Chapter 4 · Sign It in Front of the Court

Every door in the underground chamber slammed open at once.

Ronan grabbed my wrist before I could run toward the nearest one. His claws were gone, but his grip still hurt. Blood from the black creature's scratches ran down his arm and dripped onto the stone between our boots.

"Let go of me. Nia's down there."

"I know."

"Then move."

He didn't.

The silver pendant around my neck went ice-cold. The map burned across the stone floor, lines of red light twisting beneath our feet. They all pointed east. Toward the sealed throne.

Somewhere below us, Nia screamed.

"Mara! Don't let him take you to the throne!"

Then the voice cut out.

I hit Ronan in the chest. "You heard her."

"I heard."

"She said not to trust you."

His jaw tightened. "She said not to let me take you there. That's different."

"Oh, good. We're splitting hairs while my sister is being held under your palace."

"Your sister is being held because someone used her pendant to open a royal seal." His eyes dropped to the silver charm. "And because they wanted you to come after her."

That stopped me for half a second.

The red map pulsed under my boots.

Ronan stepped closer. "The doors opened because your blood woke the ward. Whoever took Nia expected that."

"You knew this place existed."

"I knew the legend."

"You knew enough to recognize the key."

"Mara."

"How long were you planning to keep me stupid?"

His mouth flattened. "Until I knew whether you were the one who could open it."

A laugh jumped out of me. It sounded ugly in the stone room. "There it is. The honest answer. You weren't protecting me. You were waiting to see what I could do."

"I was trying to keep you alive."

"You dragged me into your palace, pinned me to the floor, and nearly tore my throat out. You don't get to use the word alive like you earned it."

His eyes flashed gold.

For one second, the room shrank around us. I saw the wolf behind his face. Heard the rough scrape of his breath. Felt the same heat that had pressed me into the floor minutes ago.

Then he looked at the blood on his hand.

The gold faded.

"You're right," he said.

I blinked.

Ronan Blackthorn did not look like a man who apologized often. He looked like a man who made other people apologize for standing too close.

"I should have told you," he said. "I didn't because the council would have locked you in a cell before you took three steps. Drake would have called you a threat. They would have cut you open to find out what your blood can do."

"And you wouldn't?"

His gaze lifted to mine. "I don't know."

That answer landed harder than a lie.

The palace bell rang above us.

Once.

Twice.

Then a third time, followed by shouting from somewhere beyond the open doors.

Ronan turned toward the stairs. "The council is assembling."

"Let them assemble. I'm going after Nia."

"You can't go down there alone."

"I got into your palace alone. I robbed your vault alone. I can walk through one ugly hole in the ground alone."

"Those doors aren't passages. They're traps."

"Great. You can explain that while we walk."

I pulled my wrist free and ran for the eastern archway.

Ronan caught me before I crossed the threshold. He moved too fast. One moment I was stepping over the glowing line in the floor, and the next my back hit his chest.

His arm locked around my waist.

"Get off."

"No."

"Ronan."

"You cross that line without a royal mark, the ward will take your skin off before you reach the first stair."

I looked down.

The red light had climbed the archway. Thin symbols crawled over the stone like hot wires. The air smelled like burnt metal and old blood.

"Then give me a royal mark."

His arm went still around me.

I twisted in his hold until I faced him. "You want me to stand in front of your court and sign some marriage contract? Fine. I want Nia brought up first. I want medicine. I want a promise that nobody touches me, binds me, or uses my blood without my say. Put it in writing."

"You think the council will let me bargain with a thief in front of them?"

"I think they already know I'm not just a thief."

His expression changed.

Not much. Just a hard blink and a glance at the pendant.

That was enough.

"They saw the map," I said. "They saw my blood stop your moon-rage. Whatever story you planned to tell them, it's dead."

"You don't understand what they're going to ask for."

"Then stand beside me and watch me say no."

The bell rang again. This time, the palace shook.

Dust slid from the ceiling. A low growl rolled through the walls, too deep to be human and too steady to be Ronan's wolf.

