She tilted her head. “You’re against it.”
“I’m against renting your blood,”
She stared at me for a long moment. “So you wouldn’t ever change anything?”
I shook my head. “Humans shouldn’t play gods. And if they do, they shouldn’t be surprised when it kills them.”
“Not all of us can be Crows. Merge once and make it final.” Madeline traced the tattoo again.
I knew what she meant.
Dynasty girls were traded like bonds, their blood was sacred, merged and remarried depending on where the wealth shifted. Their value wasn’t in love. It was in who owned the rights to their future.
“Has your father ever mentioned it?”
She tilted her head to look at me. “Legacy? He talks about it every day.”
“And when he talks about your merge? Does he say it’ll be regional?”
She let out a soft, bitter laugh. “He says it’ll be what secures the strongest position. Which usually means not regional. Just… strategic.”
I reached for her hand, laced our fingers together.
She laid her head back against my chest.
“Crow bloodline stays alive because you have so many kids, right?”
I nodded once. “Six heirs. Mandatory.”
She made a sound between a scoff and a groan. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Our kind dies violently. The dynasty doesn’t risk gaps in succession.”
“I know it’s selfish, but I just wantonemerger. One contract. One set of kids. I don’t want to be handed off the second a clause expires. I don’t want to give him an heir, watch the contract end, get reimbursed like a failed investment and traded off to another family.”
I didn’t speak. Because every word that she spoke just tightened something in my chest that I didn’t understand.
She exhaled. “God forbid it’s international. But the sick part? My familywouldconsider another merger. They’ve said as much. As long as the sovereign doesn’t red-flag it for genetic repeat, it’s viable.”
She paused. Then her beautiful eyes locked with mine. I moved my other hand from her thigh, to trace under her cheek.
“If you’re so against biotech,” she said, “and renting blood… then you agree with the system that protects it.”
“What system?”
She looked at me like it should be obvious. “Dynasty daughters.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Our job is to secure the best contract,” she went on, “the one that brings in the most wealth for the crest, the alliances, the most longevity. I give an heir. Maybe two if the merger runs long. Inheritance tracked. Then the contract ends and I get traded again.”
Her voice didn’t crack. It was worse than that, it was flat. As if she knew this was true she just expected more from me.
“That’s the system that protects unaltered blood. We breed and barter. The codex ensures the blood stays ‘clean’ so it can be inherited, married, and rewarded with more wealth.”
She shifted slightly. “So if you believe in the sanctity of unmodified blood, Vince, then you believe inthis. In what I am.”
I stared at the ceiling for a long moment.
