Chapter 424: The Sealed File 2

Grayson pulled the heavy folder from his coat and laid it flat on the dark wood.

The three silver wax seals of the High Council glowed faintly under the dim desk lamp. To any ordinary spirit or lower demon, breaking those seals would result in a painful curse. But Grayson was an ancient lord of royal blood. The seals posed no threat to him.

Grayson pressed his thumb against the first silver seal. With a sharp crack, the silver wax snapped in half, turning into fine gray dust. He broke the second seal, then the third.

The red silk string loosened, falling away from the dark leather cover.

Grayson paused for a brief moment. His heart, usually steady and calm, beat with a quiet, tense rhythm. He thought about Chloe—her loud complaints, her ridiculous cat slippers, her constant snapping of gum, and the small, sad look she had shown when Mailah had brushed her hair the day before.

What could a young girl like her have done to make the High Council seal her name forever? What ancient law had she broken?

Grayson slowly opened the heavy leather cover.

Inside were three pages of thick, aged parchment written in the formal, sharp calligraphy of the High Elders’ chief scribe.

Grayson leaned forward, his eyes scanning the top line of the official transcript:

OFFICIAL DECREE OF EXILE: LADY CHLOE OF THE HOUSE OF VALERIUS CHARGES: DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE FIRST SACRED TABOO

Grayson’s eyebrows pulled together. He read down to the second paragraph, where the exact details of her crime were recorded in ruthless, uncensored detail.

As his eyes moved across the ancient words, Grayson’s posture went completely rigid.

The air in the quiet study suddenly grew freezing cold. The flames in the stone fireplace flickered violently, turning from warm orange to a pale, dangerous blue.

Grayson’s breath hitched in his throat. His eyes widened in absolute, stunning disbelief as he read the secret details of Chloe’s trial.

It was not a simple mistake. It was not a petty rule broken out of youthful foolishness.

What Chloe had done—what she had committed in secret before being exiled to the human realm—was an act of such unbelievable, shocking arrogance that it threatened the balance of everything the High Council stood for. It was a disgrace so massive that if the truth ever got out, the entire House of Valerius would be stripped of their noble titles, and anyone connected to her would be dragged into the Council’s dark judgment.

"She... she did what?" Grayson whispered, his deep voice trembling with a mixture of shock and sudden, terrifying fury.

He read the passage again, his eyes dark with absolute outrage.

The sheer audacity of her action was mind-boggling. It was so completely forbidden, so deeply taboo according to the ancient laws of their kind, that even reading it written on paper made Grayson’s blood run hot with dark anger.

This was why she was exiled to the human realm. This was why she wore ridiculous hoodies and pretended to be an annoying child—because she was keeping a scandal so massive it could burn down whole noble houses!

Grayson’s strong hands clenched into tight fists on top of the desk. The sheer force of his dark rage caused the thick mahogany wood under his hands to crack with a sharp SNAP, fine line fractures spreading across the polished surface.

The shadows in the room stretched long and sharp against the walls, responding to the violent surge of his dark power.

Grayson slowly closed the file, his breathing heavy and dangerous. His sharp jaw was set in stone, his eyes glowing with an intense, deadly fury that had not been seen in centuries.

He stood up from his chair, his tall frame towering over the dark desk. He picked up the sealed folder, tucked it securely back into his coat, and turned toward the locked study door.

Outside, in the bright, sunny greenhouse, Chloe was currently laughing as Mailah showed her how to trim lavender leaves.

Grayson unlocked the door with a quiet, deadly click, stepping out into the hallway like a dark king marching toward battle.

He had the truth now. And Chloe must answer for what she had done.

The words on the aged paper seemed to burn into Grayson’s eyes.

Chloe had not stolen a precious object. She had not run away to hide in the human world either. The High Elders had banished her to Earth as punishment for a crime that struck right at the heart of the Ashford family line.

Chloe had allowed a "snake" to slide straight down into the human realm—the very place where Mailah lived, walked, and breathed.

And Chloe was sitting in his house, drinking his coffee, and eating sweet bread with Mailah as if she had done nothing wrong.

Grayson walked out of the study, his heavy leather boots clicking sharply against the wooden floor. His eyes were as cold as ice, and his broad chest rose and fell with heavy, controlled breaths.

He marched down the long hallway toward the glass greenhouse at the back of the estate. Through the clear glass panels, he could see Mailah holding a small green plant pot. She was smiling, her face soft and bright under the morning sun.

