Chapter 905: Exile

Nerith's appointment ended the succession, but it did not end the council.

None of the other heirs left after she was recognized as head of House Myrrhvale. Whatever suspicions had existed between them, and whatever they had done behind one another's backs over the last two years, they stayed in their seats while Ithanne moved to the final matter.

Trafalgar.

He stood before the chamber knowing exactly why his name came last. The observer system had existed for generations, and he had broken almost every restriction attached to it once the investigation began.

He had gone into rooms closed to him, kept working after being told to stop, and taken direct part in Kesh's capture. Others had helped him. Trafalgar made no attempt to spread the responsibility.

"I made those decisions," he said. "Whatever punishment you decide on, put it on me."

Ithanne looked toward Nerith before reading the ruling.

"From this day forward, Trafalgar du Morgain is prohibited from entering Meraval. That prohibition has no expiration."

Trafalgar had expected worse.

"Everything discussed in this chamber," Ithanne continued, "including the circumstances surrounding Nyssara's death, Kesh Varlan's actions and the internal succession, remains confidential. House Myrrhvale will not permit this matter to become information traded between the Great Families."

Her voice hardened.

"If you reveal it, House Myrrhvale will treat that as a direct violation of this agreement. There will not be a second warning."

The meaning was plain enough. If he deliberately exposed what had happened here, Myrrhvale would kill him if they could.

Against everything else, exile was light. His actions had exposed the man behind Nyssara's murder and closed a succession crisis that had paralysed one of the Eight Great Families for two years.

With Nerith recognized, another consequence followed at once. The Council of Sages could summon all Eight Great Families again, something that had been impossible while Myrrhvale had no head.

He would be seeing several of the people in this chamber sooner than any of them wanted.

The changes inside Meraval started before he left the room.

Nerith abolished the observer position first.

She had disliked the arrangement from the beginning, and most Myrrhvale officials had never been comfortable with foreign nobles living inside Meraval while their succession remained open. From that point, outsiders would be admitted only when the house itself decided it needed them.

The rest went further. Several officials lost their positions, Tide command was put under review, and powers that had drifted away from the central family during Nyssara's illness started coming back under direct Myrrhvale control.

The other heirs made it easy for her.

Corvyn went back to the fleet without trying to hold any political ground. Vaelis stayed involved with the Ancients and household affairs, and Ilyra returned to a much quieter life after two years of being pulled into a succession she had never been prepared to fight.

Lyren was rarely far from Nerith.

Trafalgar had noticed it before, but after the succession ended he understood their relationship better. There was a closeness between them that went past what they let most people see, and judging by how carefully everyone around them avoided the subject, Trafalgar decided not to ask.

Two days remained before he was due to leave.

Despite the confidentiality agreement, Trafalgar told Rhosyn and Zafira what had happened inside the council.

Technically, that already pushed against what he had promised.

His reasoning was simple.

'If nobody finds out, it doesn't count.'

Both women listened without interrupting until he reached Kesh's death.

Rhosyn's expression tightened. "They let you walk out after threatening to kill you if you spoke?"

"They banned me for life. They weren't going to kill me after everything that happened. Not unless I gave them another reason."

Rhosyn had prepared for the opposite result. She admitted that while Trafalgar was inside, she had been watching for any change in the guards, ready to open passages out of Meraval if the council decided to hold him.

Zafira was more interested in Kesh.

"So… he died before saying who was above him?"

"Yeah."

"And we or… they still don't know who poisoned him."

"No."

That was the part Trafalgar kept returning to. Lucard and the remaining observers never learned what happened inside the chamber. They were told the succession had been resolved, Nerith was head, and the observer institution was being abolished.

Lucard clearly disliked leaving without answers. Myrrhvale gave him none.

Trafalgar had one thing the others did not.

That night he sat alone and studied the ring Valttair had given him, the one Magnus had once worn.

[Heirloom of the First Lord – Unique Rank]

It had reacted to Kesh's blood.

[Noble Blood detected.]

The notification had not left him since. Whatever killed Kesh had carried something the heirloom recognized as noble blood, and the ring had never reacted during any of his earlier encounters with related material in Morgain territory.

'Why?'

The difference meant something.

The substance used on Kesh might have been refined differently, or something had been added to it. Trafalgar had too little to decide, but one thing had changed for him.

He had treated the heirloom as important because of what it was and who had worn it.

Now he knew it could find things he could not.

Before he left, Nerith and Lyren came to see him together.

Nerith looked different now that the succession had ended, although Trafalgar suspected the real change was that nobody could question her authority anymore.

"You remember what we told you when you came here?" Lyren asked.

"That I'd be able to ask something from you one day."

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Nerith nodded. "That hasn't changed."

Trafalgar looked between them.

"I'll remember."

"When that day comes," Nerith said, "ask."

Neither of them said anything after that, and they left him with it.

Trafalgar left Meraval with Rhosyn shortly afterward. At the departure platform, Zafira stopped where the routes split and turned toward him.

"I suppose this is where we separate again."

"For now."

"The Council will probably change that."

Trafalgar nodded. "Then I'll see you there."

Zafira went in the other direction while Trafalgar and Rhosyn continued toward the route back to Euclid.

Meraval disappeared behind them.

Nyssara's killer had been exposed, the succession was finished, and House Myrrhvale finally had a head again.

But Kesh had died before giving them the name above him.

Trafalgar returned to Euclid knowing the case was closed inside Meraval but the conspiracy behind it was not.