“No. But they failed to make you disappear.”
Brinna’s breath hitched.
Then she nodded once and left with her attendants.
Sabine watched her go and thought about all the women who simply survived what was meant to remove them.
That still mattered.
Even when survival was not the blade.
Elara arrived in the late afternoon carrying a leather folder.
She set it on the desk and opened it without speaking.
Inside were copied pages.
Names.
Sabine leaned forward.
“What is this?”
“The recovered list of hidden brides’ names. Corvek copied what he could from the Vow Chamber walls before Serast sealed it. I copied what Corvek missed.”
Sabine’s throat tightened.
The list contained Isolde.
Older names she did not recognize.
Partial names where the carving had been scraped too shallow.
Houses.
Fragments.
Women classified as unsuitable, withdrawn, fevered, unstable, failed, returned with honor.
Names previously erased from public record.
Women buried under plaster and called sanctity.
Elara’s voice was quiet.
“The chamber gave us names. Serast will call them contamination. We call them witnesses.”
Sabine touched the top page.
Her fingers trembled.
She was not just sacred consort now.
She was custodian of the dead women’s testimony.
“Thank you.”
Elara’s expression softened fractionally.
