Chapter 28: Rowan's Last Offer

Nora chose Maeve. She ripped her hand from the Luna stone so hard the silver light snapped like a broken chain. Pain shot up her arm, but she was already moving. "Let her go," she said. Cassian's blade stayed at Maeve's throat. "How sentimental." "How predictable," Darius said. Cassian's smile faltered. The southern doors slammed shut behind him. Frost wolves stepped out from the side galleries with crossbows leveled. Lina had led them through the servant route while the hall watched the trial. Nora had not known whether the plan would work. She had known Maeve would trust her to try. Maeve smiled despite the blade. Cassian recovered fast. "Shoot and she dies." "No one is shooting," Nora said. She walked closer. Darius did not stop her. That trust steadied her more than a hand would have. "You wanted contracts," she said. "You wanted the child. You wanted the line. But what you need right now is a way out." "And you offer one?" "I offer testimony." Cassian laughed. "Against Rowan?" "Against House Thornveil." The laugh ended. Nora held up her mother's necklace. "This records memory. Iris used it carelessly. You brought Maeve here carelessly. Do you know what it caught when you stood beside the frozen river?" For the first time, Cassian's eyes flicked to the necklace. Fear. There you are, Nora thought. Rowan moved before anyone expected it. He lunged at Cassian, knocking the blade away from Maeve's throat. Frost bolts fired into the floor around them. Maeve dropped. Darius crossed the hall like a storm and tore Cassian from his feet. For one wild heartbeat, Rowan looked heroic. Then he grabbed Nora's wrist. "Run with me," he hissed. Of course. Not rescue. Possession in a better costume. Nora stared at him. "You saved Maeve so I would owe you." "I saved her because you care about her." "That is not better." His fingers tightened. "Nora, listen to me. Frost will use you until your child is born. The Council will turn the baby into a banner. Thornveil will not stop. Come back to me publicly, and I can still give you protection as Luna. I will name you again. I will deny Iris. I will raise the child." The hall had gone quiet enough to hear Maeve's ragged breath. Rowan sank to one knee. In the same place where he had once rejected her. "Come home," he said. Nora looked down at the man she had once loved so hard it hollowed her out. She remembered waiting for him after Council dinners. Balancing accounts so he could sleep. Drinking tea Iris brought. Apologizing for a barren body he had helped poison. She pulled her wrist free. "I would rather give birth in the snow." The words carried. Rowan's face broke. Then hardened. Darius stepped beside Nora, but he did not touch her. Nora turned to the hall. "Record this. I refuse Rowan Vale's offer of reinstatement, protection, marriage, custody arrangement, and public claim. He rejected me. I reject the cage." The Luna stone behind her lit again without her hand. This time, it split down the center. Inside the crack lay a strip of parchment, hidden for years. Venn lifted it with shaking fingers. Nora saw her mother's name at the top. And beneath it, Rowan's first betrayal.