Then she stood, smoothed her gown, and prepared to hunt.
Lysa arrived to escort Sabine to evening prayer.
They moved through the corridors with deliberate visibility. Servants saw them. A junior priest noted their passage. By the time they reached the chapel wing, anyone watching would believe Sabine’s chamber was empty.
Sabine slipped away through a service passage Lysa had mapped earlier.
She doubled back, entered her chamber through the washing alcove, and concealed herself in the wardrobe with a narrow sightline to the desk.
The room was dim. Fire low. Decoy notebook visible but not obvious.
Sabine waited.
The corridor outside was silent.
Then: footsteps.
The door latch lifted carefully.
A figure entered.
Not Maelor. Not Serast.
Brother Olin.
He was younger than Sabine expected, thin, nervous, moving with the efficiency of someone who had searched rooms before but hated doing it.
He crossed to the desk and began rifling through papers.
He found the decoy notebook almost immediately.
Sabine watched as he opened it, read the false note, and went pale.
Then she stepped out and locked the door.
Olin spun, his face draining of color.
“Lady Sabine, I—”
“You entered a marked bride’s chamber without permission,” Sabine said calmly. “While she was meant to be at evening prayer. Searching her private papers. Holding a notebook you were not authorized to touch.”
“I was ordered to inspect materials related to sacred preparation.”
“By whom.”
Olin hesitated.
“By whom,” Sabine repeated.
“Temple authority.”
“That is not a name.” Sabine crossed closer. “Who sent you to search my room. What were you ordered to retrieve. And why does temple authority need to enter a bride’s chamber privately if the inspection is lawful.”
Olin backed toward the door and found it locked.
Lysa entered through the washing alcove. “If you scream, Brother Olin, every servant in this wing will hear that you were caught alone in a marked bride’s chamber with unauthorized access. The palace will assume the worst. The temple will disavow you to protect itself.”
Olin’s hands shook. “I was only following orders.”
