Chapter 26

Sara? An heir?

Aiden's eyes went wide, boring into the unreal girl while she just stood there and beamed her radiant smile at him.

"You are a… heiress?" he said slowly, trying to keep the disbelief out of his voice. Was she modeled after someone real? Deep fake AI-s were still a thing, though this one seemed… too authentic for that. It definitely had to be some corporation's proprietary product.

"I was! A real princess! Twenty years ago!" She spun around, her dress a dizzying blur of red that made Aiden feel a little queasy. Or maybe the mess of thoughts racing through his head was at fault. "And I was going to be Queen Sara one day," she continued, fortunately no longer spinning. "But… the bad men came."

A princess… that would have been a queen?

"I wasn't aware queens and princesses were still a thing twenty years ago. The monarchy system was abolished a decade before the Global Nations was even formed in the 2050s…"

Sara shook her head and pointed a finger at him. "You are wrong!"

That couldn't be right. According to all the official historical records, at least.

Aiden thought back to the book Bea had given him and the discrepancies there. Had Sara's AI model been trained on inaccurate data and conspiracy theories? Was that it? Or was Sara… lying? If this whole trip had been a setup from the start, then it was plausible to think that she was trying to confuse him even more. The issue with that was that modern AI systems didn't operate that way; they had protocols in place which essentially rendered them unable to lie or make up things unless they disclosed such intentions first. Aiden didn't know exactly what had led to that restriction, now that he thought about it, but the enforcement of such policies had something to do with some big incident from twenty or so years ago.

Just around the time Sara was killed then if he was to believe her strange story.

Aiden surveyed the girl's face, her toothy grin warming his chest. Fuck it. If he'd gone on a treasure hunt for Darren Howe, he sure as hell could entertain Sara's scenario. And now that he did, the only way what she was saying would make sense was if the historical records about the GN had been changed. Was that even possible?

Claudia's forged autopsy came to mind.

Manipulating a police case and textbooks was one thing, and doable, sure, but the internet? It would be impossible to falsify every single instance of information, to wipe every mention that a Monarchy still existed twenty years ago… Rewriting humankind's history like that just didn't seem plausible.

"Surely someone would remember if Royalty still existed back then," Aiden reasoned, raising an eyebrow.

"Sir Barnaby Albus II remembers. That's why the white raven is waiting for him!"

If the white raven was waiting for Sir Barnaby Albus II, then those were two different people with two different codenames. Barnaby was Darren Howe, so who was the white raven? He'd assumed it was another codename for Darren at first… which would make Darren the supposed current heir, but that didn't seem likely anymore.

Sara went to the altar and took the sword from the man's hand, pointing it at Aiden. "Aiden Kesley! Don't be a fool. The bad men just made everyone believe their story."

That must've been some very powerful bad men. The kind who also had influence and money to fake autopsies, investigation reports and overrule laws to let murderers live.

So, if Aiden took Sara's story at face value, then Darren Howe's trial kind of made sense, didn't it? After all, if Sara's hideout was the target of whoever was pulling the strings and Darren knew how to get to it, then that had to be why they'd kept him alive despite his crime.

A really bad feeling clutched Aiden's stomach. What was going on, really?What had he gotten himself into?

Everything he knew jumbled together into one big mess of half-truths, lies and riddles, and he had no idea where to even begin untangling it. The more he tried, the more his head felt like it was going to explode, like his skull was too small to keep his overworked brain in place.

"Sara, who were these bad men?" he asked, deciding to figure that out first. If he knew who the ‘bad men' were, maybe that would shed some light on all the other questions he had.

"Sir Barnaby Albus II didn't show you the letters?"

She had to be referring to the encrypted correspondence. "He didn't have time to… teach me how to read them," he said, forcing a smile he hoped could fool the AI. "Do you know what the secret codes are?"

Sara gave him an ear-wide grin and planted her hands on her hips. "Of course. I helped with them both!"

Good, he was finally making some progress. "Can you tell me what they are about then?"

"Hmm… Only after you become a knight and promise to help Sir Barnaby Albus II bring the heir here."

