Lior was surprisingly okay with letting Ezra go alone with Kaelis to walk him out.

He barely even looked up when Ezra stepped away, already settling back into his seat, his small hand moving across the paper as he resumed drawing like nothing important was happening.

That alone should’ve been relieving.

It wasn’t.

Now, both Kaelis and Ezra were outside.

Alone.

Just them.

The night had settled fully, the air cooler, quieter, the kind of quiet that made every small sound stand out more than it should.

There were no servants nearby, no passing footsteps, no voices in the distance. Just the faint rustle of leaves and the soft shift of their own movements against the ground.

Ezra didn’t like it.

"Where’s your carriage?" Ezra asks, glancing around, his eyes scanning the space as if something might appear if he looked hard enough.

There was nothing. No guards, no coach, nothing that suggested a prince had arrived at all.

"I came by horse," Kaelis says simply, like it wasn’t worth much explanation. Then he turns to look at him. "You don’t need to walk me all the way to my horse. Here is fine."

Ezra stops.

Of course.

’As I thought,’ Ezra thought, his gaze settling on Kaelis now, no longer pretending to look for anything else. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

This wasn’t about courtesy.

Kaelis had something to say.

And he didn’t want Lior anywhere near it.

Ezra already knew that. He knew it the moment Kaelis asked him to walk him out.

Still...a part of him had hoped it wasn’t anything serious. Something small. Something unnecessary.

Something that didn’t matter.

But the way Kaelis was looking at him now made it clear that wasn’t the case.

"Judging by your expression, you knew I had something to say," Kaelis says, a small smirk forming, like he found something amusing in how predictable Ezra was being.

Ezra doesn’t return it.

"Please, with all respect, cut to the chase," Ezra says, crossing his arms against his chest, the movement sharper than intended.

Kaelis chuckles softly, then nods once, like he expected that answer.

The smirk fades quickly.

Within seconds, his expression shifts completely, the ease gone, replaced by something heavier, something more deliberate as he takes a slow breath before speaking again.

"About Lior..."

Ezra’s eyes widen slightly.

That wasn’t what he expected.

Not even close.

For a moment, everything else fades into the background: the quiet, the night, the distance between them. All of it disappears under that single name.

Lior.

’...why Lior?’ Ezra thought, his chest tightening before he could stop it.

He thought this was about the investigation.

About the king.

About the move.

Not this.

Not Lior.

A sharp thought cuts through him before he can push it away.

’Don’t tell me...’

Did Kaelis see it?

Did he notice earlier?

The flickering lights.

The eyes.

At that moment, Ezra had tried so hard to cover up.

His pulse picks up.

’No. Calm down,’ Ezra told himself, forcing his breathing to stay even, forcing his expression not to shift. ’You don’t even know what he’s going to say yet.’

He couldn’t panic.

Not yet.

He had to hear it first.

"What about Lior?" Ezra asks, keeping his voice level, steady, even as his fingers press tighter against his arms, hidden by the way he’s standing.

Kaelis watches him closely.

A little too close for comfort.

"I want you to be honest with me because I’m going to be honest with you too," Kaelis says, his tone no longer light, no longer teasing. It was direct. Measured. "I mean, you can lie, but I feel like we both know the truth."

That didn’t help.

Not even a little.

If anything, it made everything worse.

Ezra feels his hands clench slightly, his fingers curling into his sleeves before he forces them to relax again.

’Just say it,’ Ezra thought, holding Kaelis’ gaze now, refusing to look away. ’Whatever it is, just say it.’

"Lior’s father...he’s..." Kaelis starts, and yes, Ezra’s dread didn’t stop; his heart was beating loudly against his chest, and he was scared.

The words alone were enough to make his stomach twist.

He forced himself to stay still, to not interrupt, even though everything in him wanted to shut the conversation down before it could fully begin.

"...from this kingdom, no, he stays in Sunspire, yes? Either a knight, if not in Sunspire, then a noble."

Ezra exhales slowly, but it wasn’t relief, not really.

It was just enough air to keep himself steady, enough to stop his thoughts from running too far ahead.

"How..." Ezra clears his throat, a bit relieved that Kaelis was off, though not way off, but off. "...do you think so?"

He kept his voice level, careful, like he was asking out of curiosity and not because he was trying to measure how much Kaelis actually knew.

"You are notorious for never leaving Heliocrest, or Sunspire in general, unless you’re in a mission," Kaelis explains slowly, watching him as he speaks. "And I doubt you frolick about when before or after missions."

Ezra lets out a quiet breath through his nose, shaking his head faintly.

’Of course, I won’t,’ Ezra thought, almost annoyed at how easily Kaelis said it, like it was obvious, like it was something anyone could piece together if they paid enough attention.

"And I did the math, from when you left, Lior’s birth, he was most likely conceived during the night of the ball, and you know which ball I am talking about."

Ezra almost stops breathing.

The memory hits before he can stop it.

Not fully, not clearly, but enough to make his chest tighten, enough to make his fingers curl slightly at his sides.

The noise, the heat, the blur of faces, the way everything felt out of control that night.

He pushes it away immediately.

’Don’t think about it,’ Ezra thought, forcing his expression to stay neutral, even as his pulse picked up again. ’Not now.’

He wanted to lie.

He really wanted to lie.

To deny it, to brush it off, to make it sound like Kaelis was reaching too far, making connections that weren’t real.

But the way Kaelis was looking at him...

It didn’t feel like a guess anymore.

Ezra hesitates, just for a second, then slowly nods.

"What does everything have to do with Lior’s father, Prince Kaelis?" Ezra asks, keeping his tone even, though there was a faint tension underneath it that he couldn’t fully hide.

He didn’t like where this was going.

Kaelis takes a deep breath as he runs his hand through his long hair, his gaze shifting briefly before settling back on Ezra.

"You know who it is, and I want to make sure that whoever it is isn’t connected to the Cultists at all."

Ezra blinks.

"What? Connected to the Cultists?" Ezra asks again, even more shocked now, his brows pulling together as the thought sinks in.

"Look, Ezra, I’ve been thinking about this,s and I don’t want to hide my thoughts, especially now that we’re practically partners in the investigation," Kaelis says, his tone steady, as he had already gone over this in his head more than once.

"But it cannot be a coincidence that you, someone who I don’t see getting pregnant by choice, got pregnant on the night of the ball. The night when almost everyone got drunk, and could barely remember a thing."

Ezra’s jaw tightens.

Because Kaelis was right.

It was almost scary how accurate he was.

"If you remember who the father is, we should look into him. The Cultists know too much about you, and everything started falling apart just months after you left, like they were expecting it. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that things got worse the moment you were gone."