She covered Caius last.
She watched his face as she said it.
He went very still.
Not the stillness of someone who didn't understand. The specific stillness of someone who was understanding too much too quickly and was managing the rate at which they let it land.
She finished.
The room was quiet.
Caius looked at his hands. Then at the desk. Then at some point in the middle distance that wasn't anything in the room.
"Say it plainly," he said. His voice was level. Barely.
"You are the son of the emperor two dynasties prior," Elara said. "Documented, sealed, verified by a bloodline disc that is still active in the restricted archive. Your bloodline signature is the strongest recorded in this dynasty in four generations." She paused. "House Valen is not your family. The history you have is constructed. Everything before you were placed with them does not exist in any record except the one in that room." She paused again. "That is what I found. That is what it says."
