Chapter 5 - The Cousin Who SmiledFelix Ashcroft had always smiled like a man accepting applause.
Even when he lost.
Even when he lied.
Especially when he lied.
He was waiting in the east corridor beneath a portrait of Damian’s grandfather, dressed in midnight blue velvet with a silver cane in one hand and the stolen bronze key in the other.
Celeste stood behind him, breathing hard, one diamond earring missing, her perfect hair unraveling across one shoulder.
Two private guards blocked the corridor.
Damian approached with Mr. Cole, Marianne Holt, Elara, and two palace security officers. Behind them, Helena remained in the Rose Hall under protection, surrounded by guests who were no longer pretending not to watch.
Felix smiled.
“Cousin,” he said. “You always did enjoy theater.”
Damian stopped several yards away.
“You sent men into my home.”
Felix lifted the cane slightly.
“Our home, technically.”
Damian’s eyes dropped to the key.
“Give it back.”
Felix chuckled.
“You sound like we’re children again.”
“We stopped being children when you tried to steal from my mother.”
A flicker passed through Felix’s eyes.
Then he looked at Elara.
“And this must be the maid.”
Elara hated the way he said it. Not with anger. With amusement. As if she were furniture that had unexpectedly spoken.
“She’s caused a lot of inconvenience,” Felix said.
Elara answered before Damian could.
“Good.”
Felix’s smile widened.
“Oh, I like her.”
Celeste snapped, “Stop playing with them.”
Felix glanced at her.
“My dear, if I stop playing, you stop being useful.”
Celeste froze.
That one sentence did what Damian’s accusations had not. It revealed the truth of her position.
She had not been Felix’s partner.
She had been his instrument.
Damian noticed too.
“Celeste,” he said, “how much did he promise you?”
She looked at him with hatred.
“More than you ever gave me.”
“I gave you trust.”
“You gave me waiting rooms,” she hissed. “You gave me charity lunches and public smiles while your mother sat upstairs deciding whether I was good enough to breathe Ashcroft air.”
From the Rose Hall, Helena’s voice carried faintly.
“You weren’t.”
Celeste flinched as if struck.
Felix sighed.
“Family bitterness is so exhausting.”
He turned the bronze key between his fingers.
“Here is what happens now. I walk into the archive. I remove certain documents that should have been destroyed years ago. Celeste leaves with me. You tell the police there was confusion during the gala. In exchange, I do not release what I have on your little maid.”
Elara’s stomach tightened.
Damian looked at her.
“What does he mean?”
Felix’s eyes gleamed.
“You didn’t tell him?”
Elara said nothing.
Celeste found her strength again.
“Oh, this is delicious,” she said. “The brave little maid has a secret.”
Felix tapped his cane once on the marble floor.
“Elara Voss. Daughter of Thomas Voss.”
Damian’s expression sharpened.
The name meant something to him.
Elara looked down.
Felix continued, pleased.
“Thomas Voss, the disgraced palace maintenance chief who burned half the west wing fifteen years ago and nearly killed Helena Ashcroft.”
Marianne looked at Elara with surprise.
Damian’s voice lowered.
“Is that true?”
Elara forced herself to meet his eyes.
“My father worked here. He was blamed for the fire.”
“Blamed?” Felix laughed. “He confessed.”
“He was beaten into signing a statement he couldn’t read because his hands were burned.”
The corridor fell silent.
Felix stopped smiling.
Only for a moment.
Then he said, “Careful, girl.”
Elara stepped forward.
“No. I’ve been careful my whole life. Careful when people crossed the street to avoid my mother. Careful when employers saw my last name and suddenly had no work. Careful when I came back to this palace under a different reference because I wanted to know why my father died guilty in a story that never made sense.”
Damian stared at her.
“You came here for the fire.”
“I came here for the truth.”
Felix’s hand tightened around the key.
“Then you chose a terrible night to find it.”
He turned suddenly and shoved the key into the chapel archive door.
Mr. Cole moved.
One of Felix’s guards reached into his jacket.
Damian stepped in front of Elara.
“Don’t,” Damian said.
The guard froze.
Felix opened the door.
Cold air spilled out.
He looked back once.
“If any of you follow me, the first document I burn will have Thomas Voss’s name on it.”
Then he disappeared into the dark archive.
May you like
Elara did not wait.
She ran after him.
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