She Was Supposed to Stay Broken, So I Let Her Think She Had novel · Chapter 31 of 40

Chapter 31: No Oath Without the Seal

Maren has little time left to give the council what it wants. Her fingers rest flat on the table, pale against the wood, and she must keep them there to steady them. This is the hearing she asked for while she could still make the journey from her room.

'I will not swear to a record until I can examine the seal myself.'

The clerk's pen stops above the prepared statement. The black river-glass seal is absent from the table. Kael holds the locket found at Maren's bedside, closed in his hand.

I stand beside Maren's chair. The panel scheduled this appearance, and every witness in the room heard her condition before she came. They prepared a statement anyway. That choice belongs to them.

Eln looks down at the page. 'The statement records that Elder Maren remembers the founding entry and will affirm its contents under oath.'

'It records something I have not agreed to say.' Maren keeps both hands on the wood. She does not look at the page.

A low amber shimmer forms around Lirien's head. Beneath her careful, spoken concern, a second voice reaches me: She cannot make them bring it here.

I hold to the thought until the room drops out. Every scrape and rustle stops. The sentence hangs in full color, clear enough to keep. Then the sounds return, and I let the shimmer fade without changing my face.

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