Chapter 47: Iris's Last Bargain

Iris looked like winter had chewed her up and found her bitter. Her blue silks were gone, replaced by a torn gray cloak. One eye was swollen. Blood had dried at her hairline. The false Luna mark at her throat was covered with a dirty bandage, but black veins had begun to spread beneath the skin. Nora stopped ten feet from the gate. Darius stood at her right. Maeve at her left with a crossbow she had no business holding and every intention of using. "Asylum," Iris rasped. Maeve lifted the crossbow. "Try apology first." Iris laughed once and winced. "I am sorry your aim is probably poor." "Getting better every day." Nora raised a hand. "Why are you here?" Iris looked at her stomach. For once, envy was not the first thing in her eyes. Fear was. "Seraphine does not need to kidnap you. She needs one drop of Hope's birth blood. The patron can bind through first cry if Thornveil speaks the old name." Nora felt Darius change beside her. "What old name?" he asked. Iris's mouth twisted. "The one Thornveil kept from the cut ledger page." Darius's voice was ice. "How do you know this?" Iris lifted her chin as much as pain allowed. "Because I stole it." She reached into her cloak and pulled out a strip of oilcloth. Maeve swore. Darius took it first, checking for poison before handing it to Nora. Inside was a ledger page, old and brittle, covered in names. At the top: First surviving crown-moon child: Selene Thorn. Darius stopped breathing. Nora read again. Selene Thorn. Darius's mother. Not Frost by birth. Thorn. Iris spoke quickly. "Thornveil changed her name after she escaped. If the patron uses Selene's blood name through Darius, she can claim guardian authority over Hope." Darius looked as if the page had opened the ground beneath him. Nora took his hand before he could pull away into silence. Iris watched the gesture with a small, unreadable expression. "What do you want?" Nora asked. "Sanctuary." "You tried to kill my child." "Yes." The answer was blunt enough to silence even Maeve. Iris swallowed. "I hated you. I still do in ugly little pieces. But Seraphine showed me what happens after she gets a child. The mothers do not matter. The sisters do not matter. The pretty false Lunas do not matter. No one matters except the line." Nora studied her. Iris looked away first. "I can die outside the gate if you want. But if Seraphine catches me, she gets the page and the old name." Maeve said, "This could be a trap." "It is," Iris said. "Everything is. I am just telling you which teeth I can see." Darius finally spoke. "Open the gate." Nora turned to him. His face was hard. "Not for forgiveness. For information." Nora looked at Iris's shaking hands, the sister who had stolen, poisoned, threatened, confessed, and now arrived with the one page that might save Hope. "You enter under guard," Nora said. "You do not go near the nursery. You do not speak to Lina, Maeve, or the girls unless they choose it. You answer every question." Iris nodded. The gate opened. As Iris crossed into Frosthold, the black veins at her throat pulsed. She collapsed. On her bandage, Thornveil's mark began to burn like a countdown.