Chapter 4
A Name Missing from Linen
Steam filled the locked vault while Mara ripped the hem from her apron. Each embroidered name held a stolen fragment. She pressed Tavin's thread into his hand, and he remembered the taste of blue icing but not the woman who baked it.
Senna found an old water gate behind the vats. Elara used no magic; six people hauled the rusted wheel together. Outside, palace workers waited with more named cloth. The crown had been feeding through wages, marriages, and service oaths for generations.
A bell rang above. Venn had announced Elara's seizure of the palace.
Mara handed her a bundle of names. "If you want a throne, go upstairs. If you want the truth, come to the drying yard."
Crossbows appeared along the roofline as Elara stepped into the open yard.