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Chapter 4

Author: Laurel Quill
The Skyveil burned through the entire night.

So did the rest of the world.

Courier dispatches from Frostmoor, Willowspire, and Rivermark reached Hawkridge almost at the same time.

Ronan's letter was the shortest, only three words.

"Hand Mara over."

Sebastian's letter was the thickest, thirty-seven pages in all.

The first page discussed old affection.

The second discussed heartbreak.

The third began calculating interest.

By the final page, Treasury Minister Desmond Ashby glanced at the total and fainted on the spot.

Adrian did not bother writing a letter.

He simply brought Willowspire cavalry to Hawkridge's border.

The sky was overcast that day, and Hawkridge citizens packed the city walls.

Everyone looked upward.

The Skyveil was still broadcasting my "criminal record."

Some called me a swindler.

Others said I had humiliated Hawkridge before the entire world.

Then one voice rose through the insults.

"But without the princess, wouldn't we all have died in the famine two years ago?"

The sentence landed like a spark in dry grass.

Others answered almost immediately.

"After trade opened with Frostmoor, the border towns finally had horses and salt."

"The grain from Rivermark saved my whole family."

"Willowspire's medicine stopped the epidemic. My son is alive because of it."

The curses did not disappear.

But cheers slowly began to rise beside them.

At last, someone shouted first.

"Whatever the princess owes, Hawkridge pays it with her!"

I stood behind the battlements with my chest aching strangely.

Elias stood beside me, his cloak snapping in the wind.

He did not look at me. He watched the land beyond the walls.

"Did you hear them?"

I nodded.

Only then did he turn, his eyes bloodshot from a night without sleep.

"Then stop thinking about running."

I stared at him.

Elias lowered his voice.

"Mara, Hawkridge isn't going to keep sending you out alone to lie, kneel, bleed, and take blades meant for other people.

"Everything you stole back has turned into walls, granaries, pharmacies, and food in ordinary hands.

"From now on, Hawkridge stands in front of you."

My throat tightened.

I was about to say something embarrassingly heartfelt when the Skyveil spoke again.

"Four-party emotional values have exceeded threshold. Creditor Tribunal Mode activated.

"Host must provide a complete explanation under worldwide observation within twenty-four hours.

"Failure will reduce Hawkridge's realm-fate value to zero."

The tears gathering in my eyes vanished instantly.

Elias fell silent too.

After a long moment, he turned his head toward me.

"Has your system always been this vile?"

I nodded with bitter conviction.

"Always."

The Creditor Tribunal was staged atop Hawkridge's city wall.

The Skyveil projected four luminous seats.

King Ronan Blackwood of Frostmoor, King Sebastian Redfield of Rivermark, Crown Prince Adrian Locke of Willowspire, and Regent Elias Crowell of Hawkridge sat around me.

I sat in the center like a fish with four knives pointed at it.

The system thoughtfully displayed enormous letters overhead.

"Question One: Does Host admit to deliberately manipulating romantic feelings?"

I lifted my head.

"Half."

The live comments stopped for one heartbeat.

Ronan stared at me coldly.

"Which half?"

"My identity was false. My use of you was real."

I met his eyes.

"But the medicine and grain route I left during Frostmoor's ice disaster were real too."

Ronan's gaze darkened.

The system displayed the next question.

"Question Two: Does Host admit to unlawfully diverting Rivermark grain and treasury assets?"

Sebastian turned the signet ring on his finger, smiling without warmth.

"Think carefully before you answer, Mara."

I pulled a ledger from inside my coat and placed it on the table.

"I admit it."

Sebastian's smile froze.

I opened the ledger.

"Principal: three shiploads of grain, one chest of gold, one River Transit Seal. Hawkridge used that capital to build twelve granaries, thirty-six low-cost pharmacies, and seven trade roads.

"Triple repayment, funded by Hawkridge's share of commercial taxes over the next ten years."

Sebastian's expression changed.

It was no longer the look of a man facing an old lover.

It was the look of a financier studying an excellent balance sheet.

The system displayed the third question.

"Question Three: Does Host admit to deceiving the Crown Prince of Willowspire and staging her death to escape?"

Adrian watched me without speaking.

His face was pale and his fingers pressed into the chair arm as he fought down a cough.

I took out a small medicine bottle and pushed it toward him.

"I admit it.

"This is an improved version of the restricted medicine you gave me. Willowspire's physicians can use the revised regimen to support your heart and lungs."

I paused.

"Adrian, I lied to you.

"But I never once wanted you dead."

He finally turned his head and coughed once.

When he looked back, his eyes were frighteningly red.

"Was there ever one moment when what you felt for me was real?"

Silence spread across the wall.

The Skyveil enlarged the question while comments raced beneath it.

I knew one beautiful lie would put out half of Willowspire's anger.

Beautiful lies were my specialty.

But suddenly I didn't want to tell another one.

"Yes."

Adrian froze.

I looked directly at him.

"When you asked whether I'd leave, I thought about staying.

"But more than a hundred thousand people in Hawkridge were waiting on that medicine, and soldiers at the frontier were waiting on those maps. I couldn't stay.

"I'm not a good person, and I'm not your Ash.

"I am Mara Whitlock, Princess of Hawkridge."

The system fell silent for one beat.

Then a line of enormous letters appeared.

"Sincerity assessment: passed."

The comments exploded.

[She admits she lied, but she also admits she saved them.]

[This somehow hurts more than watching her deny everything.]

[I came here ready to curse her and now I can't do it.]

I had barely relaxed when the system displayed a fourth question.

"Question Four: Explain why Host attempted to steal the Hawkridge Regent's treasury sigil as the mission approached completion."

Elias finally looked up.

My heart dropped.

The first three were old debts.

This one could get me killed today.

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