His fingers tightened at my waist.

"The court will be in the high hall," he said. "You stay close to me. You don't answer Drake. You don't drink anything. You don't let anyone touch the pendant."

"And Nia?"

"I send hunters into the lower tunnels."

"No. You bring her up before I sign."

"Mara, the bond—"

"I don't care about your bond."

His eyes dropped to my mouth.

That tiny pause made my skin prickle.

"You will," he said quietly.

"Keep dreaming."

He released me and walked toward the stairs. I followed because the other choice was staying in a room full of open monster doors, and I wasn't stupid enough to call that freedom.

We had barely reached the top landing when guards rushed toward us with silver blades drawn.

"Your Majesty!" one of them shouted. "The lower gates are open. We found three dead sentries near the east passage."

"Where's the council?" Ronan asked.

"Waiting in the high hall. Lord Thorn ordered the doors sealed."

Ronan's stare turned cold. "Drake doesn't give orders in my palace."

The guard swallowed. "He said you were below with the witch-blooded girl."

Every face turned toward me.

Witch-blooded girl.

The words moved through the guards like a spark in dry grass.

One of them raised his blade.

Ronan stepped in front of me so fast the guard stumbled back.

"Lower it," Ronan said.

"My king, if she opened the ward—"

"Lower. It."

The blade dropped.

Ronan didn't look away from the guard. "Anyone who points a weapon at my future queen without my order loses the hand holding it."

My head snapped toward him. "Future what?"

He finally glanced back. "You wanted a public promise."

"I wanted my sister alive. I didn't say you could announce a title."

"You can correct me in front of the court."

That was either confidence or madness.

Maybe both.

The high hall doors opened before we reached them.

Every noble in the palace had packed into the room. Wolves in black coats. Women wearing jewels sharp enough to count as weapons. Council members sitting beneath the carved moon crest, each of them watching me like I had walked in carrying a bomb.

Drake Thorn stood in the center aisle.

His black ring caught the light.

The same ring from Nia's neck.

My fingers closed around the pendant.

Drake smiled. "There she is."

I lunged.

Ronan caught the back of my coat.

"Let me go."

"Not yet."

Drake's smile widened. "Still wild, I see."

"Where is my sister?"

"Safe."

"Try again."

"She's alive."

That was not the same answer.

I pulled against Ronan's hold. "You touched her."

Drake glanced at the silver pendant. "I touched what belongs to the crown."

Ronan's voice dropped. "Say that again."

"The girl is carrying a key older than your family line. The thief has the blood to use it. And you want to marry her before the council decides whether she should be chained or killed."

A murmur broke across the hall.

Ronan moved me behind him. "Bring the contract."

The oldest councilwoman rose from her chair. Her hair was white, but her eyes were sharp. "You can't be serious."

"I need a queen before the succession vote."

"You need a healer."

"I need a queen."

"She is human."

"She's standing here after taking blood from a moon-raging wolf king and stopping him with three drops. Call her whatever helps you sleep."

The room went quiet.

My cheeks burned. Not from embarrassment. From the way every person there suddenly looked at me like I was a locked chest with a price tag.

Drake came closer. "You don't even know what she is."

"Neither do you," Ronan said.

"I know enough. Her mother died in the Grayharbor massacre. Her bloodline was supposed to end that night."

My breath caught.

Ronan turned slightly. "Don't listen to him."

"My mother?"

Drake watched my face. He had been waiting for that reaction.

"Ask your king why his father ordered the eastern gates opened," he said. "Ask him who stood outside those gates when the witches were burned."

Ronan's hand curled into a fist.

The councilwoman slammed her staff against the floor. "Enough. Bring the contract. Now."

A clerk hurried forward with a black leather folder. He placed it on the table between Ronan and me, then backed away like it might bite.

Ronan opened it.

The first page was covered in tight black writing. I scanned the lines.

Marriage before the full court.

One year of protection under the king's seal.

No forced claim, no blood binding, no punishment for refusal of the mating bond.

