Chapter 121

Mara’s POV

Soren’s translation came with a note that surprised me: I am reasonably certain the damaged word means at any time. Elara reads it the same way. Do not make the House your only proof.

I had asked him to check the word because he could read an older hand than I could. I appreciated that he had named the uncertainty. Trust in Soren had never come as an all-at-once gift; it grew when he left room for me to test him.

Elara had enclosed a different page from her journal. Years ago she had found a marriage provision using the same two carved hands. Either spouse could end the shared route without proving injury to an Examiner. The Concord’s later copy kept the offer and answer but removed the right to withdraw. My mother had written in the margin, They took out the door and called the room a home.

I carried b