"Your Grace, he asked for nothing in return," Maurice replied, his expression carefully schooled.

He held his ground, fully aware that he had to maintain this facade until August produced the second dose of the Frost Lily.

Damian’s grip tightened on the armrest, his patience thinning. "Maurice, I trust you above anyone. Are you truly prepared to deceive me? August does not act out of charity. He does not save lives; he consumes them. He would never simply hand over a cure."

Maurice didn’t flinch, though his pulse quickened. "The Duchess... she went to him personally. She pleaded with him, appealing to a sense of humanity he rarely shows. I cannot explain why he acquiesced, but he agreed to provide the cure the moment she finished speaking. That is the truth of what happened."

Louis stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as he sensed the weakness in the narrative. "You are shielding her, Maurice. Whatever arrangement she made, you need to tell us. Even if she made you swear an oath of silence, this involves the Duke’s life."

Damian paced the room, his frustration mounting. "Eilika has been erratic. She spent hours weeping, only to turn completely cold, completely numb. I have asked her repeatedly what transpired, and she will not say a word. I have a sense of dread that I cannot shake, Louis. Something is fundamentally wrong, and I will not let it continue."

"Forgive me, Your Grace, but I have already told you the truth," Maurice said, his voice steady despite the mounting pressure. "I have suspects to interrogate regarding yesterday’s incident, so if you’ll excuse me, I must take my leave."

As Maurice turned to depart, Damian’s voice cut through the room, cold and dangerous. "You know the games August plays, Maurice. Eilika is naive to them. She doesn’t understand the price of such ’charity.’ But you? You know exactly what it costs. If not for my sake, tell me the truth for hers."

Maurice paused, a visible gulp betraying his composure, just as the chamber doors swung open. Sylvian walked in, followed closely by Georgia.

Sylvian scanned the room, his eyes moving from the tension radiating off Louis to the hard, guarded set of Damian’s jaw. "What is going on here?" he asked, the air in the room instantly tightening.

Damian ignored the question, his focus shifting entirely to his mother. He walked to her, wrapping his arms around her in a fierce, grounding embrace.

"I’m so relieved you’re well," Georgia whispered, her voice trembling. She gripped the back of his robe tightly, needing to feel the warmth of his presence to believe he was truly alive.

Maurice getting the chance slipped out of the chamber when Louis followed him.

"What’s going on?" Louis caught him up. "It’s written on your face. You’ve been hiding something from us. At least, think about Damian. What sacrifice did Eilika make? Tell me."

Maurice managed to slip out of the chamber, but he didn’t get far. Louis intercepted him in the quiet corridor, his expression hardening.

"What is going on?" Louis demanded. "It is written all over your face, Maurice. You are hiding something from us. If you have any loyalty to the Duke, tell me. What sacrifice did Eilika make to get that cure?"

Maurice stopped, looking around to ensure the hallway was deserted. He dragged a hand through his hair, his composure finally fraying. "One dose of the antidote is not enough," he whispered, his voice trembling.

Louis frowned, a cold dread settling in his stomach. "What are you talking about?"

"Promise me, swear to me, that you will not breathe a word of this to the Duke," Maurice said, gripping Louis’s arm with desperate strength. "If he finds out, he will not survive this."

Louis felt a chill run down his spine. "What did she do, Maurice? What did Eilika promise August?"

"The treatment requires two Frost Lilies," Maurice explained, his eyes darting toward the closed doors of the chambers. "The Duke has only received one. The second dose is due at midday, but August will only hand it over on one condition: Eilika must leave the Duke’s life permanently. She made the deal to save him, Louis. If you tell Damian, he will refuse. He will choose her over his own survival, and August will destroy that flower. Everything will be lost."

Louis stood frozen, the weight of the revelation sinking in. "I knew it," he muttered with anger. "August would never hand over the cure without a heavy price attached." He looked toward the chamber door. "Can I talk to Eilika?"

"No," Maurice snapped, blocking his path. "Approaching her now will only compromise her resolve. Let the Duke receive the second dose. Once his recovery is secure, we can worry about finding her."

"Finding her?" Louis frowned, confused. "Won’t she simply return to her family’s estate?"

"No," Maurice replied, his expression grim. "The terms are absolute. She must give him the divorce and vanish from his life entirely. August demands she be scrubbed from his existence. I had to agree to those terms for the sake of the Duke’s life. Think of Roman, the boy has already lost his mother once. If he loses his father now, the trauma will destroy him. Eilika calculated all of this. That is why she accepted August’s price."