In exchange, I would stand as Ronan's queen until the succession vote ended and remain inside Blackthorn territory until my debt was paid.

"What debt?" I asked.

Ronan slid to the last page.

The number made my stomach turn.

"That much?" I whispered.

"The medicine. The physicians. Your sister's room. The guards assigned to her. Everything the palace has already spent."

"You put a price on keeping her alive?"

"The palace did. I changed the terms."

"To what?"

"You work for me for one year. You get paid. The debt disappears when the year ends."

Drake laughed under his breath. "And if she refuses?"

Ronan looked at him. "Then the council can try to crown you over my dead body."

The hall erupted.

Voices crashed into each other. Some called Ronan reckless. Others shouted about the throne, the moon law, the old bloodlines.

I stared at the contract.

One year.

Medicine for Nia.

Protection from the wolves who wanted to cut me open.

And a king who had already lied to me twice standing close enough that I could feel heat coming off him.

"I want another clause," I said.

The room quieted by degrees.

Ronan leaned closer. "Name it."

"You help me find the man with the thorn ring. No matter where he runs. No matter who he works for. You don't hide him because he's noble, royal, or useful."

Drake's expression went still.

There.

That tiny crack.

Ronan saw it too.

"Agreed," he said.

"And Nia comes up before the ceremony ends. Alive. Breathing. No chains."

"Agreed."

"Say it so they all hear you."

Ronan turned to the court. "Nia Vale will be brought to the east infirmary before sunset. No one touches her without my order. Anyone who violates that order answers to me."

A guard near the council table shifted.

Ronan's eyes snapped toward him.

The guard went pale.

I pointed at the contract. "Add it."

The clerk looked to Ronan.

"Add it," Ronan said.

The clerk wrote.

My hand shook when he pushed the pen toward me.

Not because I was scared of marriage. That part was ridiculous enough to almost be funny.

I was scared of the way Ronan watched me. Like he already knew what my answer would cost him.

"Mara," he said, low enough for only me to hear. "Once you sign, the court can't challenge the claim without challenging me."

"Good."

"The bond may react."

"You keep saying that like I asked for it."

"I know."

"Then stop looking at me like I'm about to save you."

His mouth tightened. "You already did."

The words hit harder than they should have.

I looked down at the page.

Nia's face flashed in my mind. Pale lips. Thin wrists. The way she tried to smile whenever she was hurting so I wouldn't spend money on panic.

Fine.

I signed.

The moment the pen left the paper, Ronan took my hand.

His thumb pressed over my knuckles. Then he lifted them to his mouth.

The kiss was brief.

The contract was not.

Black ink crawled off the page and wrapped around our hands. Heat ripped through my fingers. I smelled smoke and hot iron. A thin line burned into my skin, starting at my knuckle and twisting around my wrist.

I gasped and tried to pull away.

Ronan held on.

"Don't fight it," he said through his teeth.

"Get your hand off me!"

"If I let go now, it will tear through both of us."

The mark flared silver.

Ronan's knees nearly buckled.

I caught his shoulder on instinct. His free hand slammed onto the table, cracking the wood beneath his palm.

The court watched us burn.

Then something clicked.

Not in the room.

Inside my bones.

A lock turning.

The mark sealed shut.

Ronan sucked in a breath, and his eyes went wide.

At that exact second, Nia screamed beneath the palace.

The sound tore through the floor.

I spun toward the eastern wall. "Nia!"

Red light burst from the cracks in the stone. The moon crest above the throne room split down the middle.

Drake stepped back, staring at the glowing mark on my wrist.

For the first time, he looked afraid.

"No," he whispered. "The bond closed."

Ronan raised his head. "What did you do?"

Drake's black ring began to glow.

He looked at me, then at the floor beneath us.

"It's not what I did," he said. "It's what she is."

Another scream came from below, followed by a deep crack that shook the entire hall.

Drake's voice dropped to a whisper.

"The witch throne is waking up."

The floor split open between Ronan and me.

And something below reached for my name.