Chapter 6
The Sixth Oath
The burning threads did not turn to ash. Their names entered the air and spoke through everyone who had lost something.
Senna led Elara into the crown vault while the palace heard its victims. Five oathstones stood in a circle. A sixth socket had been chiselled out of the floor.
The archived oath did not say one sovereign must carry the realm. It said six witnesses must prevent any one holder from owning another person's vow.
Venn had built a monarchy by erasing one noun.
Elara copied the sentence. The crown tightened and took the memory of Rowan's first kiss.
She told him what it had taken. His face folded, then steadied.
"Do not spend another memory to spare my feelings," he said.
The vault door opened. Liora stood there with Venn's guards behind her.