Chapter 43: Rowan's Confession

Rowan screamed Nora's name as the patron pulled him across the courtyard. Not Darius's. Nora's. Some part of her hated that the sound still reached the old reflex to help. She pressed a hand to the balcony rail until the feeling passed. The patron lifted Rowan with one pale hand. "The father remains a door," she said. Darius's blade hit the balcony stone. "Close the gates." Frosthold obeyed. Wards flared blue-white across every arch and wall. The patron did not flinch. Rowan hung in the air, clawing at his throat. "Nora," he gasped. "Help me." Maeve, behind Nora, whispered, "He would not help you." "I know." Knowing did not make watching easy. The patron touched Rowan's forehead. His memories burst over the courtyard. Everyone saw them. Rowan signing the first Thornveil debt at twenty-two, desperate to save Blackridge from bankruptcy. Rowan meeting Iris in secret before Nora's second anniversary. Rowan finding the healer's note about heat suppression and folding it into a drawer instead of stopping it. Rowan holding a letter from Nora's mother, opened and unread for years. Nora gripped the rail. "He had a letter?" The memory sharpened. Rowan stood in his study the week before the rejection. The letter bore Elara Ashford's seal, hidden in the old Luna stone and found during repairs. He opened it. "If my daughter carries, protect the child from Thornveil. Trust no contract signed under Blackridge debt. The crown-moon line frees bonds only if the mother remains unowned." Rowan read it. Then burned it. Nora went numb. Rowan had known before the ceremony that ownership would endanger the baby. He had still rejected her publicly, still let Iris cast her out, still filed custody. The patron lowered him to the snow. "Confess," she said. Rowan shook violently. "I burned it because if Nora knew, she would leave." Nora descended the tower steps before Darius could stop her. She entered the courtyard under three layers of Frost guards, Darius at her side. The patron watched with interest, as if Nora had moved exactly as expected. Rowan crawled toward her until Darius's blade stopped him. "I thought I could fix it later," Rowan said. "After Iris. After the debt. After Thornveil lost interest." Nora stared at him. "You thought Thornveil would lose interest in a bloodline they had hunted for generations?" "I thought if the child was mine, I could negotiate." "The child was mine inside my body." He flinched. Good. "Say it," Nora said. Rowan looked up. "In front of every person you lied to. Say what you knew." The patron smiled faintly. Darius leaned close. "She wants confession to open the father door." "Then we use it to close mine." Nora faced Rowan again. "Say it." His voice broke. "I knew Nora's child would be endangered if she was owned by Blackridge. I knew she had to remain unowned. I burned her mother's warning. I still filed custody." The words entered the courtyard like stones dropping into a grave. Nora felt the bond scar inside her finally go cold. The patron reached for Rowan. Nora stepped between them. Darius cursed softly. "He confessed," Nora said. "The father door is shame, not blood. And shame belongs to him." The silver lines around her wrist flared. Rowan's shadow snapped back to his feet. The patron hissed. Nora lifted her chin. "Find another door, Seraphine."