Chapter 42-Four Possibilities

Sam’s POV

  “We can document all four without assigning a motive we cannot prove,” I stated calmly.

  “You are protecting Edric from criticism,” Halden accused with tired irritation.

  “No,” I answered evenly. “I am protecting the report from becoming another accusation disguised as a conclusion.”

  Halden held my gaze, then sat back. He was right to be angry about the lost days. We could say access had been restricted and the process slow without calling the delay a plot we could not prove.

  Celene proposed language identifying the restrictions without judging their purpose. Maris added that every authorized page had been examined under two independent spells. Pell accepted both statements and agreed that future joint reviews should identify linked volumes before investigators entered the territory.

  “That recommendation will irritate every royal archive in the north,” Pell warned.

  “Then someone may actually read it,” Celene replied.

  We signed before sunset. The reconciled totals went into the administrative finding, and the barrier and patrol conflict stayed open. We named no attacker. I wished the report could offer more, but I would have signed less willingly if it had.

  I sealed the finding for Zion and wrote a shorter notice for the families whose records we had checked. We could tell them the count was reconciled without revealing where they lived. They deserved at least that much after their names had passed through our hands.

  Pell read the family notice twice before approving the archive language. His expression had softened since the first night, though trust had not replaced caution. I understood that better than he probably realized.

  “You may take the joint finding, but the annex remains here,” Pell reminded me with practiced formality.

  “I never asked to take it,” I replied.

  “You asked for nearly everything else,” he observed pointedly.

  “And eventually received almost half of it,” I countered with a faint smile.

  The northern examiner laughed before Pell could decide whether I had insulted him. Even Halden’s expression eased as we restored the seals around the original ledger. The workroom looked larger once the disputed pages were closed.

  My travel bag remained packed when I returned to my quarters. I lifted it from beside the wall and set it near the door without opening it again. Kyron’s satisfaction moved through me like warmth after weeks of cold.

  ‘Now the bag is between us and the southern road,’ he observed with growing anticipation.

  ‘The bag has handles too,’ I reminded him silently.

  ‘I like this bag,’ Kyron replied with complete seriousness.

  Halden knocked while I was fastening the travel case containing our authorized copies. He had exchanged his formal uniform for winter leathers and carried the route sheet we had updated too many times. The western road had reopened, but the shortest southern pass remained buried.

  “We can leave at first light and reach the river station before dark,” Halden reported with renewed energy.

  “How much time does the longer route add?” I asked while studying the marked crossings.

  “At least two days if the next storm stays east,” he answered honestly. “More if the lower wardens close the forest road.”

  A storm could still close another road. That uncertainty felt different from waiting inside an archive for permission to read. At last we had a route we could try.

  “Send the route to Zion without estimating when we will reach the Southern Kingdom,” I instructed with practical caution.

  “You do not want them waiting at the gate?” Halden questioned with knowing amusement.

  “I have made Odett wait long enough without giving her a day the weather can take away,” I replied quietly.

  Halden’s smile softened, but he left Odett’s name alone. I had rehearsed what I would say to her on more roads than I cared to count. Each version fell apart at the same point. I could imagine my own words all night; I couldn’t know what she would say back.

  I wrote the family message myself. The annex had accounted for everyone represented by the conflicting totals, but I kept the protected details out of the note. I told them the review was complete, the team would leave at first light, and the northern cooks had failed their final opportunity to learn what seasoning was.

  My pen paused before I added Odett’s line. I did not write that I had counted the years, the borders, or the nights between us. I wrote only: Tell her I have started keeping my promise.

  The message left under the same private seal as the last one. By the time it reached home, I expected to be beyond Edric’s western boundary. For the first time since arriving in his territory, that expectation rested on completed work rather than hope.

  I barely slept. The room had become familiar during the delay, and tonight each small sound reminded me I would leave it before sunrise. Kyron made me count breaths whenever I began counting miles.

  Before dawn, I carried my bag into the courtyard. Celene, Maris, and Halden waited beside three secured transport vehicles holding only the records we were authorized to transport. Pell stood near the gate with the original ledgers already returned to his archive.

  “The southern road is open through the first station,” Pell reported with formal courtesy. “After that, your wardens will need to confirm each crossing.”

  “Thank you for the access you were able to provide,” I replied sincerely.

  “That sounds dangerously close to diplomacy,” he remarked with restrained humor.

  “Do not repeat it,” I warned him dryly.

  The gate opened with the first gray light. We passed beneath Edric’s protection marks and took the western road around the buried southern pass. The detour pointed away from home at first, but every mile put the archive farther behind us.

  Kyron rose inside me as the territory boundary receded behind us. The investigation remained unfinished, the attacks remained unexplained, and the evidence still refused to name one enemy. None of that changed the fact that this part of the work was done.

  I watched the road, thinking about seeing Odett again. She was grown now. I could tell her the truth in person, and this time I could stay to hear her answer. That was what I wanted, even when imagining the answer frightened me.