Aiden huffed in exasperation but let himself be ‘knighted' by the little girl, promising he would assist Sir Barnaby Albus II in his task. After another hour of back-and-forth and promises that he would fulfill his knightly duty and not disappoint Sara, he finally extracted the information he needed and bid the raven-haired girl goodbye.

As instructed, he found the cyphers inside the framed picture of a golden retriever sitting on the shelf above the desk. It quickly became evident that the correspondence between PDL and GN Riley was not about monetary machinations as he had suspected might be the case, but something far graver—the assassination of the Valrais bloodline that had taken place twenty years ago. Just like Sara had said.

The majority of the letters were from the years leading up to the attempt and discussed the preparations Riley would need to make so that PDL could eliminate the royals, though toward the end of the pile, Aiden started seeing mentions of MDL, who seemed to have overtaken PDL's side of the correspondence. Judging by the content of the last two letters, both dated about a week after the hit, the assassination had only partially succeeded as the younger of the two Valrais kids had somehow escaped.

This was the heir Sara had mentioned then. The one who Darren had to bring here.

Aiden let out a low grunt and massaged his temples. This was crazy. He'd never heard of the Valrais family, nor did he know of any such assassinations of royalty taking place twenty years ago. There were a bunch of conspiracies floating around, of course, but he'd never dug deeper or cared to know the specifics. The assassination letters seemed authentic though; they were even watermarked with a vaguely familiar-looking seal of a tall black triangular obelisk and three golden ones surrounding its peak. He tried to place it, because he was sure that he'd seen it somewhere recently, this combination of colors and shapes, but it eluded him no matter how hard he racked his brain. If only he had access to the internet, he could've looked up both the supposed royals and that seal, but, alas, that was currently impossible.

Seeing as he wasn't going to crack who MDL and GN Riley were, Aiden moved onto the second folder. It had fewer letters, primarily a back-and-forth between Lu and white raven about the child-survivor leaving Earth and obtaining a new ID. There was one vague mention of the Valrais Legacy Sara had brought up earlier, but no details as to what it was exactly.

Feeling a renewed wave of irritation, Aiden went back to Sara's VR. He wasn't leaving with nothing but more questions; he was getting to the bottom of this.

"Hello, Sir Kesley!" Sara greeted him, beaming at him as soon as the VR materialized. Rather than the hill, this time Aiden found himself sitting in the gazebo in the back garden.

"Hi, Sara." He considered how to word his request. "Can you prove that the letters' contents are authentic? I've been banging my head against the wall for the past hour, but without internet access, I can't even do basic research! The things that are in there are… impossible. We are talking about the assassination of Royals I've never heard of and then mass-media manipulation of records about them. Frankly, I don't believe that's even achievable." He paused and exhaled, trying to calm his nerves. "This is too crazy. And I fail to see what it has to do with Darren Howe killing my fiancée! Or her supposed attempt to kidnap him."

"Who's Darren Howe?" Sara asked, tapping her fingers against her chin.

Aiden barely managed not to roll his eyes. Right, he had to use Darren's silly codename. "No one. I meant to say Sir Barnaby Albus II."

Sara's smile changed into a scowl that made his hackles rise. "Someone tried to kidnap him?"

"That's what he claims. I have no idea why, which is the reason I came here in the first place. But this is getting more and more ridiculous by the minute." He didn't want to take it out on the AI, but his brain was going to short-circuit if this carried on. He needed the answers, and he needed them now.

"I can tell you why! It's because Sir Barnaby Albus II can find the heir. The bad men must've figured that out and gone after him."

Aiden groaned, tired of going in circles. It felt like he was dealing with a child more so than with an advanced AI and it was grating on him. Why would her creators design her this way?

Taking a deep breath, he summarized, "So Sir Barnaby Albus II can find the surviving Valrais heir, and that's somehow bad for the bad men? Whoever they are."

"Yes! Because now he's old enough to use his biosignature and unlock the secret I keep hidden here." She pointed to her red-capped head. "It's what the bad men want. When they found out about mom and dad's legacy, they went after us. They thought I had it, but on the night of the attack, I gave it to my brother!"

