“What did you see.”
“Water. Stone. The lanterns reflecting above.”
“Nothing else.”
She thought of the veiled bride suspended in black water. The circlet still on her head. The shrine remembering.
“The water was dark. I could not see clearly.”
Maelor leaned forward. “The bond reacted during the trial. The mark flared visibly when Prince Lucien entered the water. That level of response is unusual for the fourth public stage.”
“I was drowning. He saved me. The bond recognized survival.”
“Or the bond recognized excessive attachment.” Serast’s gaze did not waver. “Tell me, Lady Sabine, why did you reach past the assigned niche.”
“I felt something caught deeper.”
“And you chose to retrieve it.”
“Yes.”
“Even when doing so endangered you.”
“I did not know it would. The current changed after I touched the objects.”
Serast was quiet for three breaths. “What objects.”
“The circlet fragment Mistress Halvine recorded. I do not know if there was anything else. The river pulled me under before I could tell.”
It was not quite a lie.
She had retrieved two objects. She simply did not specify that she knew what both were before the current turned.
Maelor rose and descended from the dais. “I would like to inspect the mark.”
Sabine’s stomach tightened, but she extended her hand.
Maelor took it with clinical precision. His fingers were cool and dry. He turned her palm upward, studying the dark lines that had spread from the original choosing mark.
The bond reacted.
Cold crawled up Sabine’s arm. Wrong. Invasive. As if the mark recognized touch that had no right to it.
She controlled her face, but Maelor noticed.
“Interesting,” he said quietly. “The mark responds differently to different stimuli. When I touch it, the reaction is aversive. When Prince Lucien touches you, I suspect the response is quite different.”
Sabine pulled her hand back. “The mark recognizes the bond. That is its purpose.”
“Or the mark recognizes excessive dependence.” Serast stood. “Bloodwright Maelor has documented cases where bond corruption manifests as heightened physical response, emotional instability, and willingness to endanger oneself forforbidden knowledge. The symptoms match patterns observed in prior failed unions.”
The threat was clear.
They were building a case to remove her by arguing the bond itself was flawed.
The door opened.
Lucien entered.
