For once, it did not seem to belong entirely to Quill.
Quill broke this one.
“The corrected consent has been witnessed,” he said.
Linden wrote.
Cosima wrote.
The woman wrote.
The words should have made me breathe easier.
They didn’t.
Caspian felt that through the bond. His fingers shifted over mine, the smallest question.
I kept my hand where it was.
Quill looked at the basin.
One completed line.
Two open ones.
Green-gold. Rain-dark.
The proof sat in the water, bright and inconvenient and impossible to explain away.
“The bond between Astra Verita and Caspian Ashford is recognized,” Quill said.
Magnus Ashford made no sound.
Somehow that was louder than sound.
“However,” Quill continued.
Of course.
Every beautiful trap kept a word like that under its tongue.
Caspian’s palm tightened over mine. This time, the pressure didn’t ask.
It warned.
“The Untethered Mark remains in active response to two additional Marks after corrected consent,” Quill said.
“Headmaster,” Aldric said.
Quill didn’t so much as glance at him.
“This exceeds school review.”
Juno’s fingers twitched on the rim of the witness basin.
The water inside shivered once.
“Quill.”
