“Is that what happened?” he asked softly.

His eyes were dark, filled with a mixture of suspicion and fear.

Before I could answer, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

The screen lit up, shining through the thin fabric of my trousers.

It was an alert from the palace’s internal network.

The active login code I had copied from the ledger was being used again.

Right now.

From a terminal inside the King’s private study.

I stared down at the glowing screen of my phone.

The notification blinked in small, crimson letters: *Terminal 04-Admin Active*.

That was the terminal inside King Alaric’s private study, the one reserved for sovereign state business.

“I have to go,” I said, stepping past Alexander.

He caught my elbow, his grip tight but trembling.

“Emily, wait. What is happening?”

“Someone is deleting the files,” I said, looking him dead in the eye.

“The real records of the Carter trust. If those go, we’ll never prove how my mother was hidden.”

Alexander’s face went pale under the dim corridor lights.

“The King’s study is secure,” he whispered. “Only family and the senior secretariat have the biometric bypass.”