Let the court see a woman who refused to collapse beautifully.
The remaining brides gathered in the antechamber below the witness hall.
Brinna looked hollowed out, her face pale, her hands shaking as she adjusted the cuffs of her gown. Tavi stood with her arms crossed, jaw tight, already preparing to answer insult with violence. Yselle was polished perfection in deep green silk, but Sabine saw the strain now.
Yselle met Sabine’s eyes across the chamber.
“If they read everything,” Yselle said quietly, “neither of us leaves with much skin.”
Sabine crossed to her. “Skin grows back. Land does not.”
“Only women from dying houses would find comfort in that.”
“Women from dying houses learn to count what can still bleed.”
Yselle’s mouth curved fractionally. Something almost like respect.
“You are more dangerous than you look, Sabine Corvyr.”
“So are you.”
The doors opened.
Temple attendants gestured them forward.
The chamber had been designed to make witness feel holy.
A long stone floor marked with family crests. A raised dais where Serast sat with ledgers and temple officials beside him. Bloodwright Maelor stood near the witness table, his expression calm and clinical. Nobles filled the galleries, their clothes bright against the dark wood. Crown clerks positioned themselves with ledgers open and pens ready.
Queen Mother Ilyra watched from the royal dais, elegant and still.
Lucien stood near the royal section, too far away for comfort, his face controlled and formal.
Sabine felt his presence like heat against her skin.
The bond pulsed once, hard.
She kept her hands still at her sides.
Serast rose.
“The Trial of Names begins,” he said. “Each bride will stand witness to her house, her debts, her blood, and her burden. Truth spoken here enters sacred record. Evasion will be noted. Lies will be punished. A woman who cannot bear her own name spoken in full cannot bear the crown beside it.”
He gestured to the first bride.
Brinna stepped forward.
Her name was read. House Sere was named.
Then a clerk opened the ledger.
The first entries sounded almost harmless. Birth date. maternal line. paternal attachment by marriage. estate location. Dowry structure.
Then the words sharpened.
A debt tied to water rights. Her father’s marriage into the Sere line, recorded in language that made him sound acquired rather than wed. The dowry assembled from three relatives because the central estate could not support the match alone. A petition from an aunt contesting inheritance distribution. Two private loans still unsettled.
Brinna tried to answer, but her voice broke twice.
