Page 118 of The Sovereign: Part One
“It was the Regs,” Maxim said, his tone ironclad, daring contradiction.“They needed them—for study, for reverse-engineering, for a shield against Hyperion.Whatever the motive, that was the trade.The Vale has six Regs in their armory.Go on… deny it.”
Joss clenched his teeth.
“Joss,” I said, touching Maxim’s arm first—a silent request for calm.Then, I leaned toward Joss, letting my fingertips rest lightly on his knee.It wasn’t romantic, just familiar enough to remind him of our past connection and that he could trust me.His expression smoothed.“We’re on your side.We know more than you think, and we’ve been protecting it.Tell us what it will take to get Roan and Bellam to The Vale.”
Bellam frowned, her eyes flitting from me, to Roan, to Maxim, then to Joss.
Joss tilted his head.“What happens if the Veyr says no?”
I shot him an apologetic look.“I know you have a unique relationship with him.He trusts you.”
Joss’s mouth fell slightly open, searching for a response.He’d always relied on omission before.He wouldn’t lie to my face when it mattered.
Roan hesitated.“Precisely how rare is your relationship with him?”
Joss’s gaze flicked to Bellam, returned to Roan, and then his tone fell to a hush.“If you love her, let her go through Veritas.Let her build a life here.You don’t know what’s out there, Roan.Loving her from a distance is better than watching her die a slow, brutal death.”
His words hung in the air like smoke in a sealed room.Bellam said nothing as her eyes filled with tears.
Roan shook his head.“I won’t accept that.There has to be a way.If we get there and the Veyr says no, surely there’s somewhere, anywhere else.”
“Not anywhere both of you will survive.Bellam won’t live through the first night, and there are far worse things than death for a female Sovereign outside the wall,” Joss said, his tone final.
Joss stood, and I scrambled to my feet to catch him.“Just… just consider it.Please.”
He looked down at my hand on his arm.
“That’s all we ask,” I continued.“They’re determined to be together, and to do that, they have to leave.We’ll keep your secrets regardless, but Joss?Roan has resources.Connections.He won’t come empty-handed.He’ll make it worth it to you.To the Veyr.Whatever that means, he’ll do it.”
His head tilted, already somber about his next words.“You don’t understand, Isara.Things here are about to change.You should’ve left with me when I asked.”After a moment of hesitation, he pulled away from my touch and then left the way he came.
Bellam turned to me with a forced smile, wiping tears from her eyes.“Still want to try for The Vale with your accordant after your Oathbond?”
Roan blinked.“Maxim can’t stay overnight in The Vale.”
“We were going to… never mind,” I began, still staring at Joss as he slipped beyond the green belt.“It was a mistake to think we could.”
“It was?”Maxim asked, surprised.
“It’s insane.”I turned to Bellam.“You’reinsane to eventhinkof doing this.”
“And yet,” she said, reaching for Roan’s hand.
He took it without hesitation, kissed her knuckles, and I exhaled sharply, the frustration curling through me with nowhere to land.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The walls of our Sablestone caught the late afternoon light and held it, as if reluctant to let go of something so fleeting.The interior shifted in tandem, panels deepening in tone with the sun’s slow descent, casting the room in muted silver and opalescent warmth.The air responded to us with fluid instinct, adjusting its flow to match our proximity, our breath, our silence.I’d lived here long enough to take its perfection for granted.
But not tonight.
Tonight, the peace felt artificial.Too still.It was a portrait of safety, painted over the gnawing truth that somewhere, Roan and Bellam were making plans that could cost them their lives.Those plans were born of urgency and hope and yet laced with risks so severe that sitting in such engineered calm felt grotesque.Soon, they would step into the brutal, lawless stretch of terrain between Hyperion’s walls and The Vale—a place built to swallow the unprepared whole.
Maxim was relaxed and seated, stretched across the edge of the embedded platform sofa, one ankle balanced over his knee, coat and jacket already put away, sleeves rolled to his elbows.I sat beside him, not touching but close, my body angled toward the cascade wall across from us, where translucent patterns glided through some abstract rendering of time.I wasn’t really watching it.
“Joss didn’t say no,” Maxim said.
I turned to look at him.“He didn’t say yes.His answer alluded to the opposite of yes.”
