Chapter : 1521

  "Is it?" Cassius stepped closer. He invaded Lloyd's personal space. "Logic tells me something is wrong. Logic tells me that my shy, sickly sister does not suddenly demand balls and dance with foreigners unless she has been... encouraged."

  He placed a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. He squeezed. Hard.

  "If I find out you are poisoning her mind against me," Cassius whispered, "I will have the telepaths strip your brain layer by layer. And then I will feed you to the hounds."

  It was a death threat. Plain and simple.

  Lloyd didn't flinch. He didn't pull away. He looked Cassius in the eye.

  And he smiled. It was the greedy, amoral smile of Doctor Zayn.

  "Highness," Lloyd whispered back. "You misunderstand. I am not poisoning her mind. I am... molding it."

  Cassius frowned. "Molding?"

  "She is pliable," Lloyd said, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial murmur. "She listens to me. She trusts me. A trusting Princess is a useful tool, is she not? Especially for a brother who needs... cooperation."

  He let the implication hang there. I am manipulating her for you. I am on your payroll.

  Cassius’s grip loosened. The suspicion in his eyes was replaced by arrogance. He thought he understood. He thought Lloyd was just earning his bribe.

  "Pliable," Cassius repeated. He smiled. "Yes. I suppose she is."

  He patted Lloyd's shoulder. It was patronizing. Dismissive.

  "Keep her pliable, Doctor," Cassius said. "And your villa by the sea will be a palace."

  "I live to serve," Lloyd bowed.

  Cassius turned and walked away, satisfied. He thought he had the situation under control.

  Lloyd watched him go. His smile vanished.

  "You arrogant fool," Lloyd thought. "You just gave me the keys to the kingdom."

  He returned Seraphina to her chair. She looked at him, confused by the exchange she hadn't heard.

  "What did you say to him?" she whispered.

  "I told him what he wanted to hear," Lloyd said. "That you are weak. And that I am his creature."

  He checked his watch.

  "Any minute now," he thought. "Light the fuse, Ken."

  ----

  The ball continued. The wine flowed. The laughter grew louder and more frantic, fueled by the festival atmosphere. But Lloyd felt cold.

  He moved to the balcony doors. He needed to see the signal.

  The balcony overlooked the city and the distant northern mountains. The night was dark, cloudy. Perfect for a fire.

  He leaned against the railing, pretending to admire the view. His eyes were fixed on the horizon.

  "Come on," he whispered.

  Nothing. Just darkness.

  Minutes ticked by. The waltz inside ended. A new one began.

  "Did they fail?" doubt crept into his mind. "Did Ken get caught? Is Jasmin dead?"

  He gripped the stone railing until his knuckles turned white.

  Then, he saw it.

  A flash. A tiny, orange spark in the distance.

  Then a bloom. A sudden, expanding flower of red and gold light against the black sky.

  It grew. It wasn't a flicker. It was an inferno. The fuel depot had gone up.

  A second later, a dull THUMP echoed across the valley. The ground beneath the palace trembled slightly.

  The music inside faltered. People stopped dancing. They looked around, confused.

  "What was that?" someone asked.

  Lloyd turned back to the ballroom. He saw Cassius. The Prince had frozen, his wine glass halfway to his mouth. He was looking toward the windows.

  A guard rushed in from the terrace. He ran straight to Cassius. He whispered something in the Prince's ear.

  Cassius’s face changed. The boredom vanished. The arrogance vanished. It was replaced by a look of pure, icy rage.

  He dropped his glass. It shattered on the marble floor. The red wine spilled like blood.

  "Lock the doors!" Cassius roared.

  The room erupted into chaos. Ladies screamed. Lords shouted. The guards slammed the massive doors shut and crossed their halberds.

  "No one leaves!" Cassius commanded. "General Voren! Secure the perimeter! Captain of the Eye! To me!"

  "It's started," Lloyd whispered to her.

  "The fire?" she asked.

  "The distraction," Lloyd said. "Cassius is leaving. He's going to the Orchid House. He has to. That explosion was big enough to be seen from space."

  "What do we do?"

  "We wait," Lloyd said. "And we hope my friends are faster than his horses."

  He looked at the locked doors.

  "And we survive the lockdown," he added.

  Because Cassius knew this wasn't an accident. He knew he was under attack.

  Lloyd adjusted his cuffs.

