Half Claimed novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Archive Is Sanctuary

The Moot ended the Gap before the benches had finished gasping.

"The Luna invoked it in bad faith," said the oldest Elder. "It lapses."

"The ruling on the half mark stands until the Harvest Moon, as the Compact says."

"That is the law, and the law is not a mood."

So I walked out of the hall with Idris a single pace beside me and four hundred wolves pretending not to stare.

We stopped under the eaves where the rain had started.

"Say it," he said. "Whatever it is. I'll take it."

"I want to ask you something first," I said.

"Anything."

"If the bell hadn't rung, and I'd answered you on the Stone, would you have made me Luna knowing your mother didn't want it?"

He didn't hesitate. "I'd have taken you if the whole ridge came down."

"Then ask me again when I know who else was in that plot."

"I want to see the watchman and the man with the rings before I wear anything of yours."

His mouth pulled up at one corner, for the first time since the Stone.

"You're a hard woman to propose to."

"I'm an archivist. We like our paperwork."

He laughed, and it surprised both of us.

At dawn the next day he rode out with six wolves to find the watchman.

I felt him go, a warm pull in my chest, getting longer.

I spent the morning in the Archive.

Twelve copyists sat at desks along the long room, pens scratching, with sun coming through the high windows in stripes.

I was bent over the grain-debt ledger when the door opened, and someone stopped in the sun.

I knew the shape before I looked up.

"Miss Colter," said Cutter Torrance. "A word."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Half Claimed from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.