Chapter 111: Rowan's Debt Travels South

The holding room in the southern border post smelled of wet wool and burnt coffee. Nora sat on a wooden bench, hands folded in her lap, watching the door. Darius stood by the window, one hand on the frame, his posture relaxed but his eyes sharp. They had been waiting thirty minutes. "He could refuse," Nora said quietly. "He already refused twice." Darius didn't turn around. "That's why I had Elias bring him here instead of the Council hall. Fewer eyes, softer walls." "Softer walls?" Darius glanced at her. "The interview room in Frosthold has stone floors and no windows. He would have talked inside ten minutes, but he would have talked about escape routes and revenge, not truth. I need him to remember what truth sounds like." Nora let out a slow breath. She hadn't seen Rowan since the Winter Council trial. The memory of his face--twisted with rage, then hollow with defeat--still sat in her chest like a cold stone. She didn't want to pity him. She didn't want to fear him. She wanted answers. The door opened. Rowan Vale walked in flanked by two guards. His wrists were bound in silver-linked cuffs, and his clothes were plain gray wool, nothing like the tailored jackets he had worn as Alpha. His hair was longer, unkempt, and there was a cut along his jaw that hadn't been treated properly. He looked older. Smaller. He stopped when he saw Nora. "You," he said. His voice cracked on the single syllable. "Sit down, Rowan." Darius's tone carried no heat. It didn't need to. Rowan sat. He kept his eyes on the floorboards. Elias Voss followed the guards into the room. The steward carried a leather folder and took a seat at the small table between Nora and Rowan. He opened the folder without ceremony and set a stack of papers in front of him. "Alpha Vale," Elias said, "you were brought here to give a deposition regarding the heir-trade routes that operated through Blackridge Pack. You have already confirmed your involvement in the transfer of three children between the ages of two and five to unnamed buyers. Is that correct?" Rowan nodded. "I need you to say it aloud." "Yes." Rowan's jaw tightened. "I confirmed it." "And the buyers--did you ever meet them face to face?" "No. Never. The deals were handled through Elder Callum Reed and a woman who called herself Seraphine. I only signed the final transfer papers." Nora's stomach turned. "How many papers?" Rowan finally looked at her. His eyes were red-rimmed, and something broken sat behind them. "I don't know. Dozens. Maybe more. I stopped counting after the first year." Darius shifted. "And you never questioned where the children came from?" "They came from the packless camps. From border villages too small to have Alphas. From women who couldn't feed another mouth." Rowan's voice cracked again. "I told myself it was mercy." "It wasn't mercy," Nora said softly. "It was trade." Rowan didn't argue. Elias flipped to a new page. "There's one document I need you to authenticate, Alpha Vale. A transfer order dated eight months after you rejected Nora Ashford. The file says the child was never delivered because the mother escaped before the exchange could be completed." Rowan's face went pale. "I don't know what you're talking about." Elias slid a single piece of parchment across the table. It was yellowed at the edges, but the signature at the bottom was dark and clear. Rowan Vale. Dated three weeks after Hope's birth. Rowan stared at it. His hands began to shake. "I didn't write this," he whispered. "I never saw it." "The ink matches your blood signature from your Alpha bond," Elias said calmly. "And the handwriting analysis confirms the loops match your personal correspondence from the same month. You signed a preemptive transfer order for a child you believed would be delivered to Blackridge. The intended recipient was a compound south of the mountain border." Nora's breath caught. "You tried to sell my daughter before she was born." Rowan's head dropped. His shoulders shook once, then stilled. "I didn't know it was hers," he said. "I thought Iris had told the truth. I thought the baby was dead. I thought you were dead." "You wanted me dead," Nora said. The words came out cold and steady. "You left me in the snow." Rowan didn't deny it. Darius stepped forward. He didn't touch Rowan. He only stood between him and Nora, a living wall of calm restraint. "The second signature changes the legal timeline," he said quietly. "If Rowan signed after Hope's birth, the Blackridge transfer line was still active. That means the heir-trade route didn't end with his rejection. It continued under new management." Nora looked at Elias. "Who took over?" Elias turned the parchment over. On the back, written in a different hand, was a single name. *Seraphine,* a door never closed.