  "Act scared," he told Seraphina. "Act confused. We are just innocent bystanders caught in a tragedy."

  "I am scared," she admitted.

  Chapter : 1522

  "Good," Lloyd said. "Fear keeps you sharp."

  He looked back at the shattered wine glass on the floor.

  "The game has changed," Lloyd thought. "No more dancing. Now we fight."

  Back in the Orchid House, the battle was a chaotic storm of violence.

  Ken Park stood in the center of the holding room, breathing hard. His shirt was shredded, revealing the massive muscles of his back. Blood streamed down his arm from where the Chimera had gripped him.

  The Chimera prototype—the boy with the dead eyes and the mechanical claw—was relentless. It didn't tire. It didn't slow down. It just kept coming.

  "Target biological integrity: 70%," the boy droned. "Continuing assault."

  He charged again, the green fire flaring in his hand.

  "Jia!" Ken shouted. "The Jammer! Now!"

  Jasmin was crouched behind a crate, holding Risa. She fumbled for the device Lloyd had given her. The big one. The one that screamed at magic.

  She slammed her hand onto the activation rune.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

  The sound wasn't audible, but it was felt. A wave of chaotic, dissonant energy exploded from the device. It washed over the room.

  The lights flickered and died, plunging the room into darkness.

  The red lights on the collars of the other children winked out.

  And the Chimera stopped.

  The runes on his skin sputtered. The green fire in his hand vanished. He stumbled, his mechanical arm locking up with a grinding noise.

  "System... error," the boy said, his voice distorting. "Mana... connection... lost."

  He fell to one knee. The magic that powered his augmentation, that fueled his unnatural speed, was being jammed. He was just a boy with a heavy metal arm now.

  "Go!" Ken roared.

  He didn't wait. He grabbed a heavy metal table and hurled it at the kneeling Chimera. It crashed into him, pinning him to the floor.

  Ken ran to Jasmin. He scooped up Risa with one arm.

  "Can you run?" he asked Jasmin.

  "Yes," she gasped.

  "The door!" Ken pointed. The electronic lock had disengaged when the power died.

  He kicked the door open. They burst into the hallway.

  It was chaos. The jamming signal had affected the whole sector. Alarms were blaring, but they were distorted, dying wails. Emergency lights pulsed a dull red. Guards were shouting, confused, their magical comms dead.

  "This way!" Ken led them toward the drainage tunnel.

  They ran. They didn't stop for stealth. They ran like demons.

  They reached the utility room. Ken ripped the grate open.

  "Down!" he ordered.

  Jasmin slid into the tunnel. Ken handed Risa down to her. Then he dropped in, pulling the grate shut above them.

  They splashed through the sludge. It was foul, hot, and dark. But it was freedom.

  They crawled until their lungs burned. Finally, they saw the exit. The night air rushed in, smelling of rain and mud.

  They scrambled out into the quarry.

  "We're out," Jasmin sobbed, clutching Risa. "We're out."

  "Not yet," Ken said. He looked up at the facility.

  Lights were coming back on. The jamming signal was fading. The guards were rallying.

  "We need to cover our tracks," Ken said. "And we need to send the signal."

  He pointed to the fuel depot, a large tank near the north wall.

  He pulled his rifle from his back. He assembled it in seconds. He loaded a special round—an incendiary bullet Lloyd had crafted.

  He aimed. The distance was three hundred yards. In the rain. In the dark.

  He took a breath. He held it.

  Crack.

  The shot was a whisper in the storm.

  The bullet struck the valve of the fuel tank. A spark.

  WHOOOSH!

  The tank didn't just explode. It bloomed. A massive fireball erupted, engulfing the north wing of the facility. The shockwave knocked them flat.

  "Move!" Ken yelled, hauling Jasmin up.

  They ran into the forest as the sirens began to wail, a sound of pure panic.

  Behind them, the Orchid House burned.

  ----

  They ran until they couldn't breathe. They didn't stop until they reached the edge of the city, miles away. They blended into the festival crowds entering the gates, just three more muddy travelers in a sea of masks.

  Ken led them to a secondary safe house—a small apartment in the slums Lloyd had rented as a backup.

  They burst in, locking the door.

  Jasmin collapsed onto the floor, still holding Risa. The girl was awake now, staring around with wide, terrified eyes.

  "It's okay," Jasmin whispered, rocking her. "You're safe. Pia sent us. You're safe."

