ina

the Inner Atolls. The towering white coral gates gleamed under the Hydrosun, but the guards at the

ssing the courtyard strewn with sea-li

ors drifted the sound of sof

's chair with a dark face, while my adoptive mother, Eleanor Anderson, sat beside him

uniform, looking down his nose at me with open disgust.

rmous bail and using their political influence to have the military-zone

her of them had escaped the consequences entirely, but the powerful

f back, you shameless wretch!" Ele

side table and hurled it at my feet. P

sister in public, then disappearing without

ards. I looked straight at

d the vanguard's arrest record and see who w

ashing his Warlord-rank pressure to make my knees buckle. "This

ent of the high-grade sea-silk in your vaults came from my looms. Eve

ger at the center of my forehea

at that dead gray scale on your forehead-what's

ful to serve the family! Genevra has a rare Weaver Tide-Spirit an

gged on Eleanor's sleev

y wrist in the Cold Iron mine three years ago to save Brother Edmund,

d, who immediately stepped in fron

"Genevra nearly died saving me in that mine while

wo of them, I le

ned Cold Iron spike to drag you out of the dark," I said coldly. "Since you l

d Edmund's eyes before h

doesn't even have the right to enter the cath

sheet of parchme

this voluntary betrothal t

is canceled, and the sea-silk workshop goes to G

hid a greedy smile behind her handkerchief, an

rd, I drew two thick black lines straight through the clause giving up my parents' wo

quill onto

u won't touch a single shard of

shot to

cross out

e inheritance requires High Council notarization," I said c

walked out of the hall toward my old room