Chapter 281
Chapter 281
Elara’s POV
“Bring your claim into the circle or stop shouting from the door.”
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A man in Ridge colors froze with his mouth half open. The square still held its heat from the Court’s birth. Lanterns swung. The flag snapped above us. The women kept their seats. The men crowded the edges, restless.
He stepped forward with a girl at his shoulder. She kept her chin up. A pale ring scar showed on her neck, thin and ugly. Serena leaned toward me from the front bench. “Forced bond,” she murmured.
The man tried to bow and failed. “Alpha, my house wants our bride–price back. The girl refused the mark after we paid.”
The girl spoke over him, clear. “I refused because he tried to bind me while I slept.”
A rumble moved through the men. Mira’s shield tapped the stone once. It shut them up.
I looked at the girl. “Name.”
“Keira,” she said. “Obsidian Hollow.”
“And yours,” I asked the man.
“Doran,” he said. “Ridge.”
Eden stood near the arch with the ledger. “No bond contract filed,” he called. “Only a trade note for grain and tools.”
Vessa folded her arms. “Tools are not daughters.”
Doran flushed. “The old law-
“”
“Died with the old flag,” Cael said from my right, voice steady. He looked thin, but his eyes were clear. “Say your truth, not your habits.”
Doran swallowed. “We cannot feed our line if deals break like twigs.”
I pointed at the ring scar on Keira’s neck. “That is not a deal. That is a theft.” I turned my head so the women saw my mouth and the men heard each word. “By the Crescent Court and the two moons law, forced bonds are void. Any price tied to them is void. You return the grain and the tools you took on a lie,”
He stared at me. “We already used the grain.”
“Work it off,” I said. “Public. At Ashfang stores. Twelve days. You bring your sons and your brothers and you learn to look women in the face.”
He opened his mouth. Cael shifted his weight and the room felt the change. Doran closed his mouth.
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Chapter 281
Keira drew a breath that shook and then steadied. “What about the mark.”
Serena stood and raised her chalk–stained hand. “I will teach you how to hide it with salve until it fades.
Keira nodded. Her eyes found mine. “Thank you.”
From the back, Garron spoke low. “The old law would have dragged her back.”
“The old law would have lost her,” I said. “We will not.”
The girl stepped into the women’s row and found a seat between Nora and Leira. They made room without fuss. The men at the edge shifted, first with anger, then with a kind of tired relief. Doran bent his head, not in shame, but like a man who had set down a beam he carried too long.
Eden wrote the order. Elder Briar stamped it. The first case of the Crescent Court was done. It landed. It held.
Cael’s shoulder brushed mine. “You still breathing.”
“Yes,” I said.
“Then take the next step,” he said, voice quiet for me alone. “Before the circle turns to talk again.”
I looked at the flag. At the two great moons on it. At the smaller real moon tugging the edge of the clouds. “Now.”
I moved into the center. The women went still. The men leaned. Mira slid her shield aside. Vessa lowered her blades and lifted her chin. Eden shut the ledger without being told.
I raised my voice. “We built a law. We tested it. It held. Laws hold people together. Bonds do too, when they are honest.” I turned to Cael. “Walk with me.”
He did, careful with his side, steady in his legs. We faced each other, no steps between us, no throne at our backs.
Cael’s mouth twitched. “You want a speech.”
“No,” I said. “I want a promise.”
Vessa stepped into the ring with a small bowl flame and set it between us. “Light,” she said, and moved away.
Mira brought two short cords, plain leather softened by use. She put one in my palm and one in his. “Tie only if you mean it,” she said.
Cael looked from the cord to my face. “Elara,” he said, simple. “Not Luna. Not title. Your name.”
I tied the cord around his wrist. My fingers trembled once and then sure. “Cael,” I said. “Not crown. Not shield. Your name.”
He tied mine. His hands were warm. I felt the scrape where his knuckles had healed. Eden did not write, Elder Briar did not stamp. The Court watched with their chins high.
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I spoke first. “I do not bind your will. I ask for your trust. I will not make a move that shames you just to prove a point. I will not hide from you when the weight is bad. If I must leave, I will say why and when I am back
He answered without pause. “I do not own your breath. I keep your back in rooms that want to close. I will not make a deal that cuts your work short. I will not ask you to be small so I can look tall. If I must lead alone for a night, I will set the chair for you at dawn.”
“Equal,” I said.
“Equal,” he said.
Mira set a hand on the bowl. “Hands over fire,” she said. “Quick.”
We held our joined wrists above the flame. Warmth licked skin. It did not hurt. It sealed.
From the back, someone started to cheer. Vessa snapped her fingers without looking, and the cheer died on command.
“Do not clap like a show,” she said. “Witness like a vow.”
The square breathed. The first moon slid from a cloud. The second rose thin and clear. Two white coins over the flag with its two moons. It fit. Not perfect. True.
Cael leaned close. “I have a second promise,” he said. “Not for the crowd.”
“Say it anyway,” I said.