  Risa looked at her. She reached up and touched Jasmin's face.

  "Pia?" she whispered.

  Chapter : 1523

  Jasmin couldn't hold it back. She cried. "She loved you so much, Risa. She loved you so much."

  Ken slumped against the wall. He checked his shoulder. The claw marks were deep, bleeding sluggishly. He bound them tight with a strip of cloth.

  "We did it," he said, his voice gruff. "We have the package."

  But the mission wasn't over.

  Back at the palace, the party had stopped. The doors were locked.

  Cassius stood in the center of the ballroom. A mage had just whispered in his ear.

  A magical distress signal had come through. From the Orchid House.

  Facility breached. Fire in Sector 4. Subject 402 missing. Prototype Zero damaged.

  Cassius’s face went white. Then it went cold. Absolute zero.

  He looked around the room. He saw the fear in the nobles' eyes. He saw the confusion.

  And he saw Doctor Zayn, standing near the dais, looking terrified.

  "It's a trick," Cassius whispered. "The fire. The demand for the guards. It was all a trick."

  He looked at Seraphina. She was clutching her father's hand, looking pale.

  "Her," he thought. "She asked for the guards. She stripped the defenses."

  But she was weak. She was stupid. She couldn't plan this.

  Unless...

  He looked at the Doctor again.

  The pieces clicked. The sudden recovery. The access to the ledgers. The timing.

  Cassius turned to his Commander.

  "Unlock the doors," he said quietly. "Let them leave. But keep a perimeter around the city. No one gets out of Saber."

  "Highness?" the Commander asked. "Are you going to the facility?"

  "No," Cassius said. "The facility is lost. I am going hunting."

  He walked towards the exit. He didn't run. He walked with the slow, deliberate pace of an executioner.

  "Where are you going, brother?" Seraphina called out, her voice trembling perfectly.

  Cassius stopped. He looked back at her.

  "To find a rat," he said.

  He left the hall.

  Lloyd watched him go. He felt a cold sweat on his back. Cassius knew. Or he suspected.

  "He's coming for us," Lloyd whispered to Seraphina.

  "What do we do?" she asked.

  "We finish the play," Lloyd said. "You are exhausted. You are going to your room. I am going to treat you. We need to be exactly where he expects us to be."

  "But if he comes..."

  "If he comes," Lloyd said, "we deny everything. We hold the line. And we pray Ken is far away."

  They left the hall, heading for her chambers.

  The noose was tightening. The trap had worked, but now the hunter was in the cage with them.

  The walk to Seraphina's chambers felt like a funeral procession. The palace was buzzing with rumors of the explosion in the north, but the corridors of the royal wing were silent.

  They entered the solar. Lloyd immediately went into "doctor mode." He ordered the guards to stand outside. He bolted the door.

  "Get in bed," he told Seraphina. "Look sick. Pale. Sweaty."

  She climbed under the covers. She didn't have to act. She was terrified.

  "He knows," she whispered. "I saw his eyes. He knows I did this."

  "He suspects," Lloyd corrected. "He has no proof. We were here. We were dancing. We have hundreds of witnesses."

  "But the timing..."

  "Coincidence," Lloyd said. "Unless he finds the team, or the girl, he has nothing but suspicion. And suspicion isn't enough to execute a Royal Physician and a Princess."

  He began to mix a harmless tonic, making a show of clinking vials.

  "Stay calm," Lloyd said. "When he bursts in here—and he will—you need to be the victim. You are the fragile princess who fainted from the excitement. You know nothing of fires or quarries."

  Boom.

  The door didn't open. It shook. Someone had kicked it.

  Boom.

  The bolt strained.

  "Open this door!" Cassius's voice roared from the hallway.

  Lloyd looked at Seraphina. "Showtime."

  He walked to the door. He didn't open it immediately. He waited.

  "Highness!" Lloyd called out, his voice shaking. "Please! The Princess is resting! She is fragile!"

  "Open it or I burn it down!" Cassius screamed.

  Lloyd undid the bolt.

  The door flew open, slamming into the wall.

  Cassius strode in. He wasn't wearing his court finery. He was wearing a breastplate over his tunic. He had a sword in his hand.

  Behind him were four Obsidian Eye officers.

  "Where is she?" Cassius snarled.

  He marched to the bed. He loomed over Seraphina.

