로그인Draven’s POV"Release him."I said it before I even thought about it and every elder in the room turned to look at me like I was speaking a language they did not understand.Ronan was still on his knees he had not moved since the guards brought him in. I looked at the back of his head trying to make sense of the man kneeling there all bloody and quiet. It was hard to match this Ronan with all the versions of him I had disliked over the years. It was not easy to do.The presiding elder spoke up her voice was all business now. "He came into our land without permission he said he was a traitor to his father and you want to let him go." She sounded surprised. "That is not like you Draven for you."I kept looking at Ronan he was still bloody, kneeling still watching me like he thought I would say no. "He is not the problem he is the only one who told us the truth tonight." I said. "Whatever he did to Bella in the past that is between them. Tonight he came into a room where we could have ki
Bella’s POV“You’re not going to hurt us.”It wasn’t a question. I said it the way you say something you need to be true, testing the weight of it out loud before you fully trust it.The old lady looked at me for a long time the light from the lantern making her face look very tired. She looked different up close not like the person in charge who had been talking to Draven. She looked like someone who had been carrying a load by herself for a very long time and it had taken a lot out of her to put some of it down."No " she said after a while. "If I wanted to hurt any of you you would already be hurt. I have had chances to do that since you first opened that panel."Thor did not relax and neither did I. Frey stood behind us watching the doors like he always did like he never felt safe in a room with one way out."What do you want then " I asked her."I want to finish talking about something I should have talked about a time ago " she said. She sat down on a crate moving slowly like he
Bella’s POV“Pack it up. Now.”Thor didn’t wait for me to argue. He was already sweeping the documents back into the box, careless of the fragile paper in a way that told me exactly how much danger he thought we were actually in.My hands moved on instinct, tucking the pendant deep into my jacket pocket, my mind still half caught on my mother’s name even as every other part of me scrambled to catch up with the danger closing in around us.Footsteps on the level above. More than one set this time. Fast, purposeful, nothing like the archivist’s unhurried rounds from before.I said to them "They might not know it is us " and I put the pendant into my jacket pocket. The metal was cold through the fabric. My mind was still thinking about everything the documents had told me. My mothers name was circled in ink. It was a part of a history I had never been allowed to know.. My body was focused on getting out of this room alive.Thors voice was very quiet. "It does not matter who they think it
Bella’s POV“Pack it up. Now.”Thor didn’t wait for me to argue. He was already sweeping the documents back into the box, careless of the fragile paper in a way that told me exactly how much danger he thought we were actually in.My hands moved on instinct, tucking the pendant deep into my jacket pocket, my mind still half caught on my mother’s name even as every other part of me scrambled to catch up with the danger closing in around us.Footsteps on the level above. More than one set this time. Fast, purposeful, nothing like the archivist’s unhurried rounds from before.I said to them "They might not know it is us " and I put the pendant into my jacket pocket. The metal was cold through the fabric. My mind was still thinking about everything the documents had told me. My mothers name was circled in ink. It was a part of a history I had never been allowed to know.. My body was focused on getting out of this room alive.Thors voice was very quiet. "It does not matter who they think it
Bella’s POVFrey killed the lantern before I even finished processing what I’d heard.We went still, all three of us, pressed into the gap between two shelves stacked floor to ceiling with records older than any of our grandparents, and I held my breath so hard my chest started to ache from it. Somewhere in the dark beside me, I could feel Thor doing the same, his shoulder rigid against mine, and the shared stillness of it steadied me more than words would have.Footsteps. Slow. Deliberate. Not hunting, exactly, more like someone walking a route they’d walked a hundred times before, unhurried because they had no reason to expect company.A light swept past the end of our row, thin and yellow, a hand lantern rather than anything electric, and I caught one glimpse of the person carrying it before they moved on, an older man in council robes, gray-haired, unbothered, the particular gait of someone doing rounds rather than searching for anything in particular.I counted his footsteps the
Bella’s POV“Say that again.”Thor didn’t repeat himself right away, which told me he understood exactly how badly I needed a second to catch up before he made me hear it twice.“Ronan turned himself in at the council chamber,” he said finally. “Mid-audience. Told them his father isn’t the real threat. Told them you’re the target, not just Draven.”My legs found the porch railing before I’d consciously decided I needed something to hold onto.“He said that to the council. Out loud. In front of everyone.”“According to the runner who brought word back, yes.”Thor’s face had gone carefully neutral, the particular blankness he wore when he was trying not to let me see how worried he actually was. “Draven’s still in there. The presiding elder ordered the chamber cleared of everyone but council and immediate parties. I don’t have anything past that.”I stared out at the yard, at the same spot where Gordon had been carrying equipment back into the garage that morning like ordinary work could
Bella's POV I have waited patiently for days, waiting for Draven to come and visit me as he promised, but I haven't seen him since then. I was too curious to know the reason he would rather not fulfill his promise. “Today has been the fourth day since I last saw Draven. He promised that he would c
Bella's POV I slowly opened my eyes. I couldn't see the environment clearly because I was just waking up; I needed to get myself first. As I turned and faced up, at first it was blurred from my view, but as I gently opened my eyes, well, it was as if magic happened. “What's good here?” I muttered
Draven's POV:“Were you not informed by Thor how busy I am today?” I asked immediately as she walked inside my study room.I sat behind the table, a book swapped on it. My hands kept scanning a particular paper, looking for a particular information but I got distracted now that Clara was standing i
Bella's POVThe guards refused to let me enter the rogue encampments again. This was going to be the tenth time this evening."The Lord asked you to leave. Didn't you hear him when he told you that at the free plains?" one had snapped at me, his voice edged with irritation and something darker, but







