Lucien had a problem.
He had known for some time that something about Liora was different.
That was not the problem.
The problem was that he had started looking for her.
In the morning.
During meals.
Between meetings.
Sometimes for no reason at all.
He would be reading a report and suddenly wonder where she was.
He would walk through the kitchen and expect to hear her arguing with the cook.
He would enter the library and glance toward the chair she usually used.
It was becoming inconvenient.
Very inconvenient.
And Julian had noticed.
“You have a problem.”
Lucien didn’t look up from the document in his hand.
“I don’t.”
Julian sat across from him.
“You do.”
“I am working.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Lucien turned a page.
Julian leaned forward.
“You’ve looked toward the door six times in the last ten minutes.”
Lucien stopped.
“No, I haven’t.”
“You just did it again.”
Lucien slowly looked back at his papers.
“You’re imagining things.”
Julian smiled.
“I’m not.”
“Then find something productive to do.”
“I am.”
“What?”
“Watching you struggle.”
Lucien gave him a cold look.
Julian laughed.
“You like her.”
“No.”
“You definitely like her.”
“No.”
“You held her hand yesterday.”
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
“How do you know that?”
Julian grinned.
“Because you have the world’s least convincing guards.”
Lucien leaned back.
“You were spying on me?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Julian.”
“I happened to walk past the garden.”
“You happened to walk past it?”
“Yes.”
“Twice?”
Julian shrugged.
“Coincidence.”
Lucien stared at him.
“Leave.”
“Gladly.”
Julian stood.
Then stopped at the door.
“By the way.”
Lucien sighed.
“What?”
“You smiled.”
Julian left before Lucien could throw anything at him.
Meanwhile, Liora was having a completely different problem.
The laundry. New chapters come out on g.com first.
Specifically, the laundry that had somehow become enchanted.
She stood in front of a basket of white sheets.
One sheet floated three feet above the ground.
Liora stared at it.
The sheet stared back.
“Why?”
It slowly folded itself.
Liora blinked.
“Absolutely not.”
The sheet folded again.
Then floated toward her.
She stepped backward.
“No.”
It followed.
“Stop.”
It continued.
“Laundry is not supposed to have magical abilities.”
The cook walked past the doorway.
He stopped.
Liora pointed at the floating sheet.
“Do you see that?”
The cook looked.
“See what?”
The sheet dropped to the floor.
Liora stared.
The cook stared at her.
“You’ve been working too hard.”
“I’m beginning to think you’re right.”
He walked away.
Liora looked down at the sheet.
It remained completely still.
“Traitor.”
Later, she found Lucien in the library.
She marched toward him.
“Your laundry is haunted.”
Lucien looked up.
“What?”
“The laundry.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It moved.”
He stared at her.
“Moved?”
“By itself.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Perhaps there was magic.”
“Exactly.”
Lucien stood.
“Show me.”
They returned to the laundry room.
Nothing happened.
Liora pointed at the basket.
“It was floating.”
Lucien examined the room.
No magical residue.
No unusual energy.
Nothing.
He looked at her.
Liora crossed her arms.
“It happened.”
“I believe you.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She relaxed.
“Thank you.”
Lucien looked at the basket again.
“But I’m not convinced the laundry is haunted.”
“You weren’t there.”
“No.”
“Then perhaps you saw something I didn’t.”
Liora smiled.
“That’s a very diplomatic way of saying you think I’m imagining things.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Lucien sighed.
“You have an answer for everything.”
“Someone has to.”
That evening, Liora was walking through the hallway when she heard voices.
She stopped.
Lucien and Aurelia.
She wasn’t trying to listen.
At least, that’s what she told herself.
“I don’t care what the Council thinks,” Lucien said.
Aurelia sighed.
“You say that now.”
“They don’t control my life.”
“They control more than you admit.”
There was silence.
Then Aurelia spoke again.
“And the girl?”
Liora froze.
Lucien didn’t answer immediately.
“Don’t.”
Aurelia laughed softly.
“I haven’t even said her name.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Then you know exactly who I mean.”
Liora’s heart began beating faster.
She shouldn’t be listening.
She should leave.
But her feet wouldn’t move.
Aurelia’s voice softened.
“Lucien, be careful.”
“I am.”
“No.”
Aurelia’s tone was unusually serious.
“You’re careful with kingdoms. Laws. Enemies. You are not careful with your heart.”
Silence.
Liora held her breath.
Lucien finally spoke.
“She doesn’t need to know.”
Aurelia sighed.
“Perhaps.”
Then her voice became gentler.
“But she deserves to know when the time comes.”
Liora’s heart dropped.
She stepped backward.
The floorboard creaked.
Silence.
Liora turned and walked quickly away.
She didn’t know what they had been talking about.
But she knew one thing.
It was about her.
She reached her room and closed the door.
She leaned against it.
“What don’t I know?”
The question remained unanswered.
And somewhere downstairs, Lucien slowly looked toward the hallway.
He had heard the floorboard.
He knew Liora had been there.
For the first time, he wondered whether keeping certain things from her was actually protecting her— or simply delaying the moment when she would feel betrayed.
He didn’t yet know the answer.
But he suspected he would have to face it someday.