Beside her stood Chloe in her bright neon-orange coat. Chloe was poking at the dirt with a thin wooden stick, complaining about tiny bugs while Mailah gently laughed at her.

Seeing Chloe act so carefree while standing right next to his precious wife made Grayson’s blood boil with fierce, protective anger.

Grayson pushed open the heavy greenhouse door. The glass frame rattled loudly in its metal track.

Mailah looked up, her smile brightening instantly. "Grayson! Look, Chloe is helping me clean out the old lavender pots!"

Grayson did not look at the plants. His sharp eyes locked onto Chloe like a dark hunter watching its prey.

Chloe took one look at Grayson’s face and froze. The wooden stick slipped from her fingers, dropping into the soft dirt with a quiet thud. She stepped back, her bratty attitude vanishing in a single second.

"Mailah, my love," Grayson said, his deep voice terrifyingly quiet and smooth. "Please step into the house for a moment. I need to speak with my cousin alone."

Mailah blinked, looking between Grayson’s tense jaw and Chloe’s pale face. "Grayson? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, my queen," Grayson rasped, taking a single step forward. He caught Mailah’s small hand gently, leaning down to press a sweet, reassuring kiss to her knuckles. His touch was as soft as silk, even while his aura radiated cold steel. "Go inside with Mrs. Baker. I promise I will not harm her. I merely wish to discuss family matters."

Mailah hesitated, but the absolute devotion in his eyes made her nod softly. "Okay. But remember what you promised me about being nice."

"Always," Grayson whispered against her skin.

The moment the glass greenhouse door clicked shut behind Mailah, the warm morning air turned ice cold.

Grayson turned to Chloe, his eyes fixed on her pale face.

"You helped the princess escape," Grayson said, his deep voice carrying a heavy weight that made the glass panels vibrate. "You broke the sacred seal, opened the vault doors, and let that viper loose. And when the Elders found out, they cast you out to Earth."

Chloe swallowed hard, her mouth going completely dry. She backed up until her shoulders hit a tall wooden plant shelf. She tried to pull her black sunglasses over her eyes, but her hands were trembling too much.

"She... she tricked me!" Chloe yelled defensively, her voice squeaking slightly. "I didn’t know she was going to break out and come down to Earth to target your family! The Elders didn’t care about my excuse! They stripped my title and banished me here to the human world as punishment!"

"And yet you came to my home," Grayson growled, stepping closer until his broad, towering frame blocked out the sun. "You brought her threat near my wife. You sit at my table, act like a fool, and let Mailah brush your hair while the danger you caused endangered all of us!"

"I came here because I had nowhere else to go!" Chloe shouted, her dark eyes filling with real, angry tears. "The Council threw me down here with nothing! I didn’t want the princess to escape!"

Grayson raised his hand, his sharp jaw locked tight. He was a lord of dark power, and his protective instincts over Mailah were screaming at him to throw Chloe into the darkest corner of the world.

"Grayson."

A soft voice broke through the thick tension.

Grayson paused. He looked toward the greenhouse entrance.

Mailah had not gone back to the kitchen. She stood near the doorway, her soft lavender sweater wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She walked straight past the cold air filling the room, stepping right between Grayson and Chloe.

She did not flinch. She did not run away.

Mailah reached up, placing both of her small, warm hands against Grayson’s sharp cheeks.

"Look at me, Grayson," Mailah whispered softly.

Grayson’s dark eyes flickered. The cold rage burning in his chest wobbled the second her warm palms touched his face. He looked down into her gentle eyes, his heavy breathing slowly calming down.

"She brought danger to you, Mailah," Grayson rasped, his voice full of deep, desperate pain and romantic devotion. "She let a monster loose. If anything in this world ever hurts you because of her mistake, I will burn the sky to ash."

Mailah smiled gently, reaching up on her tiptoes to press a soft, lingering kiss against his tight lips.

Grayson gasped softly against her mouth, his broad shoulders dropping as his arms instinctively wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush against his hard chest.

"I am right here," Mailah murmured into his neck, holding him tightly. "I am safe. You protect me every single day, Grayson. But don’t let anger turn you into a cold stranger."

Grayson buried his face into the soft crook of her neck, taking a deep breath of her sweet scent. The dark demon prince, who seconds ago looked ready to destroy an entire realm, let out a shaky sigh and held his human wife like she was his entire universe.

Behind them, Chloe wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her neon-orange coat.