“I love you,” he said. “Not for what you can give me. Not for what you can fix. For the way you look at a hard thing and say, move.”
My throat tightened. I could have said many things. I said the one that needed saying. “I love you,” I said. “Not for how you stand next to me when it is easy. For how you stayed when it was not.”
The bowl flame jumped. The wind turned. The square heard us. That was fine. We did not need quiet to mean it.
Eden wiped his eye with the back of his hand and pretended it was dust. Jory swallowed three times and failed to swallow sound. Mira smiled like a rock that had warmed in the sun. Vessa made no face at all and still somehow looked pleased.
“Seal it,” Elder Briar said softly. “Make it law in the room and law in the field.”
I faced the circle. “Under the Crescent Court, our bond stands. Not for politics. Not for seats. For work and for home. Anyone who uses our names to force a pact or scare a child loses their seat and earns a shovel.”
A murmur of agreement rolled around. No chant. No show. Good.
From the edge, Fenna raised a small pouch. “Blessing,” she called. “Not holy. Warm.”
She walked in and pressed it into my palm. It smelled like clean citrus and green. She grinned. “Not his bath oils. New mix. For luck.”
Chapter 281
Cael laughed under his breath. “Thank you.”
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“Use on wrists, not stew,” she said, wagging a finger. She backed out with a wink, already scolding Jory for trying to peek into the pouch.
A runner slid through the crowd and stopped short of the circle. “Alpha,” he said, breathing hard. “Message from the parley riders. The exiled council accepts work seasons. They want one promise in writing
“Say it,” I said.
“They ask that the Crescent Court put one of theirs on the teaching bench,” he said. “A woman they name Elowen. She kept girls safe in their winter sheds.”
Vessa’s brows rose. “A test. They want to see if we meant it.”
“We did,” I said. “Bring Elowen under watch. If she holds to our law, she holds a seat. If not, she carries water with the rest.”
Cael nodded. “Good. No soft corners.”
The runner bowed and vanished the way he came.
Serena stood. “With your leave, I open a list for those who want to train as bond–healers. We need ten by morning.”
“Do it,” I said.
Leira lifted a hand. “I will need a bench with drawers and locks. People will bring secrets.”
“Eden,” I said.
“On my list,” he answered.
Zara thumped her shield. “I start drills for girls who never held one. Dawn. No excuses.”
“Write it,” Elder Briar said, scribbling fast and finally smiling as he wrote.
The square shifted from ceremony to work without losing the heat. That was the point. We tied our cords and then moved our feet.
Cael stepped close enough that our shoulders touched. He smelled like smoke and cedar. My chest eased like a hand on it had let go.
“Hungry,” he asked.
“Always,” I said.
“Food after one more thing,” he said, eyes on me and then on the Court. “Old habit needs breaking.”
He turned to the men at the edges. “You saw the bond and you heard the law. If you think this makes me less, come take my chair. If you think this makes her more, good. That is the point.”
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No one moved. Garron lifted a hand and then lowered it, half a joke that did not land. He grinned anyway. “I will take the night watch instead.”
“Good choice,” Cael said.
I pulled the pouch Fenna had handed me and dabbed the oil across the cords at our wrists. The scent rose, bright and clean. I held our joined hands up so the Court could see the simple knot and the skin under it, equal.
“Go home,” I told them. “Eat. Sleep near someone who trusts you. Tomorrow we work the ledger and the fields. Tonight we witness.”
The circle opened. People drifted in small clusters. Some looked light. Some looked lost. They would learn. We would teach. That was the work.
Cael squeezed my fingers once, then let go and winced. “Still healing,” he said.
“I noticed,” I said. “I will not carry you, but I will match your pace.”
He smiled. “Romantic.”
“Accurate,” I said.
Mira fell in at my left. Vessa at my right. Eden walked backward while reading and almost tripped. Jory caught him and then dropped his own list. Serena was already cornering women and taking names for her bench. The moon light softened the square. The flag moved with a steady pull.
Cael leaned close. “You sure you do not want a private vow too.”
“We already said the part that matters,” I said. “The rest is dinner.”
He laughed. “I can live with that.”
“Good,” I said. “Because I am not asking twice.”
He stopped and caught my eyes, the way he does when he wants the room to fade. It did, just a little. “Elara,” he said, soft.
“Yes,” I said.
“Say you are staying,” he said. “Not as Luna. As you.”
“I am staying,” I said. “As me.”
He closed his eyes for a beat like he was counting that into his bones. When he opened them, the square came back. The Court moved. The flag held.
Eden looked up from his list. “One last order?”
“Yes,” I said, turning toward the hall. “Light the bowl at the doors and leave it burning until dawn.”
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Chapter 281
“For luck,” Jory asked.
“For witness,” I said. “So no one can say they did not see what we promised.”
Cael’s voice dropped, only for me. “And if someone still tries to twist it.”
I met his eyes. “Then I tie their lie to my name and burn it in front of them.”
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