Chapter 31 #2
"Yes you were. You're already planning how to convince me. I can see you doing the math, figuring out what argument might work, what angle you haven't tried yet." A small smile, sad and knowing. "I know you, Io. And I love you for wanting to protect me. But I have to do this."
The denial dies in my throat because she's right. I was calculating.
"I just want—" The words stick. You to be okay. You to be safe. You to not need to be this brave. "I don't know what I want anymore."
"That's new." Almost a smile, warmer this time. "Usually you're very sure."
"Usually I haven't just committed murder and discovered I'm cosmically bonded to a god. It's been a weird week."
Seris goes still. The almost-smile drops off her face.
"I'm sorry. You what?"
"Which part?"
"The—" She stops. Stares at me. "Cosmically bonded. To a god. You said that like it…it was the same level of unusual as the murder."
"I mean. They happened around the same time. It's been a lot."
"Io." Her voice pitches up. "What does that mean?"
I hold up my hands. The marks catch the light—fine threads woven across my knuckles, down toward my wrists. Permanent. Visible. Cosmic tattoos I'm still not used to looking at.
Seris's eyes go wide.
"Those weren't there before."
"No."
"Those are—" She reaches out, stops just short of touching. "Are those soulmarks?"
"Apparently."
"Soulmarks are myths. Children's stories. They don't—" She pulls her hand back, presses it to her mouth. "You're bonded. To the God of Discord. The mad one. The one who—" She gestures vaguely at everything. "Him."
"Yeah."
"Forever?"
"Seems like it."
She stares at me for a long moment. Then she laughs—high and cracked and slightly hysterical.
"You killed our father and got cosmically married in the same night."
"I wouldn't call it married—"
"Io. What the fuck."
"I know."
"What the fuck!"
"I know." I smile. "So when I say it's been a weird week—"
"No, you're right. You win. That's—" She shakes her head, laughing again, the sound still edged with something that could tip into crying. "That's insane. That's completely insane. And you're just sitting here telling me like it's—"
"I haven't really had time to process it."
"Clearly." She takes a breath. Steadies herself. The laughter fades, but some of the tension goes with it. "Okay. Okay. We're tabling that. We're coming back to that later because I have questions, but—okay."
She does smile at that—small, broken at the edges, but real.
"If you go back," I say, and the decision settles into place as I speak, "Discord goes with you."
Seris blinks. "What?"
I find Koshin in the room where Renan spreads papers everywhere and Koshin paces around making everyone nervous. He's mid-circuit when I walk in, barefoot on stone, and he doesn't stop moving when he sees me—just adjusts his path so the next loop brings him closer.
"She wants to go back."
"Your sister." He says it without breaking stride. His eyes track my face, my hands, the set of my shoulders. "You've been crying."
"I haven't."
"You've been doing that thing where you refuse to cry so hard your whole face locks up. Same result, more effort." He passes close enough that I can smell sandalwood and something sharper underneath. "Continue."
"House Solyne. She wants to claim it, take over, be the new head of house." The words still taste strange in my mouth, unreal. "And before you say anything—she's serious. She's thought it through. I spent half an hour trying to talk her out of it and got nowhere."
"Of course you didn't. She's your sister." He stops mid-pace, turns to face me fully, head tilting. "No father now. That's your fault. You handed her a corpse and a power vacuum, and she's choosing to fill it instead of running." His mouth curves. "I'd be disappointed if she did anything else."
"She's twenty years old. No training. No alliances. No—"
"No fear of the house she grew up in. That's interesting.
" He moves again, circling now, and I have to turn to keep him in view.
"Most people hesitate with their first kill.
You didn't. Most people run from the places that hurt them.
She's not. I'm starting to think your whole bloodline is bent wrong. " A flash of teeth. "I like it."
"She's going to get herself killed."
"Possibly." He shrugs, and the gesture is wrong somehow—too casual for the words, the timing slightly off.
"Probably not. She survived your father for twenty years.
That's not nothing. That's endurance. That's watching and learning and staying alive when someone wanted her dead.
