LOGINI found Vivian in the records room.She had somehow managed to make the place look worse than it had that morning.There were books everywhere.On the table.On the chair beside her.One was open on the floor.I stopped in the doorway.“Should I be concerned?”Vivian looked up.“About?”“The structural integrity of the archive.”“It survived Father.”“Fair
Ezra’s POVAurora shut my office door behind her.“Vivian disappeared into the archives.”I put down the report in my hand.“Did she find anything?”“No.”She crossed the room.“Which is apparently making her angrier.”“That sounds like Vivian.”“She found an older reference system that leads to another reference system that was reorganised under Victor.”“Of course it was.”“Exactly.”Aurora stopped beside my desk.“She wants to do it herself.”“And you hate that.”“I don’t hate it.”I waited.She sighed.“I hate that I can’t help.”There it was.I reached for her hand.She gave it to me.“You are helping.”“By doing nothing?”“By not deciding what she needs before she does.”Aurora gave me a look.“That is an irritating answer.”“I know.”“I liked you better before you became sensible.”“That never happened.”Her mouth moved.Almost a smile.I pulled her closer until she stood between my knees.For a moment, she rested one hand on my shoulder.Then she looked at the papers covering
I told Vivian before breakfast.Not everything Harwick had said.She did not need me repeating an entire night of old records at her.Just the part that belonged to her.“There was never a Luna contest.”Vivian stopped writing.We were alone in the records room. Three ledgers sat open in front of her and a cup of tea had gone untouched beside them.Her eyes lifted.“What?”“Harwick checked the older records.”I pulled out the chair opposite her.“The training was real. The preparation. Formal recognition. All of that.”Vivian waited.“But the certainty around you and Ezra wasn’t.”She looked down at the ledger.For several seconds, she said nothing.Then, quietly, “Of course.”That was not the reaction I expected.“What does that mean?”“It means I should have seen it.”“No.”Her jaw tightened.“I knew Ezra and I weren’t mates.”“You were raised to believe that didn’t change anything.”“That does not make me stupid.”“I didn’t say it did.”“You were thinking it.”“I really wasn’t.”Vi
For a few seconds, I could only sit there.Then I looked at Ezra.“What made you look at this?”“Mum.”Maren raised an eyebrow. “That is not entirely accurate.”Ezra ignored her.“After the meeting today, I asked what was left.”My stomach tightened.“Left?”“For you.”I stared at him.“I asked what was left before formal recognition.”
Maren asked me to come to the smaller council room after dinner.That usually meant something had gone wrong.By the time I opened the door, I had already imagined three different problems.Ezra sat at the table with Harwick. Maren stood near the window.Six old books were spread between them.That was somehow worse.“What happened?”Ezra looked up. “Hello.”“What happened?”“Nothing.”“That is never true when Harwick has books.”Harwick looked offended. “These are records.”“That did not help.”Ezra smiled.I pointed at him. “And you look pleased with yourself.”“I haven’t done anything.”“Exactly. Suspicious.”Maren pulled out the chair opposite her. “Sit down, Aurora.”I sat.Harwick rested one hand on the oldest book.“Luna recognition.”My stomach tightened.Of course.“What about it?”“We’ve been going back through the older Black Moon Ridge records,” he said. “Before Victor held so much influence here.”He turned the book towards me.Names. Dates. Alpha successions. Luna recogn
Ezra’s POVThe three-day review of the eastern access was supposed to take twenty minutes.It did not.Ronan stood beside the smaller council table with a fresh patrol map spread in front of him.“The lower road is clear. The first two residential rows are clear. The workshops are usable during daylight. I’m still not opening the far eastern strip overnight.”Aurora looked at the map.“Why?”“Tree cover is too dense behind the last six houses. We found two damaged boundary markers yesterday and one trail I don’t like.”“Victor?”“No.”She looked up.“You’re sure?”“No.”Aurora nodded once.“Then we treat it as a security problem until we know what it is.”I should have been looking at the map.Instead, I was watching her.There had been a time when Aurora would have softened that answer. Added something. Asked whether everyone agreed.She did none of it.Ronan tapped the cleared section.“These households can go back.”Vivian slid another sheet across the table.“Seventeen of the twen







