All Chapters of A Crown Buried In Silence : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Calla POVI still had it from years ago. A small metal ration tin, dented, stamped with Hallow Quarry's mark on the bottom, the kind prisoners kept their meager food in during transport. Wren must have brought it back with her things when she was released, some habit of holding onto what little was hers. I found it shoved in the back of a drawer in her room weeks ago while looking for something else entirely.I kept it since. You never know when a small, forgettable object might become useful.Tonight, it became useful.The family records room sat off the west corridor, locked most days, opened only when someone needed to check old pack ledgers or property deeds. I had a key. Everyone assumed I had access to everything now, which was true, and which made this embarrassingly easy.I slipped inside after the household had gone quiet, moved straight to the shelf holding the oldest ledgers, adoption records, old correspondence, the kind of paperwork nobody thought to guard closely because

Garrett POVThe walk back from the council chamber felt about three miles longer than it actually was.Ovid fell into step beside me near the courtyard, and I already knew from the way he wasn't talking that he had something to say and was working up to it."Rough session," he finally said."Don't.""I'm just saying, Alpha Vane tore that whole thing apart in about two minutes.""I heard him. I was in the room." My hands stayed fisted at my sides the rest of the walk, nails pressing crescents into my palms hard enough to sting."Corwin looked like he wanted to crawl under the table.""Ovid.""I'm just saying." He held both hands up, backing off,but the look on his face said he wasn't done thinking about it, even if he stopped saying it out loud.Two of the younger warriors near the barracks went quiet the second I walked past, which told me plenty about how fast this had already spread. By the time I

Wren POVI heard the crash before I understood what it was, glass hitting the floor somewhere down the hall, followed by a maid's voice pitching up sharp and scared."Someone help, it's Lady Rosalind.."I was moving before I finished processing the words, feet carrying me faster than thought toward her chambers, old instinct kicking in before fear had a chance to catch up.She was on the floor beside her bed, one hand clutching at her chest, lips gone a shade of grey I recognized from a dozen different textbooks two years too old to still be sitting in my head. Her breath came in short, wet pulls, each one costing her more than the last."Get Marta," I said to the maid hovering uselessly by the door. "Now. And bring cold water, a cloth, and the small tin from her bedside table, the one marked with the red string."The girl didn't move."Now," I said, harder, and that finally got her legs working.I got down on the fl

Emeric POVCalla found me in the eastern courtyard where I'd taken to reading most afternoons, away from the noise of the main house. She settled onto the bench across from me without asking, arranging her skirts with the kind of attention that told me this wasn't an accidental visit."I hope I'm not intruding," she said."Not at all.""I just needed some air, honestly. It's been a difficult few weeks." She let out a breath, small and shaky, exactly timed. "First the council business, now Mother's collapse. I feel like I'm watching everything I love slowly fall apart.""It must be hard.""It is." She looked at me then, eyes glassy in a way that seemed to arrive on cue. "I worry about Wren too, you know. Despite everything. People assume because of our history that I don't care what happens to her, but she's still my sister.""That's generous of you.""I try to be." She reached over and touched my sleeve, the kin

Damian POVOvid found me in the study a little after midday, hovering in the doorway like he wasn't sure whether the news he carried was good or bad."Thought you should know, Alpha. Garrett's been out at old Thomlin's place. And before that, down in the lower archive most of yesterday afternoon.""The archive." I set my pen down. "Doing what?""Didn't say exactly. But one of the maids mentioned he pulled Wren's old case file. The tribunal records."I sat with that a moment. Two weeks ago, Garrett digging through that file would've meant one thing to me, building a stronger case against her, shoring up whatever certainty the council hearing had knocked loose. Now, after watching him at that hearing, after the way he'd gone quiet instead of triumphant when Emeric tore the evidence apart, I wasn't sure what it meant anymore."Send him in when he's back," I said. "I want to hear it from him directly."Garrett showed up an hour later, looking like a man who hadn't slept well and didn't mu