IV. The Wolves’ Claim

At dawn the Hall of the Three Thrones filled once more. Tai read the treaty aloud. His voice stayed steady until he reached the place where the vanished clause should have been.

His eyes flashed like a drawn blade.

“Where is the writ naming joint authority over harmful sects?”

Vana answered before the kings could speak. “Father Tai, no such writ stands within this draft.”

His gaze burrowed into her. “Do you claim I dream when I read law?”

“I claim ink is true,” Vana said.

The hall hummed with unease.

Tai pressed his seal anyway, though his hand trembled with restrained fury. The kings affixed their marks, their faces pale.

As the last seal cooled, Tai raised his hand.

“By right of Oathbind,” he declared, “the Wolves enact their first judgment.”

He turned, slowly.

And pointed at Cairn.

“Behold the Choir’s hand at work: a wanderer, a knight stripped of name, whose trail is stained with hymn fragments. The Wolves shall take him for questioning.”

Cries rose among Kum’s guards, but Tai’s voice, sharpened by holy fire, cut through them.

“Kum has signed. The Wolves require no further assent.”

Chains began to rattle.

Pasha leapt from the throne. “Stop! He served our father!”

But Tai only bowed slightly. “Then let him serve truth now.”

The Wolves advanced.

Cairn could have fought. His hand twitched toward his hilt.

But Ivan’s face held terror, and Vlad’s lips whispered a prayer, and Vana stood frozen, caught between two storms.

And Cairn understood: a single sword drawn here would plunge two realms into war.

“For Kum,” he said quietly, and bowed his head.

The chains closed.

Next Chapter, Next Monday!