“But you’re right about one thing—the Thornes handing her over voluntarily is too long-game. We were banking on their fear. Now they think they’ve solved their problem. Marcellus takes her. Their ledger stabilises. They get royal adjacency. Why would they give that up?”
His shoulders went tighter. “So the plan doesn’t work.”
“This version doesn’t. Her marrying Marcellus does.”
His head snapped up. “You just said?—”
“I said it works for them,” I cut in. “Not that it has to end well for him.”
Suspicion flickered behind his eyes. “Explain.”
I watched the city lights crawl across the live-feed wall.
“The Marcellus dynasty, their crest was inked in the sovereign codex before the Crow dynasty got scribed.”
He knew that. We all did.
“Damius hates them,” I added.
“That’s not a plan,”
“There’s an old debt between Marcellus and us. You remember.”
His jaw flexed. “They cut us out of two ports and used our name to close their deals.”
“And Damius let it slide because the optics were inconvenient.”
Vince’s eyes narrowed. “I’m listening.”
“Marcellus marrying a Thorne gives him a legitimate right to a presence in Villain’s courts. Not just as a guest. Their Dynasty will be given a voice in Villain.”
“Damius will hate it.”
“He hates anything that dilutes Crow dominance in this city. You want him on our side? Offer him a way to kill two dynasties with one spectacle.”
Vince stared at me. “Go on.”
“We invoke the debt. Publicly. Codex-level. The Crows call in what Marcellus owes.“
His throat worked. “In a bride.”
“In a bride,” I confirmed. “We demand payment in the form of Madeline Thorne, currently promised to Marcellus. We frame it as cleaning up a mess two dynasties created in our territory without proper respect.”
Vince went very still. “You think Damius will approve that.”
“He’ll fucking applaud it. He gets to remind everyone he’s god in this region. That even royal-adjacent dynasties bend when he wants them to. He gets Marcellus humiliated, Thornes punished, Villain secured. And he gets to do it under the banner of ‘restoring codex balance,’ which is his favourite phrase when he wants to play executioner and priest at the same time.”
Vince’s fingers curled on the edge of the table. “And Madeline.”
“She becomes the payment. Marcellus has to relinquish his claim to her ‘for the sake of peace.’ Thornes have to watch their carefully negotiated merger evaporate on Damius’ word.”
His gaze snapped to mine. “My wife.”
“Your wife. Damius can’t use her as punishment without undermining his own power structure.”
Vince’s jaw clenched so hard I heard it.
“Her name will be ruined. Thorne’s golden daughter, stolen out from under a royal-adjacent court like a bargaining chip.”
