Valerian Empire

He quickly made his way to his desk and began writing something on a paper which when Katie peeked read 'Follow my lead' to which she raised her brow in question wondering what it was about.

Silas walked towards the door, his footsteps not making a single sound which usually clacked across the floor of the mansion. In a swift movement, he turned the two knobs of the doors, unlocking to show the maid who attended Katie standing there in front of the door.

"Master Silas," she bowed her head.

Katie had made sure to be discreet when she had walked towards Silas room, she had been careful with every footstep, keeping her ears sharp for any sounds. Looked like her gut feeling was right about the maid. No matter how merry of person she appeared in front of Katie, the girl wasn't what she posed.

"I don't remember asking for anyone at this hour of night," Silas questioned the girl, his grey eyes fixed on her.

"Forgive me, master. Neither the other maids serving you or I received any order of Ms Welcher attending you tonight. I found it suspicious an-" Silas raised his hand and the maid halted her speech abruptly.

"I asked Ms Welcher to come to my room when I met her in the evening. You see we have negotiated few terms while she lives with me," when he turned around to Katie she nodded her head going with the flow. The maid seemed to have realized and she blushed, casting her eyes down at the ground beneath her. "And I would appreciate it if no one as yourself came to disturb us. I wouldn't like anyone hearing the screams of my woman when she's being done by me. Is that understood?" he then smiled making her nod.

"Of course, master. Please have a good night. Ms Welcher," she bowed and excused herself out of sight.

Silas who was standing at the door, looking at the silhouette that disappeared into the shadows locked the door again.

"This room isn't safe to talk to," he said walking to the closet.

"You have a door in the closet?" Katie asked seeing him move the racks of clothes. He pulled one of them and handed it over to her.

"Closets are old fashioned. It was a secret hobby which my elder brother and I shared. Making little tricks and passages in the mansion," he said moving in front of the dressing table that had the huge mirror hung over it.

He moved his hands around the edge, before kicking the above drawer straight with his boot. The mirror suddenly opened like a glass door, leading to dark and an endless looking tunnel.

"Doesn't anyone know about it? At least someone must have stumbled over it," Katie asked while following him into the tunnel. The glass door suddenly closed itself and for a second everything went dark until the torch lit out of nowhere, burning scarcely on either side of the wall.

"We have made sure to keep the servants away from it, and the passages have been locked and closed since Malphus fled from the mansion. It not only the walls that have ears. Sometimes the wind carries the message too," his quiet voice echoed lightly in the passage.

It was only their footsteps that echoed across the passage as they walked for a while. Katie wasn't sure how to bring up her questions but after gathering her thoughts she finally asked,

"You seem to be fond of Malphus. Why did you let him die then?" she asked behind him to receive no response. She found the whole ordeal strange. First Silas let their father kill Malphus, and secondly it was evident that Silas was their favorite and obedient child who would never defy his parents. Thirdly he had professed his interest in her which she now wondered if it was a sham as he was helping Lord Alexander with whatever arrangement that was going on.

"Malphus wasn't my half brother. He was my brother in blood," he mumbled but she caught on to it and she let him speak, "We, I mean, Malphus and I share a lot of things. Grey eyes, hair color, secrets and…a mother."

"You aren't Lady Ester's son?!" Katie asked flabbergastedly.

"No, she isn't my mother. Though I have known what a mother is only through her which I think she did a decent job especially when she had no clue that I wasn't her child. She still doesn't know. I believe my brother has already told you few things of our family," he said giving a pause before continuing to speak, "My father though had let so many men sully my mother he had impregnated her in his drunk state and a few weeks later he had fathered another child out of his marriage with Ester. My mother's family made sure to keep it a secret as the child which would be born would never be wanted by its own father. They made sure no one knew about it, hiding her in those last months. A bastard's child."

Katie noticed how Silas dropped the honorifics while taking Lady Ester's name. In the shadow he seemed to resemble Malphus making her heart ache for the loss of her friend, like Malphus, Silas too carried bitterness while he spoke about his family.

"Surprisingly my mother and Ester gave birth at the same time but that's where things changed. My mother wasn't living in the mansion and instead during her absence he replaced her position with Ester, even though he was still married to our mother. Not everyone were allowed to go near the new mother but when Malphus was a child my father dotted him. My grandpa, my mother's father had somehow got me inside the mansion, who was barely few minutes old and had switched the two babies. Did you know that later the Lord had ordered to murder his wife's son."

"Did your mother know about it?" Katie asked him quietly to which he shook his head.

"She didn't. It was only grandpa and Malphus who knew about it, and then me and now you. Few secrets are better to be buried deep in the ground because you don't know what ill omen is going to befall," she heard him sigh, "My mother wailed and cried at the loss of her child. I sometimes wonder, if grandpa had told her should would still have the will to continue her life but sometimes I am glad."

"Ester is a selfish woman and in all these years, neither did I nor Malphus know the woman was a witch in disguise."

"But you let him die," Katie said it in an accusatory tone, her eyebrows furrowed, "If you really loved him you wouldn't have let him."

"He asked for it," he stated simply.

"I understand that he can get into your skin but that doesn't give you the right to let him get killed right in front of your eyes," her voice taking a higher note as she spoke, "I mean you are his brother and yo-mph!"

"Speak any louder and we'll get caught. I hate women," Silas gritted his teeth, he moved his hand that was covering her mouth.