  "You," he hissed. "You did this. You little traitor."

  Seraphina shrank back against the pillows. "Cassius? What... what happened? You're scaring me."

  Chapter : 1524

  "Don't lie to me!" Cassius yelled. He raised his hand as if to strike her.

  Lloyd stepped in between them.

  "Highness!" Lloyd shouted. "Stop! You will kill her! Her heart cannot take this stress!"

  Cassius turned on Lloyd. He pointed the sword at Lloyd's throat. The tip pressed against the skin, drawing a single drop of blood.

  "And you," Cassius whispered. "The Doctor. The miracle worker. You planned this. Didn't you? You read the ledgers. You found the site. You orchestrated this whole... farce."

  Lloyd stared at the sword. He could disarm Cassius in a second. He could kill him in two.

  But he couldn't. Not as Doctor Zayn.

  He dropped to his knees. He clasped his hands.

  "I don't know what you are talking about!" Lloyd cried. "Please! I am just a doctor! I cured the gout! I fixed the kidney stone! I don't know anything about sites or ledgers!"

  "Liar," Cassius spat. "The Orchid House is burning. My inventory is gone. And you... you are the only new variable."

  He looked at his officers.

  "Arrest them," Cassius ordered. "Both of them. Take them to the dungeons. I will peel the truth out of them myself."

  The officers moved forward.

  Lloyd tensed. He calculated the distance. He could take two. Ken wasn't here. He was alone.

  He prepared to drop the mask. To summon Iffrit. To burn his way out.

  "Stop!"

  The voice wasn't Lloyd's. It was Seraphina's.

  She wasn't shrinking. She was sitting up. She had thrown off the covers. She looked furious.

  "How dare you," she said. Her voice was low, trembling with rage.

  Cassius looked at her, surprised. "What?"

  "How dare you burst into my room," Seraphina said, her voice rising. "How dare you threaten my physician. How dare you accuse me of... of whatever madness this is!"

  She stood up. She was small, frail, but she stood tall. She channeled the lesson Lloyd had taught her. She pushed her mana against the binding. Not to break it, but to flare it.

  Her eyes glowed with a faint, golden light.

  "I am the Princess Royal!" she shouted. "I am your sister! And I am the daughter of the King! You do not order me arrested! You do not threaten me with swords!"

  She pointed a shaking finger at him.

  "Get out!" she screamed. "Get out of my room! Or I will scream for the King! I will scream until the whole palace hears! I will tell them you threatened me! I will tell them you are mad!"

  Cassius stared at her. He had never seen her like this. She was supposed to be weak. Broken.

  But she wasn't. She was a lioness protecting her cub.

  He hesitated. The officers hesitated.

  If she screamed... if she caused a scene... the nobles were still in the palace. The generals were there. If they saw the Prince threatening the Princess with a sword... his legitimacy would crumble.

  He lowered the sword.

  "You are hysterical," he sneered, trying to regain control. "The doctor has poisoned your mind."

  "The doctor saved my life!" she countered. "And you are trying to end it!"

  She collapsed back onto the bed, sobbing dramatically. "Get out! I hate you! Get out!"

  Lloyd rushed to her side. "Breathe, Highness! Breathe!"

  He looked back at Cassius. "Please, Highness. Leave. Before you kill her."

  Cassius looked at them. The weeping sister. The terrified doctor.

  He ground his teeth. He knew they were lying. He knew it in his gut.

  But he had no proof. And he couldn't act without it. Not here. Not now.

  "This isn't over," Cassius hissed. "I will find the proof. And when I do..."

  He didn't finish the threat. He turned and marched out.

  "Guard the door!" he barked at his men. "No one enters. No one leaves. They are under house arrest until further notice."

  The door slammed shut. The lock clicked.

  Silence returned to the room.

  Seraphina stopped sobbing instantly. She sat up. She wiped her eyes.

  "Did it work?" she whispered.

  Lloyd slumped against the bedframe. He touched the cut on his neck.

  "It worked," he said. "He's gone. For now."

  He looked at her.

  "You were magnificent," Lloyd said.

  "I was terrified," she admitted.

  "That," Lloyd smiled, "is what makes it bravery."

  He stood up. He went to the window. He looked out at the city. The fire in the north was still burning.

  "We bought time," Lloyd said. "But not much. He will tear the city apart looking for Risa. And when he doesn't find her... he will come back for us."