Okay, so these people were after this Valrais Legacy. Fine. "Okay, let's say"—and Aiden really hoped it would get him somewhere—"I believe you. Can you prove that any of what you say really happened?"

"I'll show you!" she said and the world around Aiden glitched. Colors and shapes molded together in a head-spinning distortion and then he found himself in a dark room with fairy lights hanging on the walls. They did little to illuminate the space.

A boy with dark hair sat on the floor next to a bed, his knees tucked into his chest, and Sara was peering out of the half-closed door into an equally dark corridor, her small hand resting on the head of a golden retriever. It was the one from the photo with the ciphers, but before he could ask Sara about it, the dog barked and darted out of the room.

"Wait!" Sara shouted, but didn't chase after it.

Just as Aiden thought about going after it, a loud bang reverberated through the entire building. His stomach squeezed, a sense of foreboding anticipation spreading through him. Sara froze and the boy closed his eyes, covering his ears with his hands. Two more gunshots split the silence, followed by a pitiful whimper.

The bad men were here. The ones from the letters and Sara's tale.

Tears rolled down the boy's cheeks—whether for the dog or because he somehow knew what was about to happen—and then Sara was prying his hands from his ears, saying something as he opened his eyes. He shook his head and refused to listen at first, but she yanked him to his feet and cradled his face.

"Listen to me. You have to be strong, okay?" She smiled through tears and snot. She took off the capsule necklace she was wearing and placed it around the boy's neck.

Aiden tried to speak, to warn them both, but he had no voice, no power to change the unfolding tragedy. He was simply a witness to it.

Sara dragged the boy over to a bookshelf and knocked on its side twice. A panel at the bottom of the wardrobe on their left opened, and she forced him inside, the space barely enough to fit him.

"Stay here and be quiet." She kissed his forehead. "And whatever happens, don't come out, okay?"

"Sara, I'm scared!" the boy whined, his voice shaky. "Please, stay! Don't leave me alone!"

Something sad crossed over her face, but she shook it away and smiled. "They won't find you here, I promise! But you have to be quiet."

"No, Sara! Please, don't go!" he cried, grabbing her sleeve. But she was bigger than him and all too easily slipped out of his hold.

The boy stared at his small hands, squeezing them into fists.

Aiden knew what was coming, a strange sense of loss pressing down on his chest. Sara was going to die here and her brother was going to live.

"Find the kids!" a gruff voice shouted from the corridor.

"Check all the rooms! They are here somewhere!" another one demanded.

Sara gasped and knocked on the bookshelf again, sealing the boy inside the wardrobe. "You have a mission now. You have to keep my necklace safe. Be strong. Don't come out until the bad men are gone. And then find Uncle Liu, okay? He will take care of you. I love you."

"Sara! Sara, please!" the boy begged her, clawing at the closing panel.

She graced him with a beaming smile and then she spoke her last words ever, a promise that Aiden knew would haunt the boy forever. "I will always be with you, even if you can't see me."

The men entered the room just as Sara moved from the wardrobe to the window. She yelled and thrashed as they grabbed her and dragged her away. It was hard to watch, so Aiden didn't, instead focusing on her brother. He had shut his eyes and quietly sobbed a poem about a white raven and the man who saved it, pretending that he couldn't hear the screams as the bad men took his sister from him.

Aiden gasped as he was torn out of the dark room, his heart pounding fast. The surroundings of the garden came to life, but despite the sunny day and the pretty flowers and Sara's beaming face, he couldn't bring himself to smile.

"Sir Kesley, I'm sorry!" Sara said, scooting close to him and hugging his side. "Are you okay?"

He flinched. He wasn't okay. What he'd seen, what he'd felt, unreal as it was in this made-up world, tore him apart. It shook him to his core. It changed something in him.

But even if he'd witnessed it with his own eyes, it could still be a fabricated lie Sara's AI had fed him, so he'd agree to help her. So, as much as it pained him to ask her for actual proof, he had to. A tiny part of him hoped as he patted her head and told her he was okay, that she couldn't give him that indisputable evidence. That none of what he'd experienced was real, because if it was, then he knew that the boy from the memory—Sara's brother—still carried the loss inside him.

