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Chapter 65

Theo

The knight’s oath took over everything else.

Theo’s only focus was getting Nora and Lotte out of the building in one piece. It was too late for them not to have been recognized. They were Holtzfalls. But he could get them clear before someone recovered enough to do something about that.

They could sell the story of what they saw to the paper later.

They broke free from the dance hall and the heat of bodies and the smell of burning into the cool night air of the city.

Nora stopped, spinning around.

“Here.” It took Theo a second to realize she was holding out the ring to him. The one she had stolen from Mercy Holtzfall. “It’s better if you have it, in case they come for me now.”

Nora’s eyes darted to the new ring on her hand and then away again. As if she was afraid it might vanish at any moment. Theo had never stopped thinking of Nora as the Holtzfall Heiress, even with two rings on Modesty’s hand. Nora had been the Holtzfall Heiress his whole life. He had always known that he would serve her as a knight one day.

Hartwin Rydder had tied his life to Honor Holtzfall because he was a good man. Because the man who shielded so many people needed a sword by his side. The Rydder knights had stood by the Holtzfalls for centuries because the Holtzfalls had proven themselves time and time again.

And as she held out the ring to him, Theo knew he would be proud to be bound to the Holtzfalls if it meant Nora was at their head.

“Are you sure ? You are giving the Grims a way into the woods.”

“If they make it out alive, then I guess they’ll be worthy of their spoils.” Her tone was light, but her eyes were serious as she dropped the ring in his hand. The key to getting Alaric back.

Theo watched the certainty flicker off Nora’s face as she turned to Lotte next. Nora visibly steeled herself against the bitterness she had come to expect from her cousins. But Lotte offered Nora a small, sad smile. “You’ll make a better Heiress than I would. Our grandmother was right about that.” Her eyes went to the ring. “I only ever wanted a family. I don’t need to lead it.”

“You’re the only member of this family I actually like, so I’m not letting you escape us now.” Nora deliberately rested her hand on Lotte’s arm, and Theo could only guess what thoughts she was pressing into Lotte’s mind. “As long as I’m wearing a ring, you’ll have a place in this family.”

“Don’t get too confident now,” Lotte said. “You still have to beat Modesty to the ax before you start making promises.”

Nora scoffed. “I would never dare. Pride is a terrible vice, isn’t it?”

The girls embraced.

Nora chose to walk home, her journalist by her side.

Theo put up a nominal fight, seeing as August didn’t look like he’d be much use if the Grims came after Nora and her ring. But as usual, Nora got her way, and Theo drove Lotte back to the Paragon in silence.

Lotte was deep in thought, gazing out the window, until finally they stopped.

Theo hesitated, on the edge of saying something. But he was unsure what to say to a Holtzfall who knew she had lost her chance at the heirship.

In the end, Lotte spoke first. “Since I’m unfit to be an heiress, maybe when this is all over, you can train me to be a knight.”

“A sword-wielding Holtzfall, that would be something.” Theo searched her face. He had done this a dozen times today since finding out that Lotte’s father was a knight. But no matter what, he couldn’t find any Rydder in her features. She was Grace through and through. She looked like a Holtzfall.

He tried to imagine her next to them in the barracks. Training to fight under Lis. Training with one side of her family to give her life up for the other side.

He found himself wanting to reach for her now, to bridge the gap between them.

It will destroy you, you know. Being that close to her and knowing that any closer will be the end of you. It will tear you apart in ways you don’t yet understand.

The rain started, tapping gently against the roof of the car. “Here.” Theo didn’t reach for her. He shrugged his jacket off, passing it to Lotte. And then she was gone, slipping out of the car, wrapped against the rain in his knight’s coat.

He watched until she had vanished safely back into the Paragon.

He was about to drive away when he saw her. The figure lingering in the dark. Watching him. Theo stepped out of the car as the fox girl emerged into the streetlight. She had the signs of a fight on her, bruises marking her face. But she was still standing.

“Is my brother still alive?” Theo asked evenly.

“It would serve you right if he wasn’t,” she hissed. “I saw you fighting for them. But Isengrim is a man of his word. We gave you until the final trial before we slit his throat—”

Theo cut her off, holding up the ring.

And suddenly her face split into a wolfish grin.