His Mate, Her Choice novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: The Fair Copy

The upstairs study had a good desk.

It was oak, wide as a door, and Halvard had kept it polished.

I had Ansel's men carry out Halvard's chair, his green blotter and the glass he had left half full on the sill, and I set up a plain stool.

I did not sit in his seat.

I laid a sheet of good paper on the desk and a pen beside it, and I stood and looked at them for a while.

"You don't have to do it today," Dain said from the doorway.

"I know."

"Ansel says the Council already has a copy of the roll."

"The Council has the roll as Halvard made it, and the one in the box, which is the elder's draft." I touched the paper. "Neither is the true one."

He came in and shut the door.

He had put on a plain wool jacket instead of the black coat, and he looked younger in it.

The mark on his shoulder showed at his open collar, healing pink.

"What does the true one say?"

"Everything that happened to each of us. In order. In my own hand."

"That's a great deal of ink."

"I know where to get it."

He laughed and sat down on the arm of the old leather chair by the window.

I sat on the stool, and I took up the pen.

My hand was steady, but my chest was not.

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