Lucas took a step forward, his voice low but urgent. "Lord Cedric has been arranging… boys and girls for Prince Lucian. Children."
Izan's gaze locked onto Lucas, his entire body tense as if preparing for the blow that he knew was coming.
"They're between the ages of ten and fourteen. The empress is aware, she pays Lord Cedric to provide these children for her son. There's a secret chamber in Cedric's manor where Prince Lucian… satisfies his obsessions."
The air in the room thickened. Izan's blood ran cold, each word Lucas uttered pressing down on him with a sickening weight. His heart pounded in his chest, each beat louder and more deafening than the last.
"Are you telling me…" he began, his voice strained with disbelief, "the empress knows about this?"
