Chapter 926 - Valttair's Office

Trafalgar walked beside Caelum through the central corridors of the Morgain castle.

The difference from his last visits was plain. Maids went between rooms with fresh linen, formal clothes and sealed boxes, while stewards checked lists and sent servants off toward other parts of the castle. Guest wings that normally stayed shut had been opened again.

It was not only the main family coming home. Members of the Morgain side branches had arrived as well.

Most of them would travel to the Council later, after Valttair and the principal family had gone ahead, and their presence alone made the place busier than Trafalgar had seen it in years.

He had expected to run into at least one of his siblings on the way, and he did not.

Lysandra had not arrived yet. Of everyone carrying Morgain blood, she was still the only sibling he could talk to without expecting an insult, a threat or some second purpose under every sentence.

Maeron was nowhere to be seen either, which disappointed him a little. After everything Caelum had told him about Darian and the quiet talks with House Thal'zar, Trafalgar wanted to see his eldest brother again. He wanted to watch Maeron's face when they met and find out whether anything in it had changed.

Helgar was absent too.

Rivena was the strange one. She could not leave the castle without Valttair's permission, which put her somewhere inside these walls. Ordinarily, whenever Trafalgar came back, Rivena found a reason to cross his path sooner or later.

Sometimes it was only a remark. Sometimes she brought up his childhood on purpose. Sometimes she wanted him to know she had not forgotten how little she thought of him.

This time he had another concern.

'She'll have heard about Aaron by now.'

The thought alone put an edge on his face. Rivena could insult him as much as she liked. He had listened to enough of it over the years that most of it went past him.

Aaron was another thing entirely. If she decided to say something unpleasant about his son, Trafalgar had already made up his mind not to let it stand.

He did not see her, which was as well.

They reached the private section of the castle without interruption..

Caelum stopped in front of the familiar doors and opened them without knocking.

Trafalgar noticed and said nothing. Caelum clearly knew Valttair was alone, and given the complete absence of servants and guards in that corridor, the area had been cleared for this conversation.

Valttair sat behind his desk, and nothing about him had changed. The same cold face, the same posture, the same weight that came into a room the moment Trafalgar entered it.

He did not greet him.

"What happened in Myrrhvale? I heard you entered their territory as an observer."

Trafalgar took one of the chairs in front of the desk while Caelum stayed standing near the wall.

"Lyren di Myrrhvale came to me before I went. Officially, I was invited as an observer, to see that nobody outside the family put a hand on the succession."

"And unofficially?"

"He wanted help finding out whether somebody already had."

Valttair's face did not move.

"At first I suspected House Vaelion," Trafalgar went on. "Lucard au Vaelion was already inside Meraval as one of the observers, and after everything we've learned these last few years I wasn't going to overlook him."

"Did you find anything tying them to it?"

"Nothing I can prove."

He paused before he went on.

"The man behind it was Kesh Varlan, Admiral of the Tide. He had been steering things inside Myrrhvale for years. Records, troop movements, dead men whose names went on being used, pressure put on different heirs. Most of what kept that succession from moving came back to him."

Valttair leaned against the back of his chair. "And Nyssara?"

"He had a hand in how she died. The official account isn't true."

That was already more than Trafalgar should have said to anyone. Part of the arrangement around everything that happened in Meraval was that the details stayed inside Myrrhvale, and he was breaking it by speaking at all.

Valttair was not like anyone else he could have told. The man would not spend it carelessly. He would keep it, weigh it against everything else he held, and decide later whether it was worth anything.

Trafalgar went on with the important parts and left the rest out.

"Kesh was exposed. The succession moved, and Nerith di Myrrhvale was recognized as the new head."

"Does anyone hold her?"

"No. Nerith runs the family herself. Lyren stands with her, and he isn't steering her. Vaelis still carries weight because of his position and his blood, and he isn't steering her either."

Valttair said nothing for several seconds.

Trafalgar left one thing out on purpose. He did not mention that Nerith and Lyren owed him. That favour was his and not House Morgain's.

Caelum knew. Trafalgar could tell from the simple fact that Caelum said nothing at all, his face unchanged, giving Valttair no sign that anything had gone unsaid.

Trafalgar was grateful for it.

After a moment he sat back a little. "Is that really why you called me here? To go over what I did as an observer?"

Valttair looked straight at him. "No. You have come back from a territory very few outsiders are permitted to enter. Meraval is not unlike this castle in that. Most people will never see what lies under Myrrhvale ground without a written authority in their hand."

He laid one hand flat on the desk.

"You were there when their succession ended. I wanted to know what happened below the surface and what kind of family came out of it. Now I do."

Trafalgar waited.

"The reason I wanted you here before the Council is another thing," Valttair said.

That caught his attention.

"I intend to make several moves once we arrive. Some of them may shape House Morgain for years."

Trafalgar narrowed his eyes. "And you're telling me beforehand?"

"I am."

That surprised him more than he cared to admit.

Valttair wanted his opinion.

'That's new.'

He knew better than to read too much into it. If he disagreed, the man would listen, weigh the argument, and then do exactly what he had already chosen if Trafalgar failed to move him. That was simply who Valttair was.

Being told beforehand was still worth something. More than that, their interests pointed the same way for once.

Trafalgar had no closeness with Valttair and doubted either of them would ever pretend otherwise. Right now he needed Valttair holding House Morgain, and Valttair needed him more each month. For the present, that served.

Valttair watched him across the desk.

"I want your opinion before I decide how far I take this."