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CHAPTER 22
publish date:
2026-11-05 18:02:40
Latest chapter
Vows of Ashes CHAPTER 22
ELIASKai was already at the boathouse when I arrived.I could see the light through the windows before I reached the door. His footprints were the only ones in the fresh snow, leading from the dock straight inside.I wasn’t surprised. Since the trial ended, he’d made a habit of getting here before me. Sometimes I wondered if he came early because he had work to do or simply because he liked having the place to himself before I showed up.I pushed the door open.The stove was burning, and the kettle was on. Two mugs sat on the workbench beside the old racing skiff we’d been meaning to repair for weeks.Kai looked up from the letter in his hand.“You’re late.”“The road was slippery.”“Of course it was.”I took off my coat and hung it by the door.“What’s that you’re reading?”“Something from Renata.”I waited.He folded the letter and placed it on the bench.“She wants to set up a trust for your family. Compensation for what happened.”I frowned. “I don’t want their money.”“I know.”
Vows of Ashes CHAPTER 21
KAIWinter came early to Ironmouth that year. The harbor was cold, but I didn’t mind it as much as I used to.The shipping business kept me busy. Walking away from the illegal dealings had cost us a lot of money, but I didn’t regret it. I was tired of spending every day covering lies and worrying about what might go wrong next.Renata had taken over what was left of the council and was handling it well. She’d also made it her personal mission to stop me from working myself into the ground.One evening, she found me in my office long after everyone else had left.“Still here?”“I have things to finish.”“You always have things to finish.” She dropped a folder on my desk. “Go home, Kai. Or go see Elias. You’ve been sitting here for hours.”“I wasn’t planning to stay all night.”She raised an eyebrow. “You say that every time.”I leaned back in my chair, trying not to smile.“Go,” she said, heading for the door. “Elias misses you.”“You don’t know that.”She turned to look at me. “Please
Vows of Ashes CHAPTER 20
ELIASMarco’s trial lasted three days longer than expected. I attended every session. After nineteen years of being kept in the dark, I wanted to hear everything, even the parts that hurt.By the second day, people had stopped staring whenever I entered the council chamber. A few even greeted me on the street. It was strange, being treated like I belonged again.Renata testified that afternoon. She explained the payments Marco had made, the accounts he’d used, and how he’d covered his tracks. She answered every question without making excuses for herself.I found her in the hallway afterward.“You didn’t have to do that,” I told her.“I know.” She straightened her jacket. “I’ve spent too long deciding what people deserve to know. I’m done with that.”I watched her for a moment. “It couldn’t have been easy.”“It wasn’t.” She looked at me. “But I should have told the truth years ago.”I had no answer for that, so I nodded and let her go.Kai found me outside later that evening, carrying
Vows of Ashes CHAPTER 19
ELIASThree months had passed, but nineteen years of pain didn’t disappear just because the truth was finally out.Some mornings, I’d wake up in my father’s house and find myself staring at the ceiling, waiting for the familiar ache to settle in. Then I’d remember the study had been repaired, the boards were gone from the windows, and my father was still here.He was getting better, though not as quickly as he’d hoped. Some days, he’d sit on the porch for hours, barely saying a word. He wasn’t shutting people out like before. He was just tired. After spending so many years living with what happened, I suppose he didn’t know what to do now that he could finally breathe.My mother visited twice a month. She always blamed the drive, but I knew there was more to it. Neither of them knew how to spend a whole day together without the past creeping into the conversation.Still, they were trying, and that was enough for now.Teo had started keeping the bar open later. He joked that business w
Vows of Ashes CHAPTER 18
KAIThe council chamber hadn’t changed much since I was a boy. The same dark wood, the same tall windows, the same long table where men decided the fate of families.The only difference was that I was now the one standing at the head of it.Marco Reyes knelt in front of me, his hands tied behind his back. He looked nothing like the confident man who had kept us all in the dark for nineteen years.Every family head in Ironmouth was present. News of his confession had spread early that morning, and nobody wanted to miss it.Renata sat beside me. Elias stood at the back with his parents. After nineteen years apart, they were still figuring out how to be a family again.“Tell them what happened,” I said to Marco. “All of it.”He lifted his head.“I killed Adrian Cassano. Nineteen years ago, at the Cassano dock. He found out I was helping Renata move family money and threatened to tell his father. I panicked, and I killed him. Then I made it look like he had been meeting Salvatore Marchett
Vows of Ashes CHAPTER 17
RENATAI ended the call and stood on the porch, soaked from the rain. My hands were still shaking.After nineteen years, I had finally told someone the truth. I thought I would feel relieved, but I was only tired.Inside, Dahlia was making tea.Blood stained the porch. Marco was being taken away, and everything she had spent nineteen years hiding was finally coming to light. Yet she stood in the kitchen, preparing tea as if nothing had happened.Salvatore sat at the table with a towel around his shoulders. He was still shivering, his eyes following Dahlia as she moved around the kitchen. I wondered what it felt like to discover that the woman you loved had kept an entire part of her life from you.Elias stood by the window, watching Kai outside.“Your brother’s fine,” I told him. “They’re putting Marco in my car. He isn’t giving them any trouble.”Elias turned briefly.“That’s not what I’m worried about.”I pulled out a chair beside Salvatore. “Then what is?”He rubbed his face.“I th
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