Chapter 15
Liora Refuses the Groom
Venn offered Liora a bargain: marry Cael before sunset and he would reopen grain routes. The treaty court assembled in the square, expecting a royal sacrifice to restore order.
Liora arrived without her red gown. She refused the marriage and asked Cael whether his kingdom would sign a grain treaty with Asterra's elected districts instead.
Cael tore up the bride clause. His council threatened to depose him; dockworkers unloaded the ships anyway.
The treaty survived without ownership.
Venn lost foreign leverage and activated the city oathstones. Across Asterra, women began forgetting their own names.