All Chapters of BLOODBOUND: THE LAST MATE : Chapter 121 - Chapter 130

"The tribute review will begin with the Greywood territories first," Lena said, standing at the head of the council table the morning after the coronation, in the particular quality of authority that belonged only to things that had been completed. "Not because their grievances are more serious than the southern assemblies', but because the Greywood's cooperation came last and the best way to honor that is to address it first." She looked around the table. "Lord Aldric will chair the review sessions with joint oversight from the pack assembly representatives. I will sit in. Not to manage the outcome — to ensure both parties feel heard."Lord Aldric, whose relationship with her had traveled from open skepticism to something that she had decided to call grudging investment, said: "That's going to take considerable time.""Yes," she said. "Important things usually do."The new compact was drafted over the course of two weeks — a formal document that extended and revised the existing cove

"The eastern assembly meeting went well," Ronin said. He had come back the previous evening and found Lena in the library — the restricted section, with the librarian's tacit permission, reading by the light of the lamp the old man had left within her reach before disappearing — and he had sat across from her and begun the debrief without ceremony, which she appreciated."All three points?" she asked, without looking up from the text."Two resolved fully. The third — the water rights question, which is older than I thought and more complicated — will need a formal hearing, but they're willing to come to the Citadel for it, which three months ago would have been unthinkable.""The water rights go on the hearing calendar," she said. "Within eight weeks. I want it resolved before the first tribute review session so it's not hanging over the process.""I'll schedule it." He paused. "Lena. The senior elder of the eastern assembly — Preya, she's been running their governance for sixty years

"There is a name," Vann said, "that I have been sitting on for four days, because I wasn't certain, and I do not bring you uncertain names. I am now certain."It was early. Lena was in the east study with her morning tea and the eastern assembly's water rights file, working before the day organized itself around her. Vann's arrivals had a specific quality she had learned to read — his tone when the information was administrative, his tone when it was tactical, and this particular tone, which she had only heard twice before, which meant he had found something that changed the shape of what she thought she understood."Tell me," she said."Lord Caelan Voss," he said. Not Elder Voss — a different Voss. "He is not a member of this court. He holds a seat on the eastern high court's auxiliary council, which places him technically outside the Citadel's direct jurisdiction. He is also Lady Halloway's first cousin once removed, which is the connection that was obscured by a different family na

"There is a name," Vann said, "that I have been sitting on for four days, because I wasn't certain, and I do not bring you uncertain names. I am now certain." It was early. Lena was in the east study with her morning tea and the eastern assembly's water rights file, working before the day organized itself around her. Vann's arrivals had a specific quality she had learned to read — his tone when the information was administrative, his tone when it was tactical, and this particular tone, which she had only heard twice before, which meant he had found something that changed the shape of what she thought she understood. "Tell me," she said. "Lord Caelan Voss," he said. Not Elder Voss — a different Voss. "He is not a member of this court. He holds a seat on the eastern high court's auxiliary council, which places him technically outside the Citadel's direct jurisdiction. He is also Lady Halloway's first cousin once removed, which is the connection that was obscured by a different family

"The second day is gone," Vann said. "I have what I need."He came at dawn and laid the complete picture on the table without preamble, which she had come to recognize as respect — the absence of management, the giving of information straight. The morning light came in cold and grey through the study window, and the fire had been going since the early hours, and she had not slept, but she was sharper for it rather than diminished, the way she had sometimes been sharp as a child in the hours before something broke.The inside coordinate was confirmed: not Aldric's secretary, who had turned out to be a dead end, a man of impeccable loyalty whose correspondence happened to intersect with the wrong routes. The source was a chamberlain in the Citadel's west wing — a man named Orvyn who had held his position for twenty-three years, so long and so invisibly embedded in the household's fabric that no one had thought to look at him. He had a connection to Caelan Voss's network that went back f