" He stops in front of me, close enough that I have to tilt my head back to meet his eyes.
"She learned that from you, didn't she? The staying alive part. "
My throat tightens. I don't answer.
"What do you want, Iowyn?"
Right. The point.
"I want Discord to back her. Public declaration.
Explicit protection. Anyone touches Solyne, they're touching Discord.
" I keep my voice steady, even though my jaw is tight, my shoulders are tight, everything is wound up and braced for a fight.
"You make that known. You make sure everyone who matters hears it. "
Silence. Even Renan's pen has stopped moving.
"Oh, this is going to be fun." Renan sets down his pen, leaning back in his chair with something that's almost a smile.
"You're asking us to publicly claim a mortal house that's currently a crime scene.
Coin is going to lose their minds. War—" He glances at Koshin.
"War is going to want to know if this means he gets to hit someone. "
"Probably," Koshin says.
"Good. He's been bored." Renan's gaze slides back to me, assessing. "You understand this makes you a target. Not just her—you. The marks, the bond, the public declaration. You're basically hanging a sign around your neck that says 'come fuck with Discord's new favorite.'"
"Ah." I glance at Koshin. "So you told him about the whole cosmic bond situation."
"Was I not supposed to?"
"No, it's fine. I just would've appreciated a heads up before walking into a room where everyone already knows I'm mystically leashed to a mad god." I turn back to Renan. "Did he give you the full version or the dramatic highlights?"
"There's a difference?"
"Fair point."
"I'm aware," I say, getting back to the actual conversation. "About the target thing."
"Are you? Because Coin doesn't negotiate with things they can't buy. They break them instead. Faith will say you're corrupted, possessed, proof that Discord poisons everything he touches."
He's moved without me noticing—behind me now, and his hand catches my wrist, lifting it so my knuckles catch the light. The threads gleam, fine and permanent. "Everyone will see these. Everyone will know what they mean."
I don't pull away. "Yeah."
"You're painting yourself into the blast radius." Renan sounds almost impressed. "Deliberately. With witnesses."
"My sister is going back to that house. I'm not letting her do it alone.
" My voice cracks. I don't try to hide it.
"Not unprotected. Not without someone standing behind her who can actually back up their threats.
If that means painting a target on my back, fine.
It was there already. At least this time it's my choice. "
Koshin's thumb traces one of the marks on my wrist. My skin prickles.
Renan watches us both for a moment, then picks up his pen again.
"House of Discord recognizes and supports the authority of Seris Solyne as head of House Solyne.
Protection extends to her person, her household, and her holdings.
Violation of this protection will be answered with—" He pauses, glancing up.
"What's your preferred level of threat? I'm thinking 'creatively horrific' but I'm open to suggestions. "
"Creative works." Koshin's smile widens, and there's nothing comforting about it. "I like when they have to guess."
"Time frame?"
"Immediate. Public announcement before she leaves Discord. I want Coin to know before she sets foot in Solyne territory."
"They'll send someone to observe. Probably one of Merit's little clipboard gremlins—lots of meaningful glances and furious note-taking." Renan's already writing. "Should I draft a few pointed comments for the occasion, or are we letting you improvise?"
"I like when they take notes." Koshin releases my wrist, finally, and moves toward the door. "More fun when there's documentation of the moment they realized they fucked up."
The tension in my shoulders loosens, just slightly. Just enough that I can breathe without it hurting.
"Thank you."
"Don't." Koshin pauses with his hand on the frame.
"You're not asking for a favor. You're claiming your family in front of every House that matters.
You're doing it with those marks visible and me standing behind you.
" His eyes hold mine, pale and unreadable.
"That has consequences you haven't thought through yet. "
"I know."
"Good." Something shifts in his expression—there and gone. "Let's see what breaks."
Renan doesn't look up from his writing. "I'll have the announcement drafted in twenty minutes."
The announcement takes an hour to arrange.
Discord's messenger network is terrifyingly efficient—I'm starting to suspect that's intentional, that the speed itself is part of the intimidation. We know things before you do. We're always three steps ahead. Get used to it.