Louis got troubled to learn all that. "I-I feel stuck for the first time," he murmured, realizing his intellect had stopped working.

"I feel helpless too. But it is the only way to save so many lives," Maurice asserted.

~~~~

Eilika smoothed Roman’s hair, her hands trembling slightly as she ensured he was ready for the day. She leaned down, pressing a lingering kiss to his forehead.

"Go to your father now," she said softly. "And Roman... be kind, always. I love your smile so much. Promise me you’ll keep smiling."

She caressed his cheeks, committing the feel of his soft skin to memory.

"Mama, I want you to smile always," Roman replied, looking at her with concern.

"I will," Eilika whispered, fighting back the tears, "if you do."

Roman kissed her cheek, a small, innocent gesture that shattered her composure. He turned and raced out of the chamber, the attendant quickly dashing after him. Left alone, Eilika’s mask finally slipped, her heart breaking in the silence of the room.

Wiping the last of the tears from her cheeks, Eilika hurried toward August’s chambers. She didn’t wait for an invitation; she pounded on the wood.

When silence followed, she struck the door again and again, her desperation overriding any sense of decorum, until the lock finally clicked.

The door swung open, revealing August, his brow furrowed in irritation. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he barked, but the fury died in his throat the moment his gaze fell upon her. His expression shifted, softening into something unreadable, perhaps pity, or perhaps triumph. "Eilika?"

She did not offer pleasantries. Her hand shook as she extended a folded parchment toward him. "I have prepared the divorce agreement," she said, her voice thin but resolute. "Give me the Frost Lily. I need to pass it to my confidant before I disappear."

August let out a low, mocking chuckle, leaning casually against the doorframe as he looked down at her. "You don’t trust me?"

"No," Eilika replied, her vision blurring as her eyes turned red and misty. "I don’t."

"Last night, you were overflowing with gratitude," August remarked, turning his back on her to walk inside with the divorce agreement in hand. He retrieved a tiny, crystalline vial from a drawer and returned to the threshold, holding it out.

"Are you truly certain he is worth saving?" he asked, his voice low. "He doesn’t love you, Eilika."

Eilika did not hesitate; she snatched the vial from his fingers, her gaze icy. "Love is not always expressed in words, Prince. It is a language you could never hope to understand." She turned to walk away, but August’s hand snapped out, catching her wrist and hauling her back.

"Your Highness!" Eilika cried, arching a brow as she glared at him.

"Do not provoke me to destroy the flower," August warned, his eyes flashing with a volatile intensity. "No one understands the nature of this bargain better than I do. Do you understand?"

He shoved her away with a sudden, rough motion. "Run before I change my mind," he spat, his tone devoid of warmth. "I am only trying to be human because you dared to call me one, do not make me regret it."

Eilika clenched her fists, turning on her heel to escape his suffocating presence. She hurried to the rarely used servant’s entrance, where Maurice was waiting with a saddled horse.

"Your Grace!" Maurice bowed immediately, his expression etched with concern.

"Maurice, take this." She pressed the vial into his hand. "Give this to the physician at midday. If Damian asks for me, tell him I was called away to my father’s estate, that he needed my urgent help." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"That is a lie, and you know it," Maurice pleaded with desperation. "Now that we have the antidote, we can expose August for what he is! Please, don’t do this."

"I have no choice," Eilika asserted, not breaking her resolve. "If I stay, what if August conjures another scheme? He has shown his hand; I must ensure that once I am gone, he no longer views Damian as an enemy. I must keep my promise to him, for Damian’s sake."

Maurice stood stunned, silenced by the depth of her selflessness. Even in the face of her own exile, her only concern was Damian’s safety.

"Take this," he said, handing her a pouch of coins. "It is enough for now. We will find you, Eilika."

"Thank you," Eilika replied, her voice barely a whisper. "I will repay this debt double one day." She paused, a bittersweet smile touching her lips. "And do not look for me. Damian’s heart was never truly mine; it was a one-sided devotion I crafted in the dark."

A solitary tear escaped, tracing a path through the dust on her cheek. She mounted the horse, her grip tightening on the reins. "I wish you well, Maurice. And Roman..." Her voice broke. "Tell him to forgive me."

She then turned her horse and rode down that path.