Page 197 of The Other Omega

“The family would see the same face,” Octavian said.

“Yes.”

“And if the counterpart told them what had happened?” Oswald asked.

“They were often diagnosed as ill or mentally unfit.”

“How long has Vaelor known?” Bastian asked.

“Long enough to investigate every member of this Council for identity, complicity and House Tureen’s influence. I could not bring you a warning until I knew whom I was warning.”

“You had no right to investigate all of us,” Oswald said.

“Lord Oswald, we have evidence that your predecessor was murdered and replaced by a C-17 counterpart.”

His mouth remained slightly open. Across the table, Severin watched him.

“My predecessor?”

“His transport was intercepted between holdings. The counterpart who arrived was frightened and confused, and he repeatedly insisted he was not the High Lord. Every identity test confirmed that he was, but he had no Alpha markers. Your physicians recorded an unexplained hormonal collapse. When he insisted that he had been taken from another life, they called it delusion.”

Oswald looked towards Octavian, then back at me.

“His death…”

“Three days after the substitution. House Tureen’s records include the interception order, the transfer record and the directive to record his death as suicide.”

Oswald turned to Severin. “You killed him, put another man in his place and killed him too.”

“Lord Oswald,” Octavian warned.

He sat back, though his hands remained flat on the table.

“If what you are saying is true, what reason was there for it? What did they stand to gain?”

“Your predecessor had become resistant to House Tureen’s interests. They wanted someone else in power, someone they believed they could control.”

Oswald stared at me. “I did not know any of this. You cannot imply⁠—”

“We have found no evidence that you knowingly acted for House Tureen.”

“I have yet to see any proof against me,” Severin said, “or any lawful justification for this operation.”

“The evidence will be examined,” I replied. “Including the records concerning five senior Alphas from three Houses who were imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.”

I gave their names and explained how House Tureen had staged the offences, using biological evidence obtained from C-17 counterparts to condemn the originals. One of those men had spent nine years in confinement.

Bastian recognised two names. Octavian ordered the original trial records preserved, and the clerk began a separate list.

“House Tureen also interfered with mating arrangements that would strengthen its political rivals,” I continued. “One target was Stormforge.”

Bastian’s attention returned to me.

“Lady Elowen Hart was Stormforge’s intended Omega. House Tureen deceived her into initiating an exchange with her C-17 counterpart, promising her a new identity and safe passage.”

“And what did House Tureen intend?” Octavian asked.

“To kill the C-17 woman and keep Lady Elowen as a subject in its Omega breeding programme. However, the C-17 woman survived and later presented as an Omega.”