“They were not trying to kill me,” she said.
“No,” Lucien replied. “They were trying to leave you alive and unusable.”
Lysa crossed herself in the old household way.
A second knock came before anyone could say more.
This time the runner bore a black-sealed temple notice.
Sabine knew before she opened it.
Still, she broke the wax.
The words were formal enough to be obscene.
Due to irregularities within the bride wing, evidence of possible bond corruption, and concerns regarding the physical and spiritual condition of Lady Sabine Corvyr, the final vow is suspended pending formal review by High Hierophant Serast, Bloodwright Maelor, and Trial Marshal Corvek. Crown protection does not supersede sacred process.
Sabine held the paper until the edge cut lightly into her thumb.
Lucien read over her shoulder.
His face became lethal.
“He moved fast,” Lysa said quietly.
“He moved before the strike,” Sabine said.
Because now she saw it.
The cordial. The forged page. Brinna. Heskar’s seal. Corvek’s recommendation. Maelor waiting in the doorway with language ready. Serast’s notice drafted so quickly it might as well have been written before the cup ever shattered.
This was not a response.
It was a plan reaching its next line.
Sabine touched the hidden letter sewn against her body and felt the mark pulse warm.
The cordial had not been meant to kill her.
It had been meant to make her survive in a condition the rite could reject.
Dead brides became tragedies.
Unfit brides became paperwork.
And somewhere in the palace, Serast had already begun writing the sentence that would make Sabine disappear before dawn.
Twenty Five
The Trial of Surrender
The suspension lasted thirty-seven minutes.
Long enough for Serast’s notice to move through the palace like poison in warm water. Long enough for servants to whisper. Long enough for the bride wing to be sealed, unsealed, and sealed again under different authority. Long enough for House Corvyr, in some clerk’s office, to become one signature closer to administrative custody.
Not long enough for Lucien Vhalor to let it stand.
Sabine remained in the guarded suite near the royal wing while the palace argued over her body in rooms she was not allowed to enter.
