, others to the restricted collection."

"Is there a separate transfer list?"

"There should be."

He opened a ledger and began searching its pages. After several minutes, he stopped at an entry from the previous month. The record numbers were listed, but the destination column had been left blank. A note in the margin instructed the clerk to consult the Chancellor's office for further information.

Elara looked at the entry without touching the book.

"Who made this notation?"

The clerk examined the handwriting. "I don't know. It was already there when the ledger came back from the audit."

"Could the original transfer order still be in the western office?"

"Possibly. But if it was signed by the Chancellor's secretary, you would need formal permission to inspect it." He closed the ledger and gave her a warning look. "Why are you interested in records that have nothing to do with your duties?"

Elara lowered her eyes. "I am not, sir. I only noticed that the inventory was incomplete."

"Then forget what you saw. There are people in this palace whose work depends upon keeping the records in order, and they do not appreciate questions from servants who have not been asked to investigate them."

She thanked him, collected the receipt, and left the room.

The warning confirmed what she had suspected. Someone had removed a group of accession records, and the remaining inventory did not clearly identify their destination. The missing documents might have been transferred for legitimate reasons, but the decision to leave the destination blank was unusual, especially when the palace had recently increased its auditing procedures. If the royal midwife's testimony had been among those records, it could explain why the Chancellor was now asking questions about the archive and why the Empress feared that the succession might be challenged.

Elara returned to the servants' quarter and wrote down the record numbers she had memorised. She did not have enough information to act, but the numbers provided a starting point for the Ash Network's investigation. If Maelin could identify the original record series, they might discover whether the missing boxes contained the testimony referenced in the deposition.

She had just hidden the notes when Lysa entered the room carrying a basket of mended uniforms.

"Have you heard?" the girl asked. "The Crown Prince has ordered the archives opened to his personal secretary."

Elara looked up. "Which archives?"

"The old imperial records. All the documents connected to the succession, the coronation, and the previous Emperor's administration." Lysa set down the basket and lowered her voice. "They say he asked for the request himself, without consulting the Chancellor."

"Why would he do that?"

"Perhaps he wants to make certain everything is in order before his coronation. Or perhaps he has heard the same rumours everyone else has heard." Lysa leaned closer. "My cousin says there are people in the council who believe the Prince's birth records were altered years ago."

Elara kept her face still. "People say many things."

"Yes, but what if this one is true?"

"Then someone will have to prove it."

Lysa stared at her for a moment, apparently disappointed by the lack of excitement in her answer. She collected the mended uniforms and left the room, returning to her ordinary duties. Elara remained beside the table, thinking about the Crown Prince's decision. If Caelan had ordered the archives opened himself, he might simply be trying to prevent the Chancellor from controlling the information presented before the coronation. But if he had already heard rumours about his birth, his request could be the beginning of a more personal investigation.

That night, Elara sent a brief message to the Ash Network through a courier who delivered supplies to the palace. She included the record numbers, the missing destination entry, and Edric Sorn's name. She did not mention the conversation she had overheard between Seraphine and Ronan, nor did she identify the specific records she suspected had been removed. The message was deliberately ordinary, disguised as a request for information about an old household inventory.

The reply arrived two days later.

It contained only three sentences.

The record series had once been maintained by the office responsible for royal births and succession declarations. Several volumes had been moved under direct order from the Chancellor's office shortly after Cassian Veyr's death. The last surviving copy of the transfer list was believed to be held in the private collection of the former imperial archivist, who had died eleven years earlier.

No name accompanied the message, and no explanation was provided for why the copy had not been located sooner. Elara read it twice before burning the paper in the small lamp beside her bed. The information did not prove that Caelan's birth record had been altered, but it connected the missing documents to the exact office mentioned in the deposition. For the first time, she had a trail that led beyond the palace inventories and toward a collection of records that might still survive outside the imperial archive.

She had not yet found the truth.

But she had found the place where someone had tried to bury it.

The following morning, Elara was assigned to deliver a stack of fresh paper to the Crown Prince's private study. The task surprised her because ordinary handmaidens rarely entered the rooms reserved for the imperial heir, but the household was short of staff while the archives were being audited. Sabine instructed her to leave the paper on the table beside the window and return immediately, warning her not to disturb any of the documents already laid out across the desk.

Elara carried the bundle through the eastern corridor and waited while a page opened the study door. The room was larger than she expected, lined with shelves of books and maps, with a broad desk positioned beneath a tall window overlooking the inner courtyard. Several files lay open on the desk, and a small wooden box containing seals had been placed beside an inkwell.

