Claimed by my Sister's Fiancé 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 301 - 챕터 310

BRIDIE POV "Past the northern ice fields. Cormac, even the Frostbound territories don't claim anything beyond that boundary. Kestra's own oldest maps simply mark it as unclaimed white space."I spread the ancient rider's letter beside Kestra's borrowed maps, the unfamiliar seal still sitting strange and cold against the parchment.The wax had chipped in transit, revealing a hue like crushed glacier ice mixed with soot. The paper beneath was not common sheepskin or southern rag-linen; it was stiff, thick hide scraped paper-thin and bleached by an unfamiliar wind, holding a faint, dry scent of pine pitch and bitter lichen. Outside the study, the first breath of true winter was whistling through the garden eaves, rattling the bare branches of the orchard where the children had chased autumn leaves only a week ago."They call themselves the Vashenn," Wynn said, reading from her own careful notes, her spectacles pushed back into her hair as she tapped an ink-blotted ledger. "I found a sin

BRIDE POV"She doesn't glow, exactly. It's more like she pulls the dark in close, and something in it starts to shine."Sigrun led us into the Vashenn's settlement, built low and sturdy against the relentless cold, and into a warm, fur-lined dwelling where a young girl, perhaps six, sat quietly beside a small fire.The shelter was sunk three feet into the frozen earth to escape the wind, the dome constructed of curving whalebone arches lashed together with sinew and covered in thick, layered caribou pelts. The air inside was dense with the rich scent of burning seal oil, dried moss, and steep pine bark. It was surprisingly warm—a cozy, insulated haven carved directly out of the desolate white waste.Aska looked up as we entered, dark eyes steady and unafraid in a way that surprised me, given everything Sigrun's careful words had suggested about her people's history. She sat cross-legged on a bed of tanned sea-wolf hides, wearing a small tunic of sheared rabbit fur, a wooden needle and

BRIDIE POV "Then let that be exactly what we build toward. Not a shrine. Not renewed silence. Simply a childhood, same as every child in this hall was once permitted before fear or reverence decided otherwise."I said it into the hall's uncertain quiet, and watched something shift slowly across the gathered council's weathered faces.The heavy, suffocating weight that had pressed down upon the longhouse began to lift, like ice groaning and parting beneath the first warm thaw of spring. The elder with the carved ivory beads slowly lowered his hand, his mouth softening into something thoughtful, almost humbled, as he looked back at the small girl sitting beside the fire pit.Sigrun rose, steadier now than she'd seemed since our arrival, her carved staff striking the packed earth with a firm, resonant thud. "I propose we formally connect with this Reconciliation Order the same way our southern neighbours apparently already have. Not surrendering our own ways. Simply learning what three

BRIDIE POV "I need to tell you something, and I need you to actually sit down first, because I don't entirely trust your knees to hold you upright once you hear it."I said it to Cormac that evening, both of us finally alone after a full day spent drafting the regional branch proposal with Elira and Isla.The cottage was quiet around us, save for the soft pop of apple-wood in the hearth and the gentle tap of rain against the glass. The smell of ink and drying tallow still hung heavy in the room, sheets of boundary maps and scribbled rosters littering the rug between our boots. Cormac was halfway through untying his leather vambraces, his brow furrowed with that habitual, brooding focus he always wore when there were ten more problems than hours left in the night."Bridie, you're worrying me.""Good worrying, I promise." I took his hands, pulling gently until he sank onto the edge of the low oak bench, my own heart racing despite how many times I'd rehearsed the sentence on the ride h

BRIDIE POV "They're settling. Cormac's letter says the twins' volatility calms once they understand they're not being separated, simply given space to breathe as two people rather than one shared burden."I read the update aloud to Elira, relief loosening something tight in my chest that had sat there since Cormac's party first departed.The sun was spilling across the scrubbed pine of the Weaving House’s front parlor, warming the low settee where I had taken to resting my feet in the late afternoons. My lap was cluttered with parchment rolls, wax shavings, and a bowl of fresh dried currants Elira had thrust into my hands with strict instructions to finish every bite. Sending Cormac north without me had felt like leaving an arm behind on the road, but the steady, sure hand of his writing on the cream paper grounded me back to center."Fenwick did well," Elira observed, leaning over my shoulder, a cup of chamomile tea steaming between her palms."He did wonderfully," I said, pride swe