Chapter 328: The Guest
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Meanwhile, the guest house outside the main Dawn building had become a prison in everything except name.
Kess knew that now.
He had known it in parts yesterday. He had suspected it by evening. He understood it fully by night. And by the time the next meeting hour began creeping near, the truth had settled into his bones with enough weight to make every passing minute feel like a quiet execution.
He was not chained.
That was the insulting part.
No iron restraints. No sealing cuffs. No visible guards outside the door with spears across their knees and murder in their eyes. No formal accusation. No overt violence. He had been given meals. Proper ones. Tea, even. A clean room. A bed too soft for a prisoner and too plain for an honored guest. A writing table with no ink. A bathing room with no blade. Windows that opened just enough to let air in and hope out. Everything arranged with such deliberate courtesy that for half a day he had nearly convinced himself he was merely being delayed.
Then he tried to leave.
The first time he tried to leave had been late in the morning, not long after he was first shown the guest room.
At that point, Kess had still been telling himself this was a delay, not a detention. Lower branches liked silence when main-house pressure arrived. That was normal. Annoying, but normal. So he had stepped into the corridor with measured confidence, intending to act normal and also take a proper look at the layout.
He had made it only a few steps before a maid appeared from the side corridor carrying folded cloth.
She bowed politely.
"Lady Elena asked that you remain comfortable here."
Kess had given her the kind of smile senior servants used when speaking to house staff beneath them but not so far beneath them that arrogance was safe.
"I appreciate the care," he had said. "I only mean to take a walk."
The maid’s expression did not change.
"You may walk inside this wing."
That was the first small warning.
Not open refusal.
A boundary spoken like courtesy.
So he nodded, returned to the room, and waited.
The second attempt came around midday.
This time he used the garden-side door, the one that looked less watched and more decorative. He had barely touched the handle before another maid turned the corner with a tray of tea as if she had been summoned by the movement itself.
Kess kept his voice controlled. "Did you come with an answer?"
She bowed too. "The young master has not yet answered."
The maid set the tray down on a side table.
"It is better if you remain available."
Kess had looked at her for a second longer than politeness liked, then asked, "How long?"
The maid replied with infuriating calm, "That depends on when the answer comes."
Then she poured tea for him as if he were not being quietly caged.
The third time had been in the afternoon, after the sun shifted and the room began to feel smaller.
He tried the outer stair that led toward the service court. This time he moved faster, not running, but with the speed of a man willing to risk a little disrespect if it got him closer to air and information.
He reached the lower landing.
Another maid was waiting there. Kess quickly made an excuse. "I want to meet your young master. I need answers."
The maid replied, "You will be informed when it is time."
Kess stopped on the stair and let some of the steel into his voice.
"I serve under the heir’s instruction. I must report back."
The maid folded her hands.
"Yes."
That yes had angered him more than an argument would have.
No denial. No fear. No apology.
Just yes, as if she understood the importance and had still placed a wall in front of it without effort.
Nothing more. No sympathy. No explanation. Just yes.
He returned to the room with his jaw tight enough to ache.
The fourth attempt had come later that evening.
This one was no longer graceful.
By then he had begun to understand that every hallway in this wing belonged to unseen eyes. He waited. Counted footsteps. Listened to changing rotations. Opened the door at what should have been an empty interval and stepped out with the intention of simply continuing until someone physically stopped him.
He never made it past the long corridor arch.
The last maid stood there already, hands tucked into her sleeves, watching him with the bland patience of a woman who had won this argument before he arrived.
Her voice was the softest of all of them.
"You are not permitted beyond this wing."
There it was at last. Not wrapped. Not sweetened. The truth.
Kess had stared at her in silence for a long moment before saying, "So I am a prisoner, then?"
The maid tilted her head very slightly.
"No. You are a guest."
Kess almost laughed then, though there was no humor in him.
"A guest who cannot leave."
The maid met his eyes without flinching.
"A guest who is being kept here."
That sentence stayed with him afterward because it was more honest than the others and somehow worse for it.
He had gone back into the room after that and sat on the edge of the bed for a long time, thinking the same thought over and over.
They had never raised a hand to him. And somehow that made the trap feel even tighter. And his stomach had become a knot of cold acid and old servant fear.
Mihos Dawn had sent him yesterday morning.
Yesterday morning.
Not two days ago. Not enough time for an actual detention with formal terms. Not a long-term house conflict. A simple delivery. A message from the heir through Stephen’s line. Courtesy. Presence. Pressure dressed as structure.
Kess had come expecting to be delayed perhaps. Measured, yes. Observed. That much he accepted. Lower branches always wanted time when main-house hands reached down.