The Crown Prince stood near the window, speaking to an older man in a dark academic robe. Caelan was eighteen, with a narrow face, pale skin, and dark hair that fell across his forehead whenever he moved too quickly. He wore a black coat embroidered with gold at the cuffs, but there was nothing especially imposing about his appearance. He looked like someone who had spent too many nights reading and too little time sleeping, and the tension in his shoulders suggested that the responsibilities of the approaching coronation had begun to weigh on him.

"Leave the paper there," the older man said.

Elara placed the bundle on the table and stepped back. As she turned to leave, she heard Caelan ask a question that made her pause.

"Have you found the midwife's register?"

The older man lowered his voice. "Not yet, Your Highness. The copy listed in the original catalogue has been removed from the collection, and the transfer record is incomplete. We are searching the restricted shelves now."

"What about the witness signatures?"

"Several survive in related documents, but we cannot establish whether they refer to the same testimony without the original register."

Caelan moved away from the window. "Then keep looking. I want every record associated with my birth, including the documents that were transferred after my father's death. If the records were removed for a legitimate reason, I will accept the explanation. If they were altered, I want to know who authorised the changes."

The older man bowed his head. "And if the evidence is incomplete?"

"Then we establish what is missing and why. I will not enter the council chamber in three weeks and discover that someone else has been deciding what I am allowed to know about my own life."

Elara kept her gaze lowered, but she felt a chill travel through her chest. The Crown Prince was not merely conducting a routine audit. He had specifically requested the records concerning his birth, and he was prepared to challenge the people responsible for maintaining them. If he discovered the same evidence that lay hidden beneath the floor of the old dye works, the succession would become more than a rumour whispered among courtiers. It would become a question that the entire empire might be forced to answer.

She turned toward the door.

"Wait," Caelan said.

Elara stopped and looked back.

"You are new to the household, aren't you?"

"Yes, Your Highness. I was assigned to the eastern wing recently."

"What is your name?"

"Nera Vale, Your Highness."

Caelan studied her for a moment, then glanced at the paper she had delivered. "Have you worked with the archive staff?"

"Only with ordinary household inventories, sir."

"Do they keep the transfer records separately from the original catalogues?"

Elara chose her words carefully. "Some transfers are recorded in the household ledgers, but restricted collections appear to require separate authorisation. I have not worked directly with the royal archive."

The Crown Prince looked toward the older man. "That is consistent with what we have found. The catalogues refer to boxes that no longer appear in the shelves, while the transfer lists have been moved to separate offices."

The archivist nodded reluctantly. "It is possible that the records were reorganised during the previous administration."

"Then it should be possible to establish when and by whose order." Caelan returned his attention to Elara. "Thank you, Nera. You may go."

She bowed and left the study, keeping her pace measured until she reached the corridor. Only when the door closed behind her did she allow herself to breathe normally. She had come to the palace to expose the murder of an emperor, yet the Crown Prince's search suggested that the next generation of the imperial family might be preparing to uncover the same secret. If Caelan discovered that he had been raised on a lie, his reaction could determine whether the truth emerged through a formal investigation or through a succession crisis.

Elara returned to her duties with the knowledge that the investigation had entered a new stage. The missing clerk, the altered transfer lists, and the Crown Prince's questions all pointed toward the same collection of records. Someone had removed them, and the reason was almost certainly connected to the succession. She could no longer assume that the people searching for the documents were all trying to protect the same secret. The Chancellor might want to use the evidence against the Empress, while Seraphine might be trying to destroy it. Caelan, meanwhile, appeared determined to understand the truth before he took the throne.

That evening, Elara visited the hidden compartment beneath the floor of the old dye works only in her thoughts, imagining the Obsidian Seal wrapped in waxed cloth beneath the boards. She had not carried it into the palace, and she had no intention of doing so until she knew who could be trusted. The document was dangerous, but it was not the only evidence that mattered. If she could locate the missing birth register and the witnesses who had signed it, she might be able to establish what had happened without relying on a single piece of parchment.

For the first time, the path ahead seemed clear enough to follow.

It was also far more dangerous than she had expected.

Somewhere in the palace, a clerk had disappeared while carrying knowledge of the wine that nearly killed General Ronan. The Chancellor's office had moved records connected to the royal succession, and the Empress was privately begging Ronan to protect a secret that had survived eighteen years. Now the Crown Prince himself was searching for proof of his own birth, unaware that a handmaiden who had entered his household less than a week earlier carried the same question in her memory.

Elara had spent sixteen years waiting for the empire to give her a chance to uncover the truth.

Now the truth was beginning to search for itself.