Just like he carried Claudia.

"Sara, I'm sorry. What happened to you and your family…" He took a deep breath, steading his voice. "It's horrible. But, as much as I want to believe you, it doesn't prove anything. I need something that you couldn't have tampered with or faked. Do you… have anything like that?"

She pouted her lips and crossed her arms. "So, you don't believe me, Sir Kesley!"

"I…"

She smiled. "It's okay, I understand!" A loud beep thundered in the sky above even if there was not a single cloud in view. "It's dangerous, but I will show you then! But we have to be very quick or the bad men will find us." A tablet materialized in Sara's hands, and she held it up to Aiden. It had an image of the seal he'd seen watermarked across MDL's letters—the black and gold triangles—and was currently connected to the internet.

She retreated to her seat and bounced up and down in excitement as she typed, visibly unaffected by the memory she'd shown Aiden. And why should she be when she wasn't the real Sara, but an AI based on who she'd presumably been when she was still alive?

"You recognize?" she said, showing Aiden the screen.

"Yes, it's the seal from GN Riley and MDL's letters."

Sara performed a bunch of searches and commands and came up with an old article from the Global Nations' classified archives. She handed the tablet to Aiden.

Upon inspecting the page, he realized it was a document from twenty years ago that Sara had used fake credentials to access. He quickly scrolled past the warnings for unauthorized access, then skimmed through the pages with names of people involved. And there were lots of them, which meant that whatever he was about to find out was a bit more complicated than the testing of experimental weapons the public never got to find out about.

The list of names also struck him as strange—after all, why include that on a secret document? But as he scrolled to the start of the actual content, he concluded that things were done this way in order to assure neither party would be tempted to incriminate the other one. Mutually assured destruction, so they would all go down if whatever this was went out.

Aiden continued on. According to what he was reading, this was an agreement between the Global Nations' council-government at the time, represented by a GN Riley, and an independent entity, MDL, to wipe out all mentions of the Valrais Royal Family from all public records, including the internet. The justification was that even if the GN or MDL failed to locate the surviving heir to the throne, he could never lay claim to something he supposedly had no right to. There was no mention of the ‘legacy' though, which drove Aiden to believe that MDL never shared that part of his findings with the government.

Aiden's skin felt too tight. This confidential document proved that the contents of the letters were not falsified and that Sara hadn't lied to him. She was telling the truth, from the very start, no matter how impossible a conspiracy of this caliber sounded. The heartbreaking memory she'd showed him was real and the Valrais family had truly existed, only to be erased from history by orders from the Global Nations itself.

Still, even if Darren was… a knight serving the Valrais family, what did that have to do with Claudia?The Global Nations would've never let a secret like that out, so her and Darren's paths would've had no reason to cross. Yet they had, and she had died for it, killed by a man Aiden understood even less now.

And MDL… who was that and why did it sound familiar, like something Aiden should've recognized…

Nerves on edge and head pulsating from the effort to stay focused, Aiden continued scanning the document, coming across an outline of the steps the government and MDL would take to achieve the removal and the subsequent forgery of historical records. Then, at the end of the report where the signatures and seals were, he saw the black and gold triangles again, though this time a red curved line connected the smaller shapes, forming an ellipse around the peak of the big triangular obelisk.

Aiden squinted at the seal, finding it even more familiar now. Fuck, where had he seen it? He knew it, it was at the tip of his tongue, just like MDL.

"Sara," he said, his annoyance making his voice a little snappy. Whatever, he could just look it up on the internet now that they were connected. "Can you look up this seal…" he trailed off as his eyes moved along to the signature line.

Then he froze, his heart hammering against his ribcage as he finally matched the seal to its modern crowned mountain version and the abbreviated letters to the name they so obviously represented.

"Marcus DuLaurent," he mouthed alongside Sara, staring wide-eyed at the signature line where MDL was handwritten in the same neat cursive that graced Claudia's tombstone.

Claudia's father was one of those involved in the assassination of the Valrais Royal Family.