Kira was halfway through her morning tea when she sensed someone approaching the abandoned greenhouse.
It wasn't the soft, measured footsteps of a servant, nor the disciplined pace of one of Wildflower's couriers. Whoever it was stumbled more than walked, pausing every few steps as though each breath demanded more strength than the last. She quietly closed the ledger resting on her lap and set the teacup aside before making her way toward the old glasshouse tucked behind the neglected gardens. Few people visited that part of the estate anymore. The cracked panes, creeping ivy, and forgotten flowerbeds had long since convinced everyone it was nothing more than another relic of the Solis family's fading glory.
The wooden door creaked open before she reached it.
A man slipped inside, his breathing uneven as he pushed it shut behind him. Mud clung to the hem of his prison clothes, and the iron shackles still hanging from one wrist scraped faintly against the floor. One side of his face was bruised, dried blood stained the corner of his mouth, and every movement betrayed the exhaustion of someone who had run far longer than his body could endure.
Kira recognized him instantly.
For the first time in days, her expression changed.
"...Rowan."
He looked thinner than she remembered. Prison had hollowed his cheeks and stolen the strength from his shoulders, but his eyes remained the same. The moment he saw her, he lowered himself onto one knee, not out of devotion, but because his legs could no longer support him.
"I don't have much time," he said between unsteady breaths.
Kira's eyes immediately went to the broken shackle still chained around his wrist.
"You escaped."
"I borrowed a few hours."
Her brows drew together.
"Do you understand what you've done?"
He gave a weak, humorless smile.
"They're going to execute me anyway. They have decided I am guilty without listening to."
Silence settled between them.
Kira stared at him for several long moments before speaking again. "If anyone discovers you're outside your cell, they'll hunt you before sunset. The prison commander won't care whether you're recaptured alive or dead."
"I know."
"This time..." Her voice remained calm, but there was an unmistakable firmness beneath it. "I won't be able to save you."
"I didn't come here expecting you to."
His answer came so naturally that Kira said nothing.
Rowan slowly reached inside his torn prison coat and withdrew a tightly folded piece of cloth. He placed it carefully on the old stone table standing between them before withdrawing his hand.
"I came because I remembered something." Kira didn't touch the cloth.
"What kind of something?"
"The night before they drugged me."
His gaze drifted toward the cracked glass ceiling as he searched through memories buried beneath months of imprisonment.
"I had been in an inn. There was some sort of celebration going on, but it had already ended, but several nobles stayed behind after everyone else left. I wasn't supposed to hear them."
He paused, rubbing absently at the raw skin beneath the broken shackle.
"They were arguing."
"About what?"
"I didn't understand it then." His brow furrowed.
"I still don't understand most of it now."
Kira remained silent, allowing him to continue without interruption.
"They kept mentioning a hidden buyer."
"What buyer?" Kira's eyebrow raised.
"Someone purchasing enormous quantities of Starfrost Crystals." For the first time since entering the greenhouse, Kira's fingers stilled completely.
Rowan noticed the subtle change but misunderstood it. "I know it sounds meaningless."
"One of the nobles complained that every shipment arriving from the northern mines disappeared before reaching the capital. He said even the royal physicians couldn't obtain enough anymore."
"And the others?"
"They laughed."
His expression slowly hardened as the memory became clearer.
"One of them said..." Rowan closed his eyes for a brief moment before repeating the words exactly as he had heard them.
"'As long as the crystals reach him first, the Duke won't die.'"
The greenhouse fell completely silent.
Outside, a breeze stirred the ivy climbing across the broken windows, but neither of them seemed to notice.
Rowan looked at Kira, confused by her reaction.
"I never understood what they meant." Kira lowered her eyes.
She understood.
Starfrost Crystals were almost worthless to ordinary people. Their medicinal properties were so specialized that few physicians ever prescribed them. There was, however, one illness throughout the Empire that depended upon them more than any other.
The inherited blood disease carried by the Sterling bloodline.
Grand Duke Gideon Sterling. Her thoughts moved quickly.
Someone had been buying every available Starfrost Crystal before they ever reached the market.
Someone wealthy enough to empty entire mines without attracting attention.
Someone who knew about Gideon's illness long before it became common knowledge.
That wasn't a coincidence. It couldn't be. Rowan watched her quietly.
"I kept thinking about that conversation in prison." His voice was softer now.
"The more I thought about it... the more I felt it mattered."
"So I came."
Kira finally lifted her gaze to meet his. "You risked your life for a conversation you didn't even understand."
"I had nothing else to give you." He said with gratitude.
Those words lingered between them. He hadn't come seeking protection. He hadn't come asking for freedom. He certainly hadn't come offering blind loyalty. He had simply brought the only thing prison hadn't managed to take from him.
Information.
Kira unfolded the piece of cloth he had placed on the table. Inside were several crude sketches of symbols and merchant marks he had scratched from memory during his months in prison, afraid he would forget them before finding her. She studied them carefully.
Every mark belonged to trading companies operating near the northern crystal mines.
Everyone. A slow smile appeared on her lips—not one of warmth, but of recognition.
She carefully folded the cloth and slipped it into her sleeve.
"You should go."
Rowan gave a tired laugh.
"Back to prison?"
"Back before they discover you're gone."
He looked at her in surprise. "You think I can make it?"
"I think," Kira replied as she stepped toward the greenhouse door, "that if you've managed to reach the Solis estate without being caught, then you can manage the journey back."
He slowly rose to his feet despite the pain that crossed his face. Just before leaving, he hesitated.
"I don't regret coming."
Kira opened the door just enough for him to slip outside.
"Neither do I regret saving you"
Rowan disappeared into the mist, moving from shadow to shadow until even the sound of his footsteps faded.
Only after he was gone did Kira look down at the folded cloth hidden inside her sleeve.