Chapter 13. The Writ of Calling

The captain did not untie the summons himself. He set it on the stone between us as if the weight of it might tilt the courtyard, then stepped back two paces and bowed again—not to Kael. To me.

No one spoke. The fires hissed. Somewhere on the wall a wounded wolf coughed, a raw, wet sound that made a young archer flinch.

Kael broke first. “Read it,” he said, voice flat, eyes on the seal.

The seal was silver, not wax—thin as skin, stamped with the Moon’s crescent cupped in a ring of thorns. Mavienne crouched and blew gently. The metal fluttered under her breath, then split without touch, curling back into itself like a shy leaf.

I lifted the vellum.

By the authority of the Lunar Conclave, under the Veil of Judgment and the Rite of Bonds:

Thessia of Shadowfang—marked Luna, unsanctioned—

You are Called to stand in Veilgrove within seven nights.

Charge: Concealment of an Unregistered Mate-Bond; Abandonment of Office;