Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 30

ConstanceThe fitting room smelled of beeswax and crushed lavender, a scent so at odds with everything else in this keep that for one disorienting moment I almost forgot where I was. Two seamstresses circled me with pins between their lips, murmuring measurements to a third woman taking notes, while bolts of deep Blackwood green and silver thread lay draped across every surface, and it felt like the ceremony had already begun without me, even in here."Arms up, my lady," one of them said around a mouthful of pins, and I lifted them, staring at my own reflection in the tall mirror across the room, watching a stranger take shape in the glass. The dress they were building around me was nothing like anything I'd worn before, structured and formal, a collar that sat high enough to hide the fading bruise Elias had left on my wrist, sleeves cut to catch candlelight in a way that felt less like clothing and more like armor built for a different kind of battle than the ones I'd already survive

ConstanceNobody spoke for a long moment. The fire cracked and settled behind us, and somewhere beyond the shuttered window a night bird called once and went silent."What kind of account," I finally managed.Julian's throat worked before he answered. "A ledger of payments. Medical payments, specifically, made on my behalf, to a healer two territories east." He said it fast, like ripping a bandage away before he could think better of it. "My sister has been ill for two years. A wasting sickness the local healers here couldn't name, let alone treat. The healer east of us could. Can. She's been keeping my sister alive for two years on medicine our family could never have afforded on our own.""And Ferdinand pays for it," William said, quiet, already understanding the shape of the trap even before Julian finished laying it bare."Ferdinand pays for it," Julian confirmed. "Every month, without fail, without ever once asking me for anything in return, for nearly a year. I told myself it wa

ConstanceWilliam was at the door before I'd finished processing the sound, his hand flat against the wood, every muscle in his body coiled tight enough to snap."William, wait." I caught his arm again, my voice low and urgent. "If you walk out there and someone sees you standing, moving, *speaking*, everything we've protected for weeks is gone in a single breath. Julian didn't risk his sister's life to buy us time so you could throw it away the second his voice cracked.""And if I stand here and do nothing while they drag him away for what he did to protect us?" His eyes found mine, gold blazing, torn between two instincts that were both, in their own way, entirely him. "What kind of man does that make me, Constance?""The kind who's still alive to help him tomorrow," I said. "Please. Let me go first. I'm not the one they're hunting."Something in his face fought against it, every protective instinct screaming to refuse, but whatever calculation he was running behind those eyes final

ConstanceWilliam was waiting exactly where I'd left him, and the moment I stepped through the door he crossed the room fast, his hands finding my shoulders, searching my face for damage before I'd said a single word."Tell me.""He has the letter locked in his desk," I said, my voice steadier than I felt. "He denied knowing anything about my aunt. But he doesn't believe our story, William. Not fully. He listed everything, one piece at a time — the trial, the time I spend here, the debts, Julian, the aunt. He said individually each one means nothing. Together, they mean something he doesn't trust."William's jaw tightened. He pulled me into him, one arm wrapping around my waist as his chin rested briefly against the top of my head. "Five days," he said."Five days," I confirmed, letting myself lean into him before I pulled back enough to see his face. "He's watching us more closely than we realized. Julian thinks it's not just us anymore. He thinks Ferdinand's had eyes on all three of

Constance"Moved up to when?" William asked, already on his feet, the hood falling back from his face now that secrecy in this room had become the least of our problems."I don't know." Julian's hand was still braced against the door, listening to the bell's slow, formal tolling continue beyond it. "That rhythm means tomorrow. Maybe the day after. It doesn't ring like that for anything less than a full ceremony announcement.""Five days became two," I said, the box Ysolde had given me still clutched tight in my hands. "Or less."Ysolde rose from her chair, her expression unreadable, but the way her shoulders tightened told me she was already thinking fast. "This isn't coincidence," she said. "Ferdinand doesn't move ceremonial dates on a whim. Something forced his hand tonight, and I don't like how neatly the timing sits beside everything we've just discussed in this room.""You think he knows," William said. It wasn't quite a question."I think a man like Ferdinand rarely tips his ful