The royal folder wasn't locked by spell or seal. Just a simple brass clasp. But I knew better than to treat it lightly.
Inside: records blacked out by age or intention. Flameheart wasn't the only file tampered with. I counted seven other tribunal rulings with missing witness signatures, contradictory glyph chains, or identical phrasing—used in different years, different voices.
"Systematic forgery," I muttered.
But something else caught my eye.
At the margin of one copied testimony, three faint letters glowed when tilted against candlelight:
D-17.
It wasn't a name. It was a designation. Codename, or clearance tag. Something buried.
I leaned back, heart ticking like a clock just wound too tight.
The Queen's message hadn't said, "Trust us."It had said, "Stay unaffiliated."And now, I knew why.
This wasn't just about Reina.This wasn't just about me.This was about the shape of history being rewritten—deliberately.
I left the records chamber before dawn, heading to the far east corridor—where one of the oldest mirror panels stood.
Not the cursed one beneath the west wing. This one still reflected light properly—but if the glyph patterns I found were correct, it might have once linked to the same resonance vault.
I placed the copied shard from the masked figure against the mirror's corner.
Nothing.
Then, a pulse.
Not from the mirror—but from the frame. A tiny sigil flickered—identical to the glyph stamped across D-17's mark.
So this wasn't myth.
It was part of the original architecture.
By midday, Serena had joined me in the east wing.
"You didn't sleep," she said.
I handed her the file. "Read page thirteen."
Her eyes scanned the page. Then narrowed.
"This matches the glyph on the Flameheart discrepancy."
I nodded. "They're linked."
"You think D-17 rewrote more than one truth?"
"No," I said. "I think they rewrote the method."
That evening, I wrote a single note and slipped it into the academy's enchanted relay system.
To D-17:Your silence has been studied. I am not loyal to any house. But I remember what was lost.If you're still listening, answer one thing:Who did you fail to